Part Four of my look over the Two Ronnies Hertz Advertising Campaign deals with the advert that I will call ‘Toys.’ You can watch it here.
It sticks very much with the British-ness of the ‘Football’ advert I looked at earlier in the series. This advert sees both Rons portraying executives racing to the London Toy Fair.
Ronnie B plays Trubshaw who very cleverly uses Hertz to get to London from Newcastle, whereas Ronnie C playing McWeeny decides to use public transport to get to London. It’s interesting to note that the concept of public transport being worse than driving a car is now an alien concept in the 21st century! No advertisers would dare suggest driving into London rather than taking the train. It was the 1980’s – public transport was still a dirty phrase!
(Ronnie C struggles with public transport)
Lots of locations are used – presumably in both Newcastle and London. I am however, unable to locate any of these just by looking at the advert. I believe that the power station seen in the background near the beginning could be one of the Stella Power Stations (North or South) in Tyne & Wear and presume the factories where the Two Rons work are nearby.
(the factories and power station locations – presumably in Newcastle)
A London tube station can be seen when Ronnie C arrives late to the Toy Fair, but again, I am unable to find out which.
This advert follows the same line as all the others – ‘grumble and grunt.’ It sees Ronnie C going back to his Scottish roots, and he even dons a Kilt for the advert.
It’s one of the better ads in the series, and has a strong narrative throughout. It doesn’t rely on ‘fancy’ locations like some of the others and feels more like a Two Ronnies sketch than most too.
(Ronnie B’s ‘Trubshaw Toys’ wins the event)
Interesting to note – in some of the shots (in ‘Newcastle’) there is quite clearly heavy snow. This was obviously filmed in the depths of winter – I’d imagine Ronnie C bore the brunt of this, what with his kilt.
One other thing to note – the Ford Granada MkII that Ronnie B drives with registration number ULK 19X was last taxed in 1994, so is presumably scrapped.
(Ronnie C is forced to take the tube home)
