If you want a copy of both ads on DVD email me.
This is the most requested item in my collection, so I had to start this page to meet demand.

I Sort Glass

Anyone who grew up in the 80s seems to remember this commercial. The reason is it's so memorable is it has a Reefer Madness feel to it. The message is very positive - an association can help make retarded citizens into productive members of society. They can get them jobs and make money just like us. Great. The only problem is no one remembers the message. They can't forget the goofy spokesperson. The cross-eyed glasses wearing, funny talking, glass sorting, shouting man. If they chose a less funny looking and acting person, no one would remember this commercial. It ran mostly late at night and the first time I saw it I was blown away. I had never seen anything like it on TV. I made sure to set my VCR at the same time over the next few nights and I got it taped. I basically forgot about it until I started posting my collection on line 12 years later. Then email after email came in from people looking for this ad. It became a cult thing and it seems I was the only one who saved it. I just wish they told us his name so we knew who he was. So here it is in words and pictures.

Click on the dialogue for a scan of the action.

Retarded man: Clear glass here...green round there.

I sort glass. That's my job. I learned the job slow and now...I know it by heart!

Announcer: He earns money, he pays taxes. He's just like you. ARC - The Association for Retarded Citizens.

Retarded man: Don't throw us away.


Lily Wants to Learn

This is the "lost" first ARC ad. In 2005 I was going through a tape and had completely forgotten I had this. This ad came out before the infamous I Sort Glass ad and features a woman and a different message. No one remembers this one, not even me who taped it before "Glass" even existed, and it's probably because it was on message. There is nothing funny or goofy about it. Lucy, a retarded woman, wants to learn to read and write better so she can get a job and have meaning in her life. She is sad and sympathetic. She says nothing loud or weird. This is why it was forgotten. They should've stayed like this if they didn't want them to be made fun of. It makes the I Sort Glass ad that more bizarre once you take it in context with this one. For the first time ever you can read and see this ad below.

(Lily sits alone in a dark room, reading. An essay book is nearby, a clock is ticking.)

Lily: I'm learning, I can learn more. I want to get a job...a place in the world.

(Close up of her writing her name over and over)

Announcer: She wants to learn and live...just like you. ARC - The Association for Retarded Citizens helping for 40 years.

Lily: Don't throw me away.

© 2005-6 by Thrawn