Recently a TV4 poll in the UK listed 100 best television adverts of all time. Top of the list was the Guinness Surfer ad. And second in the hearts of the British was the 1974 Cadbury Smash ad – featuring Martians sniggering about the obsession of British people for mashed potatoes. Beats me how this ad managed to reach cult proportions. However – it’s online at DDB London’s flash site, in mpeg form, along with some other classics and current work.
Click on the image below to play the Martian Smash video.
The only ad on the DDB London site I remember seeing down under is the PG Tips Chimp ad from 1971 – the one where the piano falls down the stairs. There was a long tradition of PG Tips Chimp ads – from 1956 to 1994. The ads were finally pulled because it was considered unacceptable to exploit chimpanzees.
Click on the image below to play the PG Tips video.
PG Tips is now promoted by the T Birds, four claymation birds who share a flat. There are five online tv adverts at the current pg tips moments site – along the lines of Wallace and Gromit.
This is one of my favourite adverts of all time. I remember watching the chimps when i was younger and even today my grandad knows the brand as ‘monkey tea’. This is an iconic British brand and many people can connect with the brand as they grew up with it. The brand became entwined with British life and to this day has links back to the old adverts.
Chris
http://www.threerooms.com
I grew up watching the PG Tips ads. Although I wasn’t a big fan of the ads, I find it stupid that the campaign was dropped because some people complained that it exploited champanzees. Expert handlers were on set to make sure that the chimps were never in any sort of harm, and they did entertain the public at a time when the ads were better than some of the programmes.
The Smash ads were popular with children way back then and those who watched them the first time still remember them today, from the laughing that ended almost every ad to the simple and catchy jingle. The martians returned to television for a short time in the 90s. By the way, the UK channel that aired the results of the 2000 ad survey is not TV4, but Channel 4.