| COMMERCIAL VAULT |
| by Adam King |
To prove I don't just have Atari commercials, this month's ad is for Mattel's
Intellivision II System. In 1982, Mattel released a redesigned Intellivision,
that was not only sleeker looking, but was also cheaper to manufacture, and
therefore retailed for quite less.
In this ad, a boy is writing George Plimpton that his friend wants an
Intellivision but it's too expensive, so his dad is giving him an Atari instead.
Plimpton writes back about the cheaper INTV II system, hoping it'll change his
mind.
The boy writes:
"Dear Mr. Intellivision-sorry, Plimpton-my friend wants an Intellivision because
of those great games. His dad wants him to have the other video game because
it's cheaper. Could you do something about the price?"
George Plimton replies:
"Dear-what was his name-I think I have something that'll make your friend very
happy: Intellivision II. The people at Mattel Electronics have drastically
reduced the size and price, but it plays the same great games. Your friend's
father has no excuse now."
PICTURES:
"Who's this guy behind me?"
"Gee, I sure hope he can help."
"Is that punk bugging me again?"
"..So buy it or else! Sincerely, G. Plimpton"
In case you're wondering, that IS the boy from the movie E.T. Henry Thomas, to
be exact. Since Atari had the rights to E.T. Mattel hired Henry Thomas to star
in Intellivision commercials. However, Mattel didn't allow his name to be
mentioned in the ads for fear of a lawsuit, hence the "what was his name".
If you gamers out there have a suggestion for a commercial for this column, let
me know and I'll see if I can find it. Also let me know if you know a place
where I can download old commercials (except for commercial-archive.com, which
continues to have problems >:# ).