Advertising: It's Benny Hill, Pan's People and a soaraway 'Sun'

There's a ghost in my machine. Normally when you see period advertising – girls with that Bucks Fizz/Pan's People hair, vanished car models – you assume it's a spoof. They can do that sort of thing blindfold now. But this is real, hyper-real. It's a couple of Sun commercials from around 1980 and I've no idea how they got on my reel.

There I am taking in the three red-top girls, their jerseys spelling S-U-N over their white mini-kilts. Mini's the theme: "Wow, it's mini-week in The Sun, and it's going to be colossal fun". So how about this sporty new automatic Mini ... and it's the original British Empire 3s 6d, pre-BMW one. And how's about a holiday in one of the five smallest countries in the world? There's a doll's house, the world's smallest Bible, a drinks cabinet full of miniatures. There's Ronnie Corbett's book on small people and 1,000 Matchbox toys, and, just send in £1.90, there's this teeny-weeny, shiny-sheeny baby doll set. A Pan's People-style pair show off the tiny bra and nicks.

The other commercial's about celebrities. Who d'you fancy? Who turns you off? A frank four-page survey. There's a younger Cliff, a younger Clint. There's Joan Collins and Bo Derek and, improbably, Benny Hill got up as Dame Edna Everage. There's tough talking from super striker Kenny Dalglish and – a bit of Sun semantic pioneering, this – "are you getting it every day?"

We're not quite at the Gotcha moment, but the characteristic 1980s style and sensibility is emerging, and a bit of the language too. Only The Sun would dream of offering the world's five smallest countries.

But it's still the world of On The Buses and shared experiences, and it still looks as innocent as a Benny Hill chase (what The Sun calls a romp). It's just pre-Aids.

1980 was the year that Princess Margaret turned 50, and they've got a piece about her and life's disappointments.

In a time to come, they'll be packaging these things like compilation albums for the loft-living brand manager set. Why listen to Coldplay when you could be watching the first Tango reel? Why bother with Adam and Joe when you could have Rossiter and Collins doing Cinzano?

Peter@sru.co.uk