Slogans

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

One of the first ways developed to hook a customer and make him remember a product was to associate a short phrase or sentence with it—in effect creating a Catch Phrase linked to a product rather than a character. Like a Catch Phrase a slogan needs to be short and punchy if it's to work optimally, but long(er) ones are not unknown—during the 1980s it seemed like some companies were trying to cram an entire feel-good mission statement into their products' slogans.

The best slogans have almost no inherent meaning but are memorable enough that they bring their product immediately to mind. Particularly good slogans can be used for decades and become permanently associated with their product. Other products change their slogans with monotonous regularity.

Slogans can be incorporated into a Jingle for a double punch.

Sometimes the punchline of a commercial can become a slogan, intentionally or not.

Slogans do not necessarily translate well into other languages—see Bite the Wax Tadpole.

Examples of Slogans include:
  • "The Stronger Soaker-upper!" and "The Quicker Picker-upper!" (Bounty paper towels)
  • Coca-Cola is one of the best examples, as it's had dozens, starting with the straightforward "Drink Coca-Cola" in 1886; it unveils a new slogan every few years. Some of the more memorable ones during the last few decades include "Coke is it", "I'd like to buy the world a Coke", "Coke adds life", "The pause that refreshes", "Have a Coke and a smile", "Always Coca-Cola", "Red, white and you", "Can't beat the feeling" "Can't beat the real thing", and the elegantly simple "Enjoy". Previously "Taste the Coke Side of Life", recently it's "Open Happiness".
  • General Electric: "We bring good things to life." Now "Imagination At Work".
  • Burger King's most famous slogan was "Have it your way".
    • In Australia, where it's called Hungry Jack's, the slogan is "The burgers are better at Hungry Jack's".
    • The BK Kids Meal's successor, the BK Crown, has "Imagination Is King".
  • McDonald's, as of 2006, is using "i'm Lovin' it!". They've also used "Did somebody say McDonald's?", among others; one promotion in the 1970s turned the entire ingredients list for a Big Mac into a slogan/jingle that many Baby Boomers can still recite today.
    • "Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun." Or, as it was usually said, "TwoAllBeefPattiesSpecialSauceLettuceCheesePicklesOnionsOnASesameSeedBun."
  • Maxwell House Coffee: "Good to the last drop!" Coined by Teddy Roosevelt a century ago.
  • deBeers: "A diamond is forever."
  • Wendy's: "Where's the beef?"
  • "Calgon, take me away!"
  • "Gentlemen prefer Hanes."
  • Smith Barney brokerage: "We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it."
  • "Pork -- the other white meat."
  • "Beef -- it's what's for dinner."
  • "The American Express Card -- don't leave home without it."
    • Also "That'll do nicely!" - created by Salman Rushdie.
    • Visa—It's Everywhere You Want to Be."
    • Mastercard -- Priceless."
  • Motel 6: "We'll leave the light on for you."
  • Nike: "Just do it."
  • "Radioshack: The Technology Store."
  • "Does she or doesn't she? Only her hairdresser knows for sure."
  • Wheaties: "Breakfast of Champions" (Another slogan that dates back all the way to radio. At least.)
  • Alka Seltzer: "Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is." (which was also a Jingle)
  • "It's Shake-and-Bake, and I helped."
  • Dunkin' Donuts: "Time to make the donuts."
    • "America runs on Dunkin'."
  • Subversion leading to a change: DuPont's "Better Things For Better Living ... Through Chemistry" was shorn of its last two words after the phrase "Better Living Through Chemistry" was subverted by the drug culture.
  • "Do you have any Grey Poupon?" "But of course!"
  • "Everybody needs a little KFC."
    • Kentucky Fried Chicken, we do chicken right!
    • And now "so S O... G double-O D Good."
  • "Every kiss begins with Kay."
  • "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Mastercard." (NOTE: parodies of the "priceless" gimmick wore out their welcome years ago, but that hasn't yet stopped anyone from making them)
  • Geico parodies this with their "So easy, a caveman can do it" commercials, in which cavemen take offense at the slogan.
  • L'Oreal: "Because I'm/you're worth it."
    • L'Oreal Kids: "Because we're worth it too."
  • Maybelline: "Maybe she's born with it, Maybe it's Maybelline."
  • Cover Girl: "Easy, breezy, beautiful. Cover Girl."
  • A digital pregnancy test: "The most sophisticated piece of technology you'll ever pee on." That sounds like a challenge to me, frankly.
  • Chuck E. Cheese's, "Where a kid can be a kid".
    • Also used by its predecessor/former competitor, Showbiz Pizza.
  • Polaner All-Fruit spread: 'Could you please pass the jelly?': You always had a bunch of 'upper-crust' (or stuck-up rich people, take your pick) asking 'Could you please pass the Polaner All-Fruit?' and then some 'country' or such person go 'Could you please pass the jelly?' and cause everyone to faint since he called All-Fruit 'jelly'.
  • "It's Pimms'o'clock!"
  • Amusingly enough the United States Army has been recruiting for years with increasingly shorter slogans. From 1981 through today it's gone through "Be All that you Can Be" to "An Army of One" to "Army Strong." This troper fully expects the next slogan to be simply the word "Army," and then finally "Hi."
  • Folger's: "The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup."
  • Stouffer's: "Nothing comes closer to home."
  • Nestle's Coffee-mate: "Coffee's perfect mate."
  • "A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play."
  • "Behold, The Power of Cheese."
  • "Is it live or is it Memorex"?
  • "No elves."
  • "Got Milk?"
  • "I dreamed I ______ in my Maidenform bra."
  • British Anthology Comic The Beano used to have a slogan "Never be without a Beano".
  • Sony Had 3 international slogans (5 adding the US slogans "The One and Only" (80's) and "Research Makes The Difference (60's to 70's): "It's a Sony", "like.no.other" and its recent one, "make.believe".
  • "Poof! There goes perspiration!" This is pretty dated since roll-on deodorants made Stopette and its squeeze bottles obsolete, as Mad Magazine noted back in 1962. Rodgers and Hammerstein alluded to it in a Me and Juliet song.
  • "Do you remember a time when you heard this slogan? Pepperidge farm remembers"
  • We will not be intimidated by criminal threats!
  • Ivory Soap: "It floats!" and "99 44⁄100% Pure", both in constant use since the late 19th century.

