GMC (General Motors Truck Company) was formally the GMC Division of General Motors LLC….but now is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that primarily focuses on trucks and utility vehicles….as GMC sells pickup and commercial trucks, buses, vans, military vehicles, and sport utility vehicles (SUV) marketed worldwide by General Motors. This 1983 GMC truck commercial was right at the start of what would become Surburban….which was the start of the SUV craze in America…..cuz somewhere in the early 1990’s it became “a fad” to own an SUV in Texas….and by a decade later….just before the oil and gas crises….it seemed like every other Texan had an SUV.
Sears, Roebuck and Company, colloquially known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores….which was founded by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck in 1892 and 1906. Formerly based at the Sears Tower in Chicago….and currently headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois…. as the operation began as a mail ordering catalog company….and began opening retail locations in 1925. The first location was in Evansville, Indiana. The company was bought by the management of the American big box chain Kmart in 2005….then the Kmart management formed Sears Holdings upon completion of the merger. In terms of domestic revenue, Sears was the largest retailer in the United States until October 1989, when Walmart surpassed their record….so as of this Sear tv ad in 1983….they were at the top of the heap in America…..who as of 2017 are the 23rd largest retailer in the United States overall.
When Tab was released in 1963, the Coca-Cola Company refused to release a diet soda with the Coca-Cola name, fearing that its flagship brand might suffer. Its rival Pepsi had no such qualms, and after the long-term success of its sugar-free Diet Pepsi (launched in 1964) became clear, Coca-Cola decided to launch a competing sugar-free brand under the Coca-Cola name….which could be marketed more easily than Tab. Diet Coke does not use a modified form of the Coca-Cola recipe….but instead an entirely different formula….and it is universally accepted and sold in 2018.
