Category: Food

6 min 0

Party Animal Icon: Spuds MacKenzie and the Marketing Madness of the 1980s

In the whirlwind of 1980s pop culture, few advertising mascots burned brighter—or more bizarrely—than Spuds MacKenzie. Introduced by Anheuser-Busch in 1987 to promote Bud Light, Spuds was an English bull terrier with a laid-back demeanor, a surf-party vibe, and a Hollywood agent’s charisma. Within months, he was on TV, in magazines, on posters, T-shirts, beach towels, and even lunchboxes. He became a pop culture icon almost overnight. But he was also the center of controversy, marketing debates, and the era’s evolving conversation about the ethics of advertising—especially when it came to selling beer using what looked suspiciously like a children’s…
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7 min 0

Everyone Thought the Wendy’s Salad Bar Was Awesome in the 1980s

In the 1980s, Wendy’s was already carving out its place in the fast-food landscape as a fresh and innovative alternative to the giants like McDonald’s and Burger King. While its square burgers and the iconic “Where’s the beef?” campaign are often the first things that come to mind when thinking about Wendy’s during that era, one of the lesser-remembered but deeply cherished features was the Wendy’s salad bar. Back then, the idea of a fast-food restaurant offering a salad bar was revolutionary — and it quickly became something of a cultural phenomenon. For many people, especially health-conscious families and kids…
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