Stuart Elliott: In Classic Movies It's Always Christmas in Adland

Among them are perennials such as Budweiser CocaCola Folgers Lexus Miller Philips Norelco and Wells Fargo along with newcomers including MicrosoftAs someone who is as much of a film buff as a follower of marketing and who delights in tracking the interplay between advertising and popular culture I39m struck by how so many brands real and makebelieve are part of the popular Christmas movies we keep watching again and again What follows is a look at how Madison Avenue has woven itself into those holiday classicsquotA Christmas Storyquot 1983 The plot is centered on young Ralphie Parker39s obsessive quest to make sure his parents get him an quotofficial Red Ryderquot air rifle for Christmas There are cameo appearances by Higbee39s department store Lifebuoy soap and memorably a Secret Society decoder pin from the quotLittle Orphan Anniequot radio serial sponsored by Ovaltine that teaches Ralphie a lesson about branded content a message pitched as crucially important may be just quota crummy commercialquotamp160amp160quotChristmas in Connecticutquot 1945 Barbara Stanwyck plays a writer who pretends to be a doyenne of domesticity fooling not only the readers of her monthly column in Smart Housekeeping magazine but also her employer the powerful publisher Alexander Yardley played by Sydney Greenstreet Yardley and his firm Yardley Publications seem modeled on Conde Nast the man and Conde Nast the company in one scene Yardley refers to another of his magazines Home ampamp Garden clearly a riff on the Conde Nast publication House ampamp GardenquotElfquot 2003 The star of this movie which has inspired a Broadway musical and an animated TV special is Buddy the elf Will Ferrell Buddy39s name is inspired by a makebelieve brand of diapers Little Buddyamp160Buddy leaves the North Pole for New York City and winds up at Santa Land in Gimbels department store Gimbels was a reallife retailer that had gone out of business in 1987 unable to compete with rivals including Macy39s In an ironic twist the scenes set in Gimbels actually were filmed in Macy39s then digitally altered to resurrect the Gimbels brand There39s also a comic cameo by a 2liter bottle of CocaCola which Buddy chugs producing a prodigious burpamp160amp160amp160quotHoliday Affairquot 1949 The focus of the plot of this romantic comedy is the work of a comparison shopper Janet Leigh at Christmastime She39s employed by an imaginary New York department store Fisher ampamp Lewis and tangles with a clerk Robert Mitchum at another such retailer Crowley39s Interestingly Crowley Milner ampamp Company an actual department store chain in the Detroit area that went under in 1999 was known as Crowley39samp160The dialogue is interspersed with references to actual Gotham department stores of the era including Bloomingdale39s Gimbels Macy39s Saks and Wanamaker39squotIt39s a Wonderful Lifequot 1946 In the flashbacks to George Bailey39s life as a boy Gower Drugs is decorated with promotional items for CocaCola including signs a tray and a Tiffany lamp and George shows young Mary his copy of National Geographic magazine There39s a display of packs of cigarette brands like Camel and Lucky Strike and young George is prompted to seek his father39s advice by an ad for Sweet Caporal cigarettes bearing the slogan quotAsk Dad he knowsquotamp160There are signs for Schlitz beer quotin bottlesquot at both Martini39s and Nick39s bars And grownup George39s youngest daughter Zuzu whom he fondly calls quotmy little ginger snapquot is named after Zu Zu ginger snaps sold by the National Biscuit CompanyquotMiracle on 34th Streetquot 1947 The quintessential mashup of Hollywood and Madison Avenue is almost an infomercial for Macy39s Many scenes of this beloved movie were filmed on location at the flagship Herald Square store and during a Macy39s Thanksgiving Day parade the heroine is a Macy39s executive played by Maureen O39Haraamp160A crucial plot point involves the longtime rivalry between Macy39s and Gimbels which became part of the vernacular in the form of a phrase quotDoes Macy39s tells Gimbelsquot meaning that competitors don39t share secrets The retailers39 confrontations are transformed into a seasonal spirit of collaboration by Kris Kringle Edmund Gwenn who believes he39s really Santa Claus quotImagine a big outfit like Macy39s putting the spirit of Christmas ahead of the commercialquot says a shopper Thelma Ritter startled by the new attitude quotI never done much shopping here before but I39ll tell ya one thing From now on I39m going to be a regular Macy39s customerquot There are also shoutouts to other actual New York department stores of the era among them Hearns McCreery39s and Stern39sWhen Macy39s decided against coopering with the production of a 1994 remake also titled quotMiracle on 34th Streetquot Macy39s was replaced by a fictitious chain named CF Cole or Cole39s no relation to the reallife discount department store chain Kohl39sThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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Stuart Elliott: In Classic Movies It's Always Christmas in Adland

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