TV ads

Guest Expressed: “10 Funniest TV Ads Of All Time”

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Everyone loves a funny commercial. Well, today’s guest, Stacey Cavanagh, has no less than 10 of them.

Enter Stacey:

TV advertisers know they’ve hit the nail on the head when people talk about their ads. One way to get people talking? Make them laugh! Here are 10 of the funniest TV ads of all time.

1. Never Say No to Panda

This collection of ‘Never Say No to Panda’ ads has had a whopping 21 million views on Youtube as of November 2012.

If was a series of ads back developed in Egypt in 2010 for Arab Dairy to advertise their Panda cheese product. The concept was simple. Every single time someone refused Panda cheese, the Panda did something mean! So funny, so dry and so memorable.

This ad was so popular that it became a hit with people globally, not just in its homeland of Egypt. It even inspired ‘Never Say No to Panda t shirts!’

2. John Smiths Ad – Peter Kay and the Monsters

Always guaranteed to make you laugh, Peter Kay was a brilliant star of John Smiths beer ads. The messaging that John Smiths wanted to convey about its brand is that it’s ‘no nonsense.’ And Peter Kay’s blunt role as a Father reassuring his daughter that she needn’t worry about wardrobe monsters (but she should worry about burglars who break in!) was very witty indeed!

3. Budweiser Frogs Ad

I’m a sucker for the old Budweiser ads and this was one of my favourite (though you’re likely to see another one in this list later). The producers of this ad must have been absolutely over the moon when people were uttering ‘bud-wei-serrr’ in frog-like voices for months and months following this being aired in the US and UK in over a decade ago.

4. Starburst Bus Station

The prize for weirdest character created for an ad definitely has to go to Starburst for this one. Very odd and incredibly witty.

5. Budweiser Whassup

Budweiser did it again when they had a host of people impersonating the ‘wassup’ of this ad. It even got imitated in ‘Scary Movie!’

6. Dollar Shave Club

Ok, admittedly, this wasn’t a TV ad. It was a Youtube ad. But I can’t possibly talk about video format advertising and not mention Dollar Shave Club. It’s absolutely genius!

7. Cadbury’s Drumming Gorilla

Completely and utterly random, but simply brilliant. As well as being a TV hit, this had has amassed millions of views on Youtube.

8. Heineken Walk in Beer Fridge

No commentary required. This TV ad by Heineken was absolutely hilarious!

9. Pot Noodle – Noodle Mine

A really clever, witty ad by Pot Noodle. This ad did receive some criticism about its stereotyping, believe it or not! But most people took it for what it was – lighthearted fun.

10. FedEx Speed Talking

Another brilliant series of commercials were the speed talking ones by FedEx. Nothing says fast delivery like speed talking, right?


This collection of chuckle-inciting TV ads was compiled by Stacey Cavanagh, a Digital Marketer and blogger from the UK. She writers on 2 of her own blogs: Blogsession and Listing Things.

Guest Expressed: “4 Worst Types of TV Ads”

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Today’s guest, David Showell, vents about some particularly horrible TV ads. Enter David:

Whether we like it or not, the presence of advertisements on our TV screens is something we all have to put up with. The vast majority of television networks would be unable to survive without advertising revenue, so we the viewing public simply have to come to terms with the ads.

Having said that, the ads themselves can be particularly irritating at times. Here are four types of TV adverts that most of us could do without.

4. Injury lawyer ads

Over the past decade or more, these ads have become something of a permanent fixture on our screens, especially during the daytime. They generally feature a poorly-made recreation of an accident, followed by a reassurance that compensation isn’t far away. In some cases they feature what are claimed to be real law specialists, although they might just be real actors plucked from the unemployment lines, telling us we deserve justice, and they know how to help us to find it.

3. Short-term loan ads

These adverts are perhaps a symbol of a world in recession; they are designed to appeal to the weak and the desperate, and will often show people (i.e. actors) who are so in need of a quick cash injection that they fail to notice the 1,000%-plus interest rates. The ads present the loans as a solution to everyone’s ills, although they don’t really show the long-term effects of having to pay high interest repayments over the coming months and years, partly because most people wouldn’t touch these loans with a barge-pole under normal circumstances.

2. Car insurance ads

Strictly speaking, these ads are for car insurance comparison sites rather than the actual products themselves. They are featured, it seems, in almost every ad break in every show on every day, and they can become extremely irritating over a period of a few minutes, let alone a few months. Whether they feature cuddly little animals or ubiquitous opera singers who turn up unannounced and uninvited, they must surely be successful because they are always on our TVs from morning through till night.

1. Buy your gold ads

If you’ve got some old jewellery in your home and perhaps you’re desperate for a quick buck, these nice people will buy your precious trinkets for a fraction of its true value. All you need to do is send it to them in a special envelope and wait for an offer – it’s that simple. Of course, it’s not as simple as taking the items to your local jeweller for a free evaluation, but they’re unlikely to tell you that, aren’t they?

David Showell lives in England and tries to avoid daytime TV. He works for 121carhire.com.