5 Donald Trump Commercials From Before His Presidency
While Donald Trump is known by many younger people around the world as the former United States President, there were many years when he was a celebrity businessman. Trump was appearing in advertisements left and right for companies, with some very memorable ad campaigns.
Trump has appeared in over a dozen major advertisements, and that doesn’t include any of his political ones. Here are the five best ads that Trump starred in prior to his presidency.
Pizza Hut
Donald Trump was famously married to Ivana during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and by 1995 the couple was going through a very high-profile divorce. The two were able to at least mend their differences briefly for a Pizza Hut commercial that showed them eating pizza, biting into the crust first. The Trumps even acknowledged that it seemed wrong to eat the pizza that way, but it “felt so right.”
The commercial ends with Ivana asking for the final slice of the pizza, with Donald stating that she’s only entitled to half. That line about things being split in half wasn’t one that Ivana wanted in the final cut that made it to television, but Trump said that it was funny and insisted that it went to air. That wasn’t the only Pizza Hut commercial Trump starred in, as he also appeared in an Australian ad for the company in 2000.
McDonald’s
It’s no surprise that Donald Trump is a fan of fast food, which became clear to a lot of people when he ordered a lot of it for the Clemson University football team upon their visit to the White House after winning the College Football Playoff. Trump loves McDonald’s and appeared in a set of commercials for the company back in 2002.
In the commercials, Trump is advertising their past sandwich, the Big N’ Tasty, which was only $1 at the time. Trump can be seen in the advertisement giving advice to the Grimace, the large purple character that’s friends with Ronald McDonald. “I don’t know how you do it,” Trump said to a silent Grimace. “I put together some really impressive deals, but this thing you pulled off…it’s amazing.”
Diet Pepsi
Not only does Donald Trump love the simple taste of McDonald’s, but he’s also a huge fan of Diet Pepsi. He appeared in an advertisement in 1988 to hype up the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Leon Spinks, promoting a “fight before the fight.” That fight was between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, with Trump right in the middle.
So while there was no actual physical fight, the cola wars raged on. As for Trump, he didn’t say much in the commercial as he was simply walking to his limousine while surrounded by reporters. The boxing match itself was a huge upset, with Spinks taking out the heavyweight champion Tyson.
Trump the Game
Donald Trump has always been one to put his name on just about everything, and that even including board games. Trump: The Game was released by Milton Bradley in 1989, and of course there needed to be advertising surrounding the game. The commercial had many important-looking people what Trump was up to, and what “his game” was.
Unfortunately for Donald, the game didn’t sell all that well. Milton Bradley expected 2 million copies to be sold, but less than half of those were bought by fans. Still, a rerelease of the game was made in 2004 after the success of “The Apprentice”.
Oreos
One other thing that Trump seems to love more than just about anything is sports, and he appeared in a commercial for Oreos with two of the most notable football players in NFL history. Trump, along with Darrel Hammond, appeared in the commercials for Oreo Double Stuf Gold which promoted a faux Oreo-eating league.
Hammond was a Trump impersonator in the commercials, and the two of them were taking on Peyton and Eli Manning. The commercial series was a big hit with fans, though Peyton and Eli would end up getting the upper hand in the competition.