Top 5 Gretzky commercials

It’s been a busy last couple of days, but I’m getting caught up and have been itching to post this for a while:

Top Five Wayne Gretzky Commercials

Seeing as how this month is the 20 year anniversary of “The Trade”, I figured these cheesy commercials featuring “The Great One” would be appropriate. So, in familiar countdown fashion, let us see the best that YouTube has to offer…

5. Bo Knows
This commercial, from around 1990 or so, stars Bo Jackson, the former athlete who starred in both pro football and pro baseball. There are numerous cameo appearances by many famous sports stars, including Gretzky himself. The story goes that Wayne was supposed to ask “Bo Knows hockey?” in the commercial, but kept messing up the line, causing the director to shorten his dialog. Gretzky appears around the 14-second mark.

“No.” That’s it–no. But Gretzky’s delivery makes that the funniest part of the commercial.

4. Domino’s Pizza
Bo may know baseball, football, tennis and hockey–but in 1994 Wayne Gretzky knew that the only great pizza is a fresh pizza. Watch as Gretzky skates across a sheet of ice to deliver a pipin’ hot pizza to your front door.

Apparently they did not have to shorten his dialog to “No”. Though I wonder if the kid tipped him.

3. McDonald’s Gretzky vs. Sundin
Gretzky’s acting ability got way better in the late 1990s, when he played for the New York Rangers. Here, he has a puck shooting contest with Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin–the loser has to buy the winner lunch at McDonald’s. Surprisingly, this commercial is pretty good.

“Aren’t you getting hungry yet?”

2. Bud Light “Bubble Boys” ad campaign
In 2000, Bud Light beer ran a series of commercials starring the “Bubble Boys”–two talking little hockey men from a tabletop hockey game (sometimes called “bubble hockey”). Gretzky was named the commissioner of the “Bubble Boys Hockey League”.

Later on, Gretzky was asked how he’d fare as a bubble hockey player…

“Go get him!”
“We can’t! We don’t go back there!”

1. 7-Up
Wow. Just, wow. This one is so bad, it’s awesome. There’s no way I could not make this #1. This commercial from 1981 stars Wayne and his younger brother Keith.

Stilted dialog, bad puns, horrible jingle…this one gets a hat trick!

“At last, clean, refreshing 7-Up.”

Honorable Mention – Phoenix Coyotes
What can be funnier than Gretzky “bench pressing” in that last commercial?

Gretzky coaching.

Oooh, burn!

Actually, this commercial merits an honorable mention because Gretzky’s acting is halfway decent here, as he interacts with an angry French-Canadian snowman puppet.


mm

Author: Sal Barry

Sal Barry is the editor and webmaster of Puck Junk. He is a freelance hockey writer, college professor and terrible hockey player. Follow him on Twitter @puckjunk

4 thoughts on “Top 5 Gretzky commercials”

  1. Gretzky made a pretty horrific commerical for GWG jeans (“They’re lookin’ at me”) in about 1981.

    Gretz as a fashion model.

    It’s out there somewhere. It has to be.

  2. I guess that number three is something for the players at the All-Star Game Skills Competition to have a look at quite a few times this upcoming winter, with the last one still in somewhat fresh memory. :/

  3. I seem to remember Wayne Gretzky doing an anti-smoking commercial. “If I did this” (it shows someone smoking) “I wouldn’t be able to do this” (it shows Gretzky on the ice making a play). I’m pretty sure he was with another athlete in the commercial. Does anyone remember this?

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