Oi! Remembering Jacko and the Wildest Battery Commercials of the ’80s

Every once in a while, a random pop culture memory sneaks back into your head and refuses to leave. For me, that’s been the case with an Energizer battery promotion from the mid-1980s. If you were around a TV back then, you probably remember the loud, brash Australian guy who would yell at the camera with unfiltered energy and finish every commercial with a booming, “Oi!”

That guy was Jacko — real name Mark Jackson — a former Australian football player turned accidental pitchman. His signature line was burned into our brains: “It'll surprise ya! The New Energizer! Lasts longer than all the rest! Oi!” It wasn’t slick, it wasn’t polished — but it was unforgettable.

I distinctly remember catching him on The Arsenio Hall Show one night at the peak of his American fame. He had about five minutes of U.S. stardom thanks to those commercials, and he squeezed every ounce of energy out of it. On Arsenio, he went absolutely wild, shouting “oi oi oi oi” over and over with so much manic enthusiasm that the audience couldn’t decide if they should cheer, laugh, or just sit back in shock. It was chaotic, it was hilarious, and it was peak ’80s television. He was wearing an insanely hideous sweater that he was bragging about making himself. I believe it was a dark colored sweater and there were these little pieces of yarn sticking out from all over, like spikes in different colors.

Like so many pop culture flash-in-the-pans, Jacko’s American fame faded quickly. He popped up here and there — even recording a novelty single called “I’m an Individual” — but by the time the Energizer Bunny took over the brand’s identity in the late ’80s, Jacko was already yesterday’s news in the U.S.

And yet, decades later, that “oi!” still bounces around in my brain. It’s funny how something as small as a battery commercial can lodge itself into your memory and live there rent-free for years. It’s a reminder of how advertising in the ’80s had its own kind of unhinged personality, and how fame back then could appear and disappear almost overnight.

So here’s to Jacko, the loudest battery pitchman of all time. He may not have lasted longer than the rest, but his energy sure did.