Fotomat Commercial "Blank Videotapes"

From the 1960s through the 1980s, the small gold-roofed drive-through kiosks operated by Fotomat Corporation were a common sight in suburban America. Customers could buy photographic film, drop it off for processing, and return to pick up their prints.

By the early 1980s, Fotomat was branching out into video. The kiosks offered videocassette rentals and also sold blank videotape to consumers who were increasingly recording their own programs. This commercial offers tapes in the two competing versions that were part of the video "format wars": VHS and Betamax.

This commercial was produced by Walt Kraemer Creative Services. Walt Kraemer was an Oakland native whose lengthy career in radio and advertising included time as producer of McElhatton in the Morning, the KCBS broadcast featuring Dave McElhatton. Kraemer, whose broadcast commercials included the memorable Southwest Airlines spot with his voice informing passengers "you are now free to move about the country", died in 2020 at the age of 83.