Wednesday 17 October 2012

Aeroplane Jelly


I was going to write about Madrid today, because I paid my first visit to the city last month.  Don't know how I ever missed it before but it's instantly gone onto my list of favourite cities. But you'll have to wait to hear about Madrid, because  this morning on the radio was an item about the iconic Australian spread, Vegemite. Great sound clips, which included Barack Obama and the Australian Prime Minister discussing it, and also an old advertising jingle for Vegemite.


I spent some of my childhood in Australia, but must have missed eating Vegemite in my crucial babyhood years, so I am afraid I was NOT a Happy Little Vegemite and my mum soon learned not to buy it.  But it got me thinking to those far off days in Sydney where the highlight of the week was our Sunday trip to Coogee Beach and we had lemon trees and kookaburras in the garden.  

And although Vegemite left me cold, Aeroplane Jelly was a big deal.   I totally agreed with its advertising jingle that I liked it for dinner and I liked it for tea - trouble is, my mum didn't agree and kept giving me boiled eggs or vegetables instead.   I believe their song (composed in 1937)  is used today, but here it is for those of you who have never been to Australia.


Hearing it again, I thought how singable it is and I'm not surprised I've remembered the tune and words all these years.   And it takes me back to those childhood days when the sun really did (almost) always shine. At least, it always shone compared with England..

And, it got me thinking how advert jingles become a real part of a child's life, and if I was in advertising I'd be creating  jingles at every opportunity.

Are there any brands you still like because of the jingles?

And isn't it scary how impressionable children are?

And shouldn't I go back to Australia?  I can't believe I have never returned as an adult. My dad and mum often said they wished they'd stayed there, but Dad's tour of duty came to an end and we had to go. How different my life would have been.....

54 comments:

  1. Jenny I enjoyed vegemite and cheese on my crisps this morning and Aeroplane jelly (strawberry of course) with a scoop of ice cream this hot afternoon. The whole family sing both jingles and it gets quite rowdy.
    Vegemite and Aeroplane jelly are still made in Australia but both are now foreign owned.
    ...might go and finish that jelly....

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  2. I have just been on holiday with friends including Mum from Canada and two daughters (one living in Canada and one, you've guessed it, Coogee in Australia). It's a very small world we live in.

    I'm not a Vegemite fan either although as you may or may not know (I'm not sure when I last blogged on the subject) I am a very enthusiastic lover of proper, ie UK, Marmite.

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  3. I shared vegemite with flatmates from Oz in my 70's bedsit days in the King's Road. It left me cold too, as does Marmite and Bovril. Now, 'Aeroplane Jelly', what a great name! x

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  4. i have never had either of these honestly...the jingle though is def one that would stick in your head....i dunno if there are any i buy right now just because of the jingle...in many ways we seem to have gotten away from that in advertizing....i can still hear the B-O-L-O-G-N-A jingle....ha...

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  5. I was watchng the end of the F1 the other day, when the front three are on the podium slinging champagne around, and they always play the Toreador Song from Carmen when it happens. All at once both me and K (which is why we had F1 on really - he's a fan) started singing: "Esso sign means happy motoring....." It doesn't make me buy Esso, but I clearly haven't forgotten it. It dates from the Sixties, I think.

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  6. Have you ever read the book "In A Sunburned Country" by Bill Bryson? (Might have a different title in England). I'm not a huge fan of Bill Bryson but I think that it is one book where he really GOT the character of Australia. My sister lived there for years and it is one place that I have always wanted to visit!

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  7. Jenny loves Vegemite but I'm not keen on it - partly because of the high salt content. I'd never heard of Aeroplane Jelly, even though I've been to Oz several times and have some good friends there. Apparently it used to contain pure fruit but no longer does.

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  8. What a nostalgic post, Jenny! Well, Australia is still there for you to visit, but maybe there is something about the enchantment of childhood places that we're afraid of not finding again when we revisit them.

