Film and TV

In Search of The Beef: A Look Back at Iconic American Ad Slogans

It's hard to imagine, but it's been 27 years this week since little old Clara Peller first questioned the size of her hamburger patty, launching one of the most iconic advertising catchphrases in American history.

In celebration of the missing beef's birthday, we take a look back at some of the most popular advertising slogans in recent history...after the jump.



"Where's the Beef?" Wendy's, 1984 Scrappy, loudmouthed actress Clara Peller first asked the question in a Wendy's commercial that aired January 10, 1984. The campaign, centered around Peller's interactions with the fictitious "Fluffy Bun Hamburger" corporation, ended in 1985 when Peller announced in a Prego spaghetti sauce commercial that she had, indeed, "found the beef." While the actual marketing campaign was short lived, its impact on popular culture was not. The iconic catchphrase or variations of it can be found everywhere from '80s T-shirts, television episodes of The Simpsons, Scrubs, and The Office, movies like Hot Tub Time Machine, or in the lyrics to a Leonard Cohen song ("Closing Time": We're lonely, we're romantic, and the cider's laced with acid, and the Holy Spirit's crying," Where's the beef?)

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Lauren Marmaduke
Contact: Lauren Marmaduke