Hunting the wild Rainier with Mickey Rooney:
Greatest beer ad ever? Possibly.
Before Spuds McKenzie and the Silver Bullet and “Whassup?” there were 30-second spots for Rainier, a local brew from Seattle. This was back in the days of regional beers that weren’t hand-crafted or artisinal or microbrewed — just “mountain fresh,” as the Rainier ads had it.
Mickey Rooney turned 55 in 1975, about the time this spot was made: old enough to be well out of the spotlight, but young enough to throw himself into these ads in an admirable way. “Pop his cap… WHOA! Look out!”
Rainier had innovative ads without Mickey Rooney, too:
Yes, that was well before the Budweiser frogs.
Other Rainier spots were just plain strange:
The spots were created by Heckler Advertising — still a thriving Seattle agency.
Now forget about Rainier and learn more about Mickey Rooney »