Video: Marketing the 1969 American Motors Javelin

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American Motors brought a whole new game to its messaging with the Javelin, its competitor with Mustang and Camaro in in the ’60s pony car market.   

 

Introduced on September 26, 1967 as a 1968  model, the American Motors Javelin brought forth a flood of new marketing materials from Detroit’s smallest automaker. The goal: to make car buyers think in a different way about AMC products, which over the previous decade had developed a fixed and rigid image as cars for old folks. Ad campaigns including “Test drag a Javelin” and “It’s a great car, Dad, I only made it better” were designed to sweep away the old economy-car messaging and present the Javelin as young, hip, and in tune with the times.

We clearly see that approach at work in this promotional clip for the 1969 Javelin. There’s very little info on equipment or specifications, only a few quick voice-over insertions calling out the standard floor shifter and the Go Package option for ’69. Instead, there’s a brassy commercial-pop jingle and the focus is entirely on style and fun. It’s a neat little film and we’d change only one thing: We might hire professional dancers for the final scene in place of the random civilians (agency staffers?) they rounded up that day. The dance moves are cringeworthy. Video below.

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7 thoughts on “Video: Marketing the 1969 American Motors Javelin”

  1. Thats horrifying. You can’t “dance like no one is watching” in front of movie cameras.

  2. Ad agencies in the late 60’s were at their peak. VW ads were probably the most entertaining, but AMC ads were pretty funny too. The “bowl of goldfish on the seat”, and the drivers ed ads were great, but the Javelin ad, which is UNobtainable today, with the father chasing the kid, ( I believe there were 3 ads) were the best. The short lived ads were pulled because it advocated street racing. The car was known as “The Generation Gap”, and this is one of the last known photos of the car. Anybody finds the ad, send it to MCG, post haste.
    https://www.flickr.com/photos/cosmolutz/7174620475

    • Thanks, Howard. We’ve found a copy of one of the commercials but it’s in tough shape and watermarked. We’r re hoping to find a better one. Just as you say, it’s a classic.

      • I’d be happy to see a poor version. I was just a kid in 1970, but I thought the car was white.

  4. The announcer doesn’t sound like Casey Kasem. Not sure who he is though. Those would be The Elaine Benes Dancers.. jk.

    • I believe it’s him. Just not using the “physically strained” 60’s DJ voice.

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