Terry O'Reilly

It wasn't the first commercial ever done for IKEA, but it was the very first commercial in North America to feature an openly gay couple.

In the ad, two middle-aged men talk about choosing a dining room table at IKEA.

Being the first commercial to show a gay couple, it created quite a stir.

CNN ran the ad 38 times in news blocks, commenting on reactions from viewers.

IKEA received over 3,000 phone calls, conservative Catholic groups protested, and an IKEA store in New York received a bomb threat.

IKEA refused to pull the ad.

Back in 2007, nobody had any idea how remarkable and addictive smartphones would be.

But Steve Jobs knew.

The very first iPhone commercial premiered during the Academy Awards broadcast on February 5, 2007.

Playing to the audience, this commercial featured a montage of famous actors in famous movies picking up a phone and saying, It begins with Lucille Ball and ends with the reveal of the first Apple iPhone.

Hello.

Words on the screen said, hello, coming in June.

By September, just 76 days later, Apple had sold its one millionth iPhone.

Three billion have been sold to date.

That's a lot of hellos.

You never forget your first.

Seeing and hearing these debut commercials is not only fun, we get let in on the origin stories.

The Jolly Green Giant was terrifying at first.

So was Ronald McDonald.

Both have become perennial mascots and both had to undergo dramatic facelifts over the years to be palatable.