Carosello – Italian Ads

Left: Carosello Logo. Right: Mina surrounded by boxes of Barilla pasta in a 1967 Carosello Barilla ad.

We were out to dinner with our Italian friends and the talk turned to music – as it always happens when we are around. They mentioned that the carosello ads that used to appear on Italian TV. Intrigued, we looked them up and found an interesting story of the Italian media culture. 

Carosello ads aired just before bedtime (for children) at 8:45pm from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s and were a cultural touchstone for those that grew up watching them. As pointed out on bavatuesdays, the ads are not always obvious in terms of what they are selling. You have to wait and watch them to see where they are going. 

A list of ads can be found at mondocarosello.com with some video clips (you have to wait a bit to get the video). YouTube may be more useful for a quick fix. 

In this carosello video from 1967, in the first 30 seconds of the video can you tell what Mina is selling? 

Mina is selling Barilla pasta in that clip. The first few frames of the clip say "Barilla presenta Mina".  But before getting to the pasta, she is sings the song Ta ra ta ta Fumo Blu (1967) about how she loves a man who knows how to smoke. To her, that’s a real man. The lyrics are:

Con me

Tu puoi fumare la tua pipa quando vuoi

Perché mi piaci molto di più

E sei così romantico

Fumo blu, fumo blu

Una nuvola e dentro tu

E poi, e poi

Se un uomo sa di fumo

Ma sì, ma sì

È veramente un uomo

Io ti amerò finché vorrai

Proprio perché sei così

Which can be translated as:

With me

You can smoke your pipe when you want

Because I like you even more

And you are so romantic

Blue smoke, blue smoke

A cloud with you inside

Besides

A man who smells like smoke (or knows how to smoke)

Ah yes

Is truly a man

I'll love you as long as you want

Because you are like that

At the end of the Fumo Blu Carosello clip, Mina does a spot for Barilla pasta and she says how Barilla pasta reveals the grand chef in you! She says:

Barilla

Con Barilla

Capolavoro di pasta

Potete fare ogni giorno 

Un capolavoro di buona cucina

B come buona cucina

B come Barilla

Con Barilla 

Rivelate la gran cuoca che c'è in voi

É così davvero

C'e una gran cuoca in voi 

E Barilla la rivela

Which can be translated as:

Barilla

With Barilla

Masterpiece of pasta

Every day you can make

A masterpiece of beautiful cooking

B for good cooking

B for Barilla

With Barilla

Reveal the great cook in you

That's a fact

There a great cook in you

And Barilla reveals it

In this related YouTube video with Mina, you even get cooking tips for the pasta, but you have to wait to the end of the music video naturally.