Colt 45 (malt liquor)

Throughout most of the 60s and 70s, Colt 45 was marketed towards the suburban white-collar middle class demographic. To this end, in a memorable ad campaign that lasted over 15 years, Billy Van portrayed a gentleman in suit and tie quietly sitting at a small table and taking little notice of all the activity going on around him, until a waiter or someone showed up with a schooner glass and a can of Colt 45. Music resembling Song of the Nairobi Trio played in the background while a voice-over announcer intoned:

In the dull and commonplace occurrences of day-to-day living, one thing stands out as a completely unique experience: Colt 45 Malt Liquor.

In subsequent commercials, the surroundings became increasingly peculiar, including, but not limited to:

• sitting on the shore of a busy beach
• at the end of an airport runway
• on an ice rink, in front of the goal during a hockey game
• in a bullring, during a bullfight
• an encounter with a shark
• at the bottom of a ski jump (which featured a cameo by Redd Foxx)

The one constant in each of these commercials was Van himself, who remained unperturbed while sitting at the table, though in some instances he became indirectly involved in the tumult unfolding around him. Van won a 1975 Clio Award for one of these commercials.

By 1978, the "waiting man" commercials were replaced with more contemporary ads and the slogan "That Dynamite Taste"; one of the new commercials briefly featured a then-unknown Ted Danson. Beginning in 1980, Colt 45 began a long association with actor Billy Dee Williams, who appeared in their print and billboard ads as well as on television. The product's slogan during that era, as stated by Williams in his television commercials, was, "It works every time." Williams responded indifferently to criticism of his appearances in the liquor commercials.