Just flippin' through the channels earlier tonight, and I saw a commercial for one of those mini-vans. Y'know that series of commercials where each family member has their own lawyer involved in a negotiation. And who do is representing the baby - Jackie Childs! And he identifies himself as such, too.
It's rather unusual for a sitcom charachter to be "in charachter" in a commercial. Usually, the actor plays the part, but is not named, probably a royalties issue.
Who's lookin' out for the client? Jackie Childs, that's who!
I was going to comment on that very ad and you beat me too it. I also thought it was great! In response to your comment about seeing a sitcom character in a commercial, it is very rare, but I've seen it done. The Simpsons appear in several commercials. And a while back Hardees had commercials featuring "Coach"'s characters Luther and Dauber. And the car commercial that's currently out featuring the guy who played J. Peterman could arguably count, because he is very similar in character, but has not yet mentioned a name. Just my thoughts
I first saw this commercial about a month ago and he didn't identify himself. I saw it again the other day (or one very similar) and he did use his name in that one.
Along those lines, how about the 10-10-xxx ads that have Chris Lloyd doing the ad as a thinly veiled Jim Ignatowski? At the end of the first commercial, he completely slips into the character.
And does anyone else think that Ed O'Neill as a veiled Al Bundy would have been the perfect spokesmen for Hooters? That was a match made in heaven that we never got to see.
Seems to me there's been a recent spate of sitcom characters (usually unnamed but it seems pretty clear in most cases .... Jackie Childs is the exception, where he names himself) on commercials, seems to me designed in most cases to hit some kind of baby-boomer nostalgia hotbutton. Examples, the Jeffersons on skis for Old Navy, Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham I can't remember what the commercial is for, but you've seen it, they're sitting at a kitchen table and he's reading the paper; Iggy from taxi (already mentioned later on in this thread).
Here's an interesting commercial phenomenon that I've noticed has been going on for years and years. It's that the overvoice announcer does a blatant impression/ripoff in the sound/style of Daniel Stern's "Wonder Years" narrator. It's funny because the series has been off for years, but new commercials still come out using what sounds to me like this same technique, all the time.