You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

 

For a long while now, I’ve wanted to do an Ad Space on The Simpsons, on all the many commercials they’ve made and products they’ve shilled. But that body of work is so vast, trying to cover it all felt intimidating.

So today, I’m gonna set a more modest goal for myself, and just cover some highlights from their most famous ad campaign: that time Bart Simpson was the official mascot of Butterfinger candy bars.

 

The first ad in the series came early, back when those weird, Klasky-Csupo character designs could still be seen in the background.

While obviously meant as a joke, I’m still amazed at the chutzpah of declaring that Butterfinger candy bars are an essential food group, and that you can die of malnutrition without them.

 

It would take a few more commercials before Butterfinger hit on the formula that would define this ad campaign. Lifted straight from countless children’s cereal ads before them, they had someone (usually Homer) try to steal away Bart’s Butterfinger, and meet with comical failure.

“Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!” instantly surpassed “It’s neato!” as a catchphrase.

 

At times, the constant threat on Bart’s Butterfingers went in some nightmarish directions.

Awesome animation and art design, though.

 

What’s really interesting about these ads, looking back, is how some of them seem to have predicted, or even inspired, plots that would be used on the actual show. Like this two-part commercial from 1993 that presages the “Who Shot Mr. Burns?” gimmick.

 

But that’s nothing compared to this ad, which I swear, someone on the Simpsons staff must have seen before penning “Grade School Confidential”.

 

This series of ads really was a great marriage of Simpsons animation and humor with the needs of advertising. But, of course, it was not to last: