Nostalgia Sunday – Commercials Go Way Retro

March 7, 2010 - 10:17 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Music, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, tv 

We are awash in a flood of nostalgia that shows absolutely no sign on abating. As part of that trend, our commercials and TV shows are populated by the stars of yesteryear, trying today to earn some of the cash-o-la they couldn’t back in those modest days.

Take, for example, singer-songwriter Mati Caspi, seen lately endorsing Bituach Yashir direct insurance. Other unlikely singing insurance pitchmen include David Broza and Boaz Sharabi.

And here, just to remind you of why we loved them — Riki Gal and Mati Caspi in concert televised by Channel 2, then in its infancy. (Check out Riki’s single lace glove!).

Gal, by the way, is still a force to be reckoned with (she judged the first two seasons of Kohav Nolad, the Israeli version of Pop Idol), and will be performing in Jerusalem on Monday night this week at a benefit for Tsad Kadima, the Israeli organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of children, adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy and other motor dysfunctions. (Tickets are still available. Contact anat@tsadkadima.org.il or call 02-6540062).

But back to nostalgia: even stars who no longer walk this earth are getting into the game. Israel Discount Bank revived a commercial from the 80s that starred the late great actor Shaike Ophir.

The ad’s revival highlights the fact Discount Bank was Israel’s first to offer telebanking-a revolutionary concept back then, especially in light of the poor quality of our phone service (“poor” being a polite substitute for the other four letter word I was considering using). Ophir actually offers the cop an asimon phone token so he can make the call. The commercial has proven so popular, there’s a follow-up where today’s comedians pay homage to Ophir:

Even Maccabi Health Services has climbed on the retro bandwagon, launching a radio campaign that employs the use of this catchy jingle for powdered orangeade Zip. The connection between HMO and beverage is tenuous — something about “We’re not in the Eighties anymore, so why should your health organization be?” — but it’s fun to revisit the era and that peculiar but sweet Israeli institution of the family whistle. Enjoy the original.

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Brother less big now

October 6, 2008 - 8:23 AM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Art, General, History and Culture, Politics 

Big Brother from 1984 and not from IsraelIsraeli culture is one of the nation’s most important exports in terms of public relations, and the Foreign Ministry has been active in sponsoring international tours for Israel’s most exciting performers or some time.

ISRAEL21c has been reporting on the phenomenon for several years now:

“We have found that bringing Israeli musicians to the United States is an exciting and effective way of engaging students, said Aviva Raz Schechter, Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, DC.

“It provides us with the opportunity to highlight Israel’s cultural achievements and to show that Israel is more than just a conflict. Many American students are tired of debating about the Arab-Israeli conflict; music serves as a great way of connecting Jewish and non-Jewish young people with the country. We are particularly excited to be hosting Idan Raichel, who is not only a wonderful performer but also an example of the diverse society of which Israel is so proud,” Schechter told ISRAEL21c.

Rapper Shaanan Streett of Hadag Nachash has even publicly expressed dismay at the warmth with which his act has been received by local bureaucrats, despite the ensemble’s well-known proclivity for lyrics which are often critical of the homeland. This, despite the Foreign Ministry’s insistence that sponsored artists sign agreements nicknamed “Big Brother Contracts,” dictating that if they talk trash about Israel while on tour, they obligate themselves to pay the government back.

Regardless, Hadag Nachash and many other edgy acts have participated in performance and speaking tours to North America and Europe with governmental backing, spreading good Israeli cheer to the Diaspora, where identification with sabra culture can go a long way. And now, tours like these are getting easier to set up, with the Foreign Ministry having announced recently that the Big Brother Contracts are, like the real 1984, history. It’s good timing, coming just months after the government was criticized for unveiling new plans to keep an extremely close watch on its populace.

Quoting from a story in the Hebrew Yediot Acharonot tabloid, the McClatchy newspaper group’s Checkpoint Jerusalem blog recently celebrated the move, which was apparently orchestrated by authors A.B. Yehoshua and Meir Shiloh and championed by Arye Mekel, deputy director of the ministry’s Cultural and Scientific Affairs Department.

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