Woolworth's Cassette Tapes TV Ad from 1983

So what has a 1983 TV advert for cassette tapes by Woolworth's got do do with 80s fashion? Well, quite a lot actually. For a start, cassettes were very fashionable back then, but the advert is quite fascinating to watch with regard to the clothing being worn by the people in the ad, as it is so dull! There's a lot of grey and navy blue, which suggests they wanted the attention to be focused on the tapes and not the clothing. Indeed, it looks like a store full of plain clothes police officers!

Featuring a whopping 35p off the 100 hottest tapes, that amount seems laughable now. But back in 1983, it was enough to tempt you in, I suppose. You will notice that Kenny Everett is narrating with his slightly zany voice. Of course, Kenny was huge back then, so he would have been roped in to help boost sales, and I expect he was paid a tidy sum, of course.

The end of the advert features the slogan which you will, no doubt, remember "That's the wonder of woolworth". I really miss those times when the High Street was the No.1 place to hang out on a Saturday afternoon. Now we have virtually no shops left at all, and it's just a very sad state of affairs.

So what about those cassettes then? Well, they include Status Quo, Rod Stewart, A Night at the Opera by Queen, Feelings by Johnny Mathis and Let The Music Play by Barry White, to name but a few - quite a diverse range of musical genres, but a rather mainstream choice. Mainly soul, rock and easy listening for Mums and Dads, and no synthpop whatsoever!

As a teenager back in the 80s, I always found sales in music stores to be a big disappointment, and they never really included the kind of music that I was listening to at the time.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting ad to watch just for pure nostalgia, and I hope you enjoyed viewing it.

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