During the 1970s, Rainier ran a number of memorable television ads in the Pacific Northwest, largely conceived by Seattle designer Terry Heckler,[5] assisted by several of his staff, especially Ed Leimbacher, writer/producer for Rainier print, radio and TV for a dozen years.
Some of these surrealist advertisements noted by Seattle Magazine included the Running of the MFRs (Mountain Fresh Rainiers)(a parody of Running of the Bulls featuring bottles with legs), frogs that croaked "Rainier Beer" (a motif appropriated many years later by Budweiser), Mickey Rooney appeared in several TV ads, most notably a parody of Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald's "Indian Love Call" from the 1936 MGM film "Rose Marie". Mickey was dressed in a Mountie costume alongside his wife Jan as they sang. (most airings of this commercial ended with Rooney pouring a bottle of Rainier into her proffered glass, but occasionally a version was aired in which he poured the beer into her cleavage). A motorcycle that revved "raiiiiiiiii-nieeeeeeeer-beeeeeeeer" while zooming by along a mountain road. (A version of this commercial played on radio featured the sounds of different brands of motorcycles making the "rainier beer" revving sound.)
Other ads featured a Lawrence Welk double (played by actor Pat Harrington Jr.) leading his band in "The Wunnerful Rainier Waltz" complete with bubble machine and soloists blowing on beer bottles, and a performance of a parody of the song "You're the Tops" while thousands of Rainier bottle caps fell like dominoes in a giant "R" frame (the whole commercial was reportedly shot on the first take, a great relief since it took all day to set up). Rainier also produced humorous posters such as a "National Beergraphic" parody of a National Geographic Magazine cover depicting tourists encountering a MFR in the forest, and a Flash Gordon/Star Wars poster, "Fresh Wars" that recalled the bar scene in Episode 4. There were even costumed MFRs that made promotional appearances at Supermarkets during this period.
Other ads featured were due with cultural icons of movies,
televisions and spokespeople. Two of the ads were in reference of
popular Saturday Night Live skits: one featuring a Gilda Radner lookalike in her role as Roseanne Roseanneadanna in a Weekend Update skit for Rainier Lite commercial. Another was featuring a parody of the Coneheads
called the R-Heads, with Rainier 'R' logos on the top of their heads.
Two commercials that feature Tarzan where his yell is
"Raaaiiinn-iiieeer!". A commercial that features a silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock who morphs into a beer bottle. A commercial that features a John Houseman imitator when Houseman at the time was a spokesperson for McDonald's. Another series features a Lee Iacocca impersonator walking through stacks of beer cans. One last series of commercials was the Rambo like character called "R-bo", played by Dan Roland.
The commercials were filmed in three parts; only two of those
commercials were aired. The third commercial was never aired, because
Rainier Brewery was bought out by another brewing company.
