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General Motors Holden – Holden’s Number One (c.1966)

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'Holden’s number one'

This clip chosen to be G

Clip description

This black-and-white television advertisement for Holden sedans and wagons incorporates the 'Holden’s Number One’ jingle. The cars feature prominently in three scenarios – a suburban family going on holiday, a group of friends on a skiing weekend, and an affluent couple out in the city at night.

Curator’s notes

by Poppy De Souza

This ad emphasises the versatility of various new Holden models by showcasing them in different surroundings. We see a Holden trailing a boat down to the water for a family outing, two carloads of young people going skiing and an affluent couple hitting the town at night. The ad signals a slow shift in the Holden brand towards a younger, hipper market – slow because Holden are still including suburban families as one of the key groups (and social classes) benefiting from the cars in this ad.

This ad formed a template for others with the same jingle, all featuring leisure and recreation scenarios with Holdens parked in prominent locations and men nodding their head to camera. By featuring the cars in weekend and holiday situations, Holdens are associated with fun and good times – in all the ads, as seen here, the characters wear fixed smiles on their faces.

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All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

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