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  9. I do agree Meike. For a start my mum and dad wouldn't be bustling around in the house, and I wouldn't have my friends to play with or our nice next door neighbours. Nick, you and your friends just haven't talked about Aeroplane jelly, that's all :) Actually Kay I have NOT read that book and I'd love to. I don't really know anyone there well enough to visit, but that would probably be the main thing that would make me go all that way. I even tried to contact my cousin Warwick Wilson who I had happy memories of visiting, but although I found quite a few Warwick Wilsons, they weren't the right one. Oh, yes, AJ I seem to remember Esso had some great jingles. All these things date from the days before they were faceless international conglomerates. GB, like you I like Marmite but not Vegemite. According to the radio today it was created when Australians couldn't get supplies of Marmite in World War 1, and decided to make something better themselves. Oh, Rose, it is good to know they are still going strong!

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  10. Though I've heard of Vegemite I've never tasted it, and knowing what a fussy eater I am I probably wouldn't like it. Never heard of Aeroplane jelly.
    As for jingoes that have stuck with us through the years:
    N E S T L E S Nestle makes the very best CHOCOLATE

    And : Plop, Plop fizz, fizz oh what a relief it is Alka Seltzer

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  11. The jingle i remember over here was for Libby's canned vegetables.

    Yes, go back to Australia. It's a place i've always wanted to go, so i devour true traveler tales and pics from there.

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  12. Never tasted either, although I know where to find some in town. I'm not sure I want to try.

    I can still sing the Oscar Meyer boloney song. But I also know the preamble to the constitution because of the Education Rock PSAs, among other lessons taught in music with animation.

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  13. I've not heard of Aeroplane Jelly - but of course now I'm intensely curious! It's so funny how these things stick in one's memory...and to think you could've grown up where it's always sunny, how funny to think how a single decision can change one's life. I am not a huge Vegemite fan, but I love Marmite:)

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  14. Wonderful post, Jenny!

    Speedy (1951), the Alka-Seltzer® character is top of the list. But,I had to look up the jingle on Youtube. lol

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  15. Oh My Goodness ! I love Vegemite, On warm buttered toast or a Cheddar Cheese sandwich. You don't need much, what a great combination.
    Unfortunately because it is quite salty and I have to watch my carbs I can only have it as a treat once or twice a year.
    I do not know Aeroplane (love the spelling) Jelly but how "sweet" is that !
    Sometimes when you go back somewhere after a long time away it is usually different. When I drove back to Tucson after a many years away (knowing I would be moving back soon) as I was driving into town on the interstate the sun was setting and all of a sudden it was like I was enveloped in a warm hug of welcome. Lovely !

    cheers, parsnip

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  16. I have never tried either vegemite or aeroplane jelly probably because I have not been to Australia. Most advert. jingles are instantly forgettable. I am a marketing nightmare, I know.

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  17. N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestles's make the veeeery best chawk....let. (chocolate) Remember that one from when I was a kid. And the puppet dog was Jim Henson's first TV appearance long before the Muppets.

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  18. Since I am not a fan of wiggly jiggly food and aeroplane jelly remind me of that, I don't think I would like it although the jingle is adorable.

    I have never been to Spain (or Australia for that matter) and am looking forward to reading your post about Madrid.

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  19. Hi Jenny,

    Thought I'd drop in :) I tried Vegemite, once. That was enough of that, thank you. It seems you are hankering for a visit to Australia. As for aeroplane jelly, a cute ad and a product I've never heard of. Although, on some aeroplane flights, my belly has felt like jelly :)

    You take good care.

    Gary

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  20. I will just say I have won a few bets on just how many jingles I know... 'Nuff said. Like many of the others, I've not heard of Aeroplane Jelly, but sounds good. I do know Vegemite, but never have tried it. Amazing the things you know from your chidhood that just come back to you with one or two notes of a song...

    Cat

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  21. Hi Jenny...that Aeroplane Jelly jingle is very singable and I loved the graphics that go with it. Never heard of Aeroplane Jelly over here on this side of the world, but we had something similar and we call it Jello. Can't remember the jingles for that but I'm sure there were some.

    Never tried Vegemite (we can buy it here at the World Market) but did try the British Marmite (horrid stuff!) and they are tied together in my mind for some crazy reason!

    I did not see a lot of television as a kid but remember three jingles..."Hams, the beer refreshing" with Indian tom toms and a cartoon to match; "You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent" (can't remember the visuals) and "Coast Federal Savings" which showed a real bunny with some children's wooden building blocks. This is all more than 50 years ago...amazing what our minds can retain isn't it!

