Flashback Friday – “What Would You Do For A Klondike Bar?”

"What Would You Do For A Klondike Bar?"

It’s time for Flashback Friday! This week, we’re jumping back to 1982 and taking a look at one of the more famous ice cream jingles, “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” Some remember the original advertising campaign which started in ’82, some recall the funny commercials from the 1990’s, and some think of the present day, outrageous answers to the age old question. One of the earlier, yet famous, Klondike ads featured a fake Shakespeare and Gary Coleman reciting his famous line, “What you talkin’ ‘bout
Shakespeare?” The commercial is featured below.

William Isaly created the Isaly Dairy Company in the first few years of the 1900’s. 70 years later, the “classic” Klondike Bar was only distributed in Pennsylvania and Ohio. As the company moved through the 1970’s, the ice cream bar started to be introduced to a few other states. A big move was made in 1982 when the bar was introduced on a nation-wide level. To accompany the nation-wide release, an advertising campaign was created asking a simple question, “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?”

With the introduction of this simple question and some creative commercials, Klondike Bars became an overnight sensation all across the nation. Isaly Dairy Company grew in size during this time, and attracted serious interest by other companies. Isaly Dairy Company was officially purchase by Unilever in 1993. Once in the hands of Unilever, the product continued to experience amazing growth when seen with other products like Popsicle and Good Humor Ice Cream.

At the start of 2000, the campaign was still going strong with edgier content being produced to keep with the turn of the century. In 2009, one particular commercial caught the attention of many. It showed a hairy man getting hair waxed off of his chest, followed by “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” After hearing the jingle spoken, the hairy man’s face turns to extreme pain as a Brazilian wax was started off camera. Unilever even created a contest asking the customer what they would do, film the action, and submit it in a contest.

This leaves me, and possibly you, asking the question, “What would I do for a Klondike Bar?”