I don’t really watch much TV anymore. It has become background for whatever it is I’m doing at the moment: eating or cleaning or reading. And, although there certainly are enough of them, I don’t pay much attention to the commercials, either.

I’ve decided that’s probably because the commercials just aren’t as good as they used to be. No real classics any longer.

I still remember jingles from back in the day. I used to always sing “J-E-L-L-O-kay!” when I fixed Jello, even though it was long after the day when I heard that memorable advertising jingle for the jiggly gelatin dessert.

“Hey, Mikey, he likes it!” is another jingle I used at my house, even if no one was eating Life cereal. And I still say “Good stuff, Maynard!” to myself when I think something is especially tasty. And I’ve never even eaten Malt-O-Meal, which is the product that’s advertising.

“Nothing says loving like something from the oven” was the jingle for Pillsbury, you probably remember. I don’t often think of that, but I have to say that is one of my philosophies in life.

I wonder if you recall the ad campaign for Rolaids that asked “How do you spell relief?” Of course, the answer was r-o-l-a-i-d-s. Unfortunately, though, I read sometime later that there were lots of folks who really believed that was the correct way to spell the word relief.

Although it may seem so, not all commercial jingles are for food. One that I remember was for the Yellow Pages: “Let your fingers do the walking.” With all of our technology, that image seems especially out of step with the times now.

Another classic that isn’t promoting food was “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” I do like that image.

“Double your pleasure, double your fun, with Doublemint-Doublemint-Doublemint gum!” Now there’s a classic jingle that I don’t hear any longer. Considering that was sung by pretty, perky female twins, that jingle had to be good for sales of the popular chewing gum back in the day.

Coca-Cola has had several very successful advertising campaigns, and I’m not sure I hear any of that any more. The ones I remember were very musical. The company used “It’s the Real Thing” and also the memorable “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” with a large chorus of singers. But what came first, the ad campaign or the song?

“Oh, I’d love to be an Oscar Meyer Weiner that is what I’d really like to be!” was a happy commercial song that hasn’t been duplicated, either.

Isn’t it a shame we don’t have classic commercial jingles like that any longer?