While starring in "Marcus Welby, M.D.," Robert Young appeared in commercials to promote which brand of coffee?

Robert Young was a chief spokeman for Sanka coffee. He did it for just over six years (1976 - 1982), When he first started, the folks at Y.& R. (Young & Rubicam Advertising) reported that it felt that an authority figure was needed to be the spokesperson for this brand of coffee. Young was the actor, who had starred as the redoubtable Marcus Welby, M.D. on television from 1969 to 1976. He was the person who properly filled the bill in this advertising situation.

During the six years that he made commercials, people were responsive to celebrities as spokespersons, particularly as they related to decaffeinated coffee. Since many of the decaffeinated coffees were then coming into their own, celebrities truly helped in general ways to legitimize how people in their own minds viewed the use of decaffeinated coffee. For Young and Sanka, this was especially the case.

Senior ad executives went on record and publicly said, "[Robert] Young was an educator in the sense of educating people who loved coffee, educating them about Sanka,'' adding, ''He's done a terrific job for us.''

When the times had changed and an authority figure was no longer required, people pointed out that they now wanted to make up their own minds. They would and tried to consider all the necessary facts about such health related questions as drinking coffee (decaffeinated coffee), etc.