Kiss Television Commercials: Watch 55 Outrageous Videos

Kiss have never been shy about marketing themselves.

In 2011 – over a decade ago! – it was estimated that the band had authorized more than 3,000 different pieces of memorabilia, and sold a half-billion dollars in merchandise since their 1996 original lineup / full makeup reunion.

So it makes sense that YouTube is filled with vintage commercials featuring Kiss selling their music, merchandise and tours. For the right price, they’re also quite happy to appear in commercials for your sodas, hotel chains or sneakers. More altruistically, the band has also shared their thoughts on substance abuse in front of the cameras several times over their career.

You can see 55 different Kiss commercials below, broken down by category:

MERCHANDISE

Despite that astounding total of over 3,000 pieces of Kiss-related merchandise, there’s only a couple of commercials here, both from the band’s late ’70s commercial heyday:

MOVIES AND TELEVISION

Kiss has played a major role in five different movies, most infamously their own 1978 made-for-TV flop Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. Despite playing pivotal roles in 2008’s Role Models and 2016’s Why Him? movies, the band was left out of those trailers. But that still leaves us with three great commercials:

ALBUMS

From 1974’s Hotter Than Hell to 2012’s Monster, here’s nearly two dozen commercials promoting various Kiss albums:

TOURS

It’s hard to call yourself a true Kiss fan if you haven’t seen the band live, and these commercials did their very best to bring as many ticket buyers as possible into the tent:

ACE FREHLEY

Although he was quite happy to be out of Kiss, it seems Ace Frehley learned a thing or two about self-promotion from his former bandmates:

ENDORSEMENTS

Equally happy to lend their star power to another company, or poke fun at their selves in the name of a good laugh, Kiss have proven to be great corporate sponsors. Which one is best? It’s a close race between Paul Stanley‘s corporate “rock star” shaming and Ace Frehley‘s profit and loss statement mayhem:

ANTI-DRUGS

Kiss doesn’t play when it comes to substance abuse. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were eager and compelling spokesmen for MTV’s Rock Against Drugs campaign, and both Frehley and Peter Criss openly testified about the damage addiction had done to their lives:

L.A. KISS

Okay, yeah so for a little while, Kiss owned a football team…

FAMILY JEWELS

Have never and will never watch this show, but its popularity can’t be denied…

PAUL STANLEY VOICE-OVERS

Although he hasn’t been nearly as aggressive in pursuing projects outside of Kiss as his longtime bandmate Simmons, Paul Stanley has occasionally dabbled in voice-over work. Here are two memorable examples: