These were the cartoons I grew up on. Sure, I had watched reruns of Looney Tunes and Hanna Barbera characters, but my primary shows were G.I. Joe, Transformers, He-Man, She-Ra, and later the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They helped form many of my core values of what is right and wrong, good and evil, but they were creations of corporate greed. Even Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Brite, and My Little Pony fall into this category.
Sure, I knew that they were trying to sell us more toys (and often succeeded ... you should see the boxes in my garage). Still, I was truly invested in the stories of Duke, Snake Eyes, and Scarlet. I still view Optimus Prime as one of the greatest heroes, to the point that I even like seeing him in the more recent movies. I took the brief messages at the ends of their shows to heart.
I'm a little concerned to discover how completely I was duped by this blatant commercialism. However, part of me feels that kids today miss out because they did not see these shows and their over-the-top, but still relevant messages. In fact, I wonder how much my choice of education as a profession was because "knowing is half the battle."