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  22. Hi Jenny - just dropping by again, so sorry the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain clip didn't work for you! Here's the actual link on YouTube, in case it works better & you're in the mood to take an unusual musical break:)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgJ7pk0X-s

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  23. I never tried Vegemite, but I did live in Madrid in 2004. I love the city! I'll wait for your post.

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  24. Oh, Jenny! So delightful to catch up with you - and I see you're as busy as I am. Only difference: I'm busy staying at home while you're busy traveling hither and yon! And, I'm loving all your reports on it! Those French castles and villages - too yum! I would love a sojourn in such a place - restoring all that history! It is late here in the states and now I shall have to go to bed with the Aero Jelly jingle rolling about in my head. Fun - thanks so for sharing!
    Joy!
    Kathy

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  25. I've never been to Australia, but I am dying to go. Did you hear the new Concorde will go from London to Sydney in 4 hours? Time to save my pennies :)

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  26. As an Australian, Vegemite is something that I just take for granted. I don't really eat it that often but there is always a jar in the pantry.
    It wasn't until I was in Thailand earlier this year and I got a stomach bug that I realised just how in had become embedded in my mind as a comfort food. When I finally got my appetite back all I wanted to eat was white toast with Vegemite, but there was none at the breakfast buffet.
    I've vowed that from now on I'll be one of those travellers who never leaves home without a jar of it.
    And for all of those people worried about it being bad for you, although it is full of salt it is also full of B vitamins.

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  27. Not being Australian I have never heard that jingle. But we get Vegemite here in NZ and I prefer it to the locally-made Marmite, which is similar - Dave.

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  28. I'm a Marmite fan, I wonder if it is similar to Vegemite. I have never been to Australia even though my mom moved out there and my stepdaughter now lives there. Strangely enough, I never yearned to go, always preferring Italy, American or Austria.

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    Replies
    1. As a person who lives in both countries (UK and NZ) and is a lifelong (very long) Marmite lover whatever anyone else tells you, Valerie, the answer is 'NO'. Nor is Antipodean Marmite.

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  29. Ooooh, I just loved this post! Strangely enough, I didn't remember any advertising jingles form the UK when I went to South Africa at the age of 9. But wow, do I remember South African jingles!! Citi Golf: "Red, yellow, blue (not green); red, yellow, blue. Shiny and new. Red, yellow, blue". Or Take Two which was a bit like Twix: "All it takes is two (Take Two Take), all it takes is two. Take two shortcake biscuits (bee bah bee bah), cover them in caramel. Take chocolate coating, smother them. All it takes is two (Take Two Take), all it takes is two."

    You've reminded me. I should write more about how strange South Africa was to me when we moved there in 1982, but for that I would have to take some photos. Luckily I am going there in December.

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  30. I have never been to either Madrid or Austalia. My bucket list is growing as I read :-)
    Di
    X

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  31. A major road not travelled, there, Jenny. It's always an interesting game to wonder what if I/we had taken that particular way through life. Life would nearly always have been different, but would it necessarily have been better? Yes, in some ways, no doubt, but... and there's always a but.

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  32. Vegemite is hardly known in Japan and has not good reputation among those who know it. It must be taste and flavor unique to Australia which could make people nostalgic to the country.

    Yoko

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  33. I've tried Vegemite once, I think it may be an acquired taste!
    Is Aeroplane Jelly like Jell-O? If it is then I wouldn't mind eating that one!

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  34. everything is better with bluebonnet on it!
    my friend just got back from Australia and brought me vegemite...a tasteful experience!

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  35. I think that you should go back to Australia...I have always wanted to go...As for jingles, there was one in France for some cheese called 'Le Rustique' I can still hear it!

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  36. oh yeah, lots stuck in my head from my childhood--i now don't pay too much attention to commercials, but if they have a jingle, nine times out of ten, i will remember the that :)

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  37. It's funny how songs or commercials trigger old memories. I've never been to Australia or had vegemite, but from it's description, I wonder how it tastes.

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  38. Vegemite is smoother than Marmite, but tends to get forgotten in the cupboard in the same manner.

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  39. Lovely to read your childhood memories, Jenny :o) Sounds like it was a great time and make me interested more in Australia. But friend of main told me that there are a lot of spiders and snakes, because of that I never wanted go there :O)
    Have a sweet and yummy weekend
    love
    Natasha

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  40. Oh my! I never knew it was real! Vegimite was made Iconic in a song by "Men at Work" in the 80's!

