USA Today has a list of the 25 most memorial commercials from the past 25 years. Most of these I remember as I’m a little bit north of 30. I’ve added the YouTube versions where available, and they do bring back memories. Unfortunately USA Today focuses a lot on the 90s, and there are some more recent ads that they may have overlooked. Here are the first 15 ads on their list, with the rest available at the source.

1. Lifealert: I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up! (1990)

2. Apple Macintosh: 1984 (1984)

3. Wendy’s: Where’s the Beef? (1984)

4. Isuzu: Joe “Trust me” Isuzu (1986)
I don’t remember this one at all, probably because I was too young when it aired, although I definitely remember “Where’s the Beef” from that same year. Here is USA Today’s description. You can see some of the ads on YouTube.

Joe Isuzu ranks among the most memorable auto pitchmen. He (David Leisure) was a remarkably likable liar making outrageous claims about the Isuzus. Joe’s job as slimy hawker wasn’t to sell cars, but to familiarize consumers with the then-little-known Isuzu name. Did he ever. Trust us.

5. Energizer Bunny (1989)

6. Bartles & Jaymes: Thank You for Your Support (1985)

7. California Raisin Advisory Board: Heard it Through the Grapevine (1986)

8. Budweiser: Croaking Frogs (1995)

9. Bush campaign: Willie Horton (1988)
Here’s a link to the YouTube video

Who can forget that mug shot? The ad tried to link Democratic presidential opponent Michael Dukakis to a prison furlough for the Massachusetts convict during which Horton raped a woman and stabbed her boyfriend. But Dukakis felt the knife.

10. California Milk Processors Board: Got Milk? (1993)

11. Partnership for a Drug-Free America: “This is Your Brain on Drugs” (1987)
I really hated this ad!

12. Ikea: Gay Men Shopping (1994)
Does anyone remember this commercial? I could not find it on YouTube

Major marketers were too timid to court gays on TV until Ikea broke the barrier. Two male actors portray a couple shopping for a dining room table. IKEA was bold, but not so much that they shopped for other rooms.

13. McDonald’s: Nothing but Net (1993)
Michael Jordan vs. Larry Bird. I remember this commercial well.

14. Pepsi: Michael Jackson on fire (1984)
Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire in this one, but in the versions on YouTube it’s cut out. Is there an actual commercial showing his hair on fire? USA Today words their description of this ad as if the hair-on-fire scene exists:

This ad is remembered not for its wonderfully 1980s capture of the Jackson mystique, but for its pyrotechnics gone awry. Jackson’s hair caught fire, and nothing else mattered – not even the fact that the Gloved One refused to be seen in the ad actually holding a Pepsi.

15. Reagan Campaign: Morning in America (1984)
This looks like a car commercial at first.

Thanks to USA Today for the memories and for all the users on YouTube who uploaded these classic commercials. Article found via Fark.