https://buttondown.com/suchbadtechads/archive/maxell-life-size-robots/
The idea of robots literally eating your precious and portable files must have been far more terrifying than it was exciting that Maxell's 5.25" disks were on some Michelin-rated menu of computer hardware.
That could be oil in their glasses but it sure looks like white wine. And what, they're going to season their floppy appetizer with table salt? Pick a lane, Maxell!
The ad above was a massive departure from Maxell's previous "Gold Standard" campaigns, those with their rainbow prisms and racecar disks. The restaurant ad seems like it had a lot more money behind it too, showing up in several issues of PC Mag, Personal Computer, and Byte throughout 1985 and 1986. It is not hard to find online or in print, whether on eBay, WorthPoint, or in a frame at a Value Village in Ottawa.
Despite its enduring popularity, this was actually the worst showing of what would go on to be a campaign so good that it wound up in a museum. Because, yes, Maxell's dollar-store C-3PO was, in fact, a life-size prop. And far from lonely.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 11, @01:58AM
I was watching the chatter in the #soylent logs, https://logs.sylnt.us/%23soylent/2026-03-10.html [sylnt.us] and today, https://logs.sylnt.us/%23soylent/2026-03-11.html [sylnt.us]
Meanwhile, back on topic, the Maxell ad I remember was the guy blown away by the audio quality from his speaker, this one: https://creativeaudioworks.com/audio-restoration/blown-away-guy-maxell-cassette-commercial/ [creativeaudioworks.com] While I didn't save a copy, one time I tried to recreate it, sitting in front of my *large* theater horn speakers. But my fan wasn't powerful enough to blow my hair back. Or, maybe the original was done with the guy laying on his back (90 deg from horizontal), so gravity pulled his hair down?