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  41. I'm assuming that Aeroplane Jelly is the Australian cousin to our JELL-O (a flavored gelatin dessert.) Loved it when I was a child, and I still occasionally make a batch when I'm dieting (it is non-fat, although loaded with sugar, and satisfies the need for a sweet.)

    I still remember many an advertising jingle from my childhood. Indeed, children are quite impressionable. Get them early and you've got them forever!

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  42. I've heard of vegemite from Australian blogger friends, but I hadn't heard of Aeroplane Jelly (which does sound like our Jello. I loved Kool-Aid when I was a kid in the 50s, but never drank it as an adult much at all (only when my son was little--LOL!). It's funny how many jingles we can remember from when we were growing up--even if we didn't but them, eat them, or use them ourselves we can still sing the jingles. ;)

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  43. I think a lot of advertising jingles stay with us as adults, and there were quite a few that I enjoyed listening to but didn't eat the product. Sadly, I don't think there ever was one that got me to eat the prodcut.

    However, my all time favorite jingle is from the late 70's/early 80's for Almond Joy & Mounds candy bars.

    "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't."

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  44. Nuts, whole hazelnuts; Cadbury’s take them and they covet them in chocolate.

    Oh those dreadful jingles. You’d hear them and they'd stick in your brain for the rest of the day. The children and I used to holler them out loud, every chance we got. Horrible. I’m glad I’m grown up now. :-)

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  45. Jenny,
    When I read Vegemite, I felt it sounded familiar - I had heard this name somewhere. And I remembered I had tasted it more than 10 years ago. One Australian introduced this food and said they would have toast with Vegemite every morning. I tried a small portion of Vegemite. I could not express what a taste it was. Probably if people from different countries eat Natto (fermented soybeans) in Japan, they will say similar comment about the taste of Natto. Natto is very good to keep ourselves healthy. I love Natto. But, Natto will never be popular in the world. I have not seen Vegemite since then.
    It happened me such a long time ago. So if I taste it now, I may have different opinion on Vegemite. Thanks Jenny, very interesting story!!
    Have a great autumn day.
    keiko

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  46. The jingle I really remember from my childhood is none I heard on Radio Luxembourg when I was at my Aunty Lilian's house - 'We are the Ovaltinys, Little Girls and Boys'. I never actually had Ovaltine until I was an adult but I can still sing that song nearly 60 years later!

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  47. Ah, jingles! I can recount many jingles of my youth! And when I think of them, they get stuck in my head. Now I'm afraid another will be there!

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  48. I am a happy little Vegemite, love it on crumpets toasted with cheese :) I also love the Aeroplane Jelly add from back in the day. I never see any adds for them now.

    You should definitely come back to Australia sometime - the weather is gorgeous up here in Brisbane at the moment!

    Lovely blog, glad I found it.

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  49. What a lovely post. I'd never heard of "Aeroplane Jelly" but I can see why ypou still like the song!

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  50. Can't say I know this one but I think I'll add it to the worm list they played on Radio 4 this morning. Don't know what a worm list is? It's one of those annoying songs you can't get out of your head all day!

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  51. I'm a Marmite fan and I seem to remember it tastes almost the same as Vegemite but not quite. Hence fans of one will probably not like the other.

    Salman Rushdie was being interviewed on the telly the other week. He was talking about his time with an ad agency years ago. It turns out -I dodn't know this- he invented the ad that described cream cakes as "naughty but nice".

    A jingle which has stuck with me since childhood is "A million housewives every day/Pick up a tin of beans and say/Beans meanz Heinz." And I still like baked beans.

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  52. Interesting post. I never leave home without vegemite and, indeed, the fellow Australians I met on my first trip to the UK 'borrowed' my tube of vegie for their toast. The way to eat it is to let the butter melt into the hot toast and then scrape the Vegie thinly across the surface....scrumptious.

    And as for Aeroplane Jelly... I have never been able to eat the stuff since I had my tonsils out when i was 4. In my teens I met someone who was in line to sing the jingle but was gazumped by her cousin... A story of bitter rivalry if I ever heard one. Thanks for the post.

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