• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • ABOUT US
  • MEDIA
  • PRIVACY
  • TERMS
  • DMCA
  • CONTACT US
  • AUTHORS
do you remember

DoYouRemember?

The Home of Nostalgia

  • Celebrity News
    • Family
    • Obituaries
    • Life Behind the Fame
    • ICONS
    • Celebrity Feuds
  • Entertainment
    • Cast
    • Showbiz Rewind
    • Music
    • Beauty & fashion
  • STORIES
  • Celebrity Buzz!?
  • Sitcoms
    • Bewitched
    • Little Rascals
    • The Partridge Family
    • I Dream of Jeannie
    • All in the Family
    • MASH
    • Happy Days
    • Cheers
  • Celebrity Collections
  • SHOP DYR
    • DYR Book

Stories

WATCH: Vintage Halloween Commercials We Want To See Return

by Dana Daly

Published November 4, 2020

Nostalgic Halloween

The latter half of each year inspires a certain type of marketing. Commercials become themed around the next few holidays that arrive starting in fall. But while commercials change themes throughout the year, they also changed their approaches across decades. Vintage Halloween commercials and specials radically transformed over the years…and, to an extent, disappeared.

Specials changed a lot overall. Some of this comes directly from the radical changes in technology and cultural practices that occurred in a very short time span. These changes become almost painfully apparent viewing a compilation of commercials from the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s.

Related:

  1. Remember These Vintage Food Commercials And Jingles?
  2. Watch And Enjoy The Most Iconic Commercials Of The 1970s

Vintage Halloween commercials and specials

One vintage Halloween commercial might promote McDonald's beloved Halloween Happy Meal bucket
One vintage Halloween commercial might promote McDonald’s beloved Halloween Happy Meal bucket / Dread Central

Across the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, vintage Halloween commercials presented viewers with a lot of fun specials. They featured products, food, and TV programs alike. After so many decades seeing these holiday staples, people can revisit these and feel immediate nostalgia.

RELATED: Vintage Halloween Costumes That Will Cause Serious Nostalgic Nightmares

That nostalgia power becomes doubly powerful thanks to innate love for Halloween and an appreciation for what all these vintage Halloween commercials represented: good, quality memories. People noted, “Things were just more alive back then” and “Back when time was simple and easy. I miss this.” Another viewer still asks the important question, “I don’t know why McDonald’s stopped selling those Halloween Happy Meal buckets. Those were better than anything else that’s come along.”

Where did all the good ads go?

Commercials and content changed as society shifted
Commercials and content changed as society shifted / YouTube

One comment sums it up best: “The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t, The Worst Witch, Halloween is Grinch Night, The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile, Casper’s Halloween Special, Teen Witch, etc. Even the food companies/restaurants got in on it – McDonalds witch/pumpkin/ghost candy pails, Count Chocula & Boo Berry cereals, Monster Pop popsicles.. If time travel ever became real, Halloween in the early 90s is where y’all could find me.”

People consume things very differently today. The boom in technology and social media changes how advertisers approach subjects – and what subjects they advertise about (same with entire products and franchises.) Add that to 2020’s pandemic, where social distancing demands small crowds separated by six feet, and Halloween becomes very different compared to previous decades. In the past, kids admitted to watching whatever aired on TV when they had free time – because there just wasn’t another option! No YouTube or Netflix or other streaming services to find movies or millions of amusing cat videos. With that access, people turn to computers and phones where services allow them to adjust how many commercials they encounter. Values shift and big target audiences demand new content. So, Halloween commercials today look very different from vintage ones decades ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJRh3FEQRcY

Next up: Ron Howard And His Wife Celebrated 50th Anniversary Of First Date In The Same Car
Previous article: Ron Howard And His Wife Celebrated 50th Anniversary Of First Date In The Same Car
Next Post: How Will Macy’s 2020 Thanksgiving Day Parade Operate This Year?

Primary Sidebar

© 2025 DoYouRemember? Inc.

  • about us
  • media
  • privacy
  • terms
  • DMCA
  • CONTACT US
  • AUTHORS