Alcohol

  • "Budweiser -- the King of Beers."
    • "This Bud's for you."
  • Captain Morgan's Rum: "Got a little Captain in ya?" (this is pretty disturbing when taken out of context)
  • "Fosters: Australian for beer." Naturally, this slogan is not used in Australia itself.
  • Miller Lite: "Great Taste. Less Filling."
  • Paul Masson Winery: "We will sell no wine before its time."

Automobiles

  • Audi has had "Vorsprung durch Technik" ("progress through technology") since The Seventies, and notably used it in most markets except the USA untranslated. It's well-known enough to have been quoted by bands like Blur and U2 and given Shout Outs in films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or TV shows like Only Fools and Horses. The US slogan is "Truth in Engineering".
  • Chevrolet: "The Heartbeat of America"
  • "Have you driven a Ford... lately?" The definition of "lately" must be pretty flexible as this slogan was first used in 1982 and appears in commercials for the 2007/2008 models.
    • Ford seems to suffer from slogans prone to Fridge Logic. They also have "Built Ford tough", which if one thinks about it, is always true even if the Ford were made of paper mache.
  • "Fahrvergnugen" for Volkswagen.
    • In The US by recent times, it's "Das Auto."

Television

  • Animal Planet: "Surprisingly Human"
  • Every [day] at [time], Cartoon Network/Adult Swim is building you a better cartoon show. We call it Toonami .
  • Ion: "Positively entertaining."
  • NBC: "More Colorful."
  • Syfy: "Imagine Greater."
  • TNT: "We know drama."
  • USA: "Characters Welcome."

Tobacco

  • "Call for Philip Morris!" (Better known for its use on radio, but was heard on TV in its early days.)
    • The same goes for a rival tobacco company's slogan: "I'd walk a mile for a Camel."
    • Lucky Strike had several, including "Be happy, go Lucky," "It's toasted!" and "L.S./M.F.T." (Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco). The latter two are still printed on their packaging.
    • "Winston tastes good like a *clap clap* cigarette should!"
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