Archive for the ‘Commercial Break’ Category
Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

I was discussing this advert with a friend yesterday. “Have you seen that advert that quotes loads of old adverts,” she asked. “Yes! It’s brilliant! But I can’t remember what it’s for.” As adverts go this one isn’t very good in terms of remembering what it’s for. You’re blinded by the sheer amount of old adverts – from All White’s secret lemonade drinker to the Accrington Stanley milk one – you tend to forget what the point of it all is. No worries – it’s not advertising a product as such, but advertising an advertising marketing body. So it’s really ok to forget what it’s advertising. The ad is after the jump, but one thing… they forgot the Skake ‘n Vac one!
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Commercial breaks are easily the worst bit about the televisual experience. People yelling at you… “Buy stuff!” or “We’re you’re best fwend in the whole wide world… c’mere… hugtime” while you get your pocket picked. Even worse than that is when one of your favourite songs appears on a commercial for some crap you don’t like. However, sometimes, just sometimes, an advert pops in and makes you grin. You fight it because, after all, it’s the product of a bunch of vapid shills in a room full of Niceday flipcharts… but nevertheless, you give in. One such ad’ is the New One from Robinson’s. A little bird flits around its house, reading Tweat magazine, with a human cuckoo clock and… ah sod it… get over the jump and watch it. It’s ace.
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Thursday, May 7th, 2009

As Pot Noodle adverts go, this new one is fairly unremarkable. It plugs into the zeitgeist fairly successfully by featuring two chaps dressed in Tonic-style suits set against a backdrop of suitably 1980s decor and sharp electro-tinged music. That’s all fair enough, but the thing that really made me chuckle at this advert was the new flavour itself. Doner Kebab flavoured Pot Noodle? It’s like the joining forces of two enormous super villains in a super hero film – Pot Noodle and Doner Kebab come together to fight all good food. The fact that it’s presented as some scientific experiment (two of the most maligned foodstuffs in the UK miraculously fused together in some sort of incubator) makes me laugh no end. Have a look at the ad after the jump…
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Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
Magners have had some decent adverts in the past thanks to someone in a position of power in the company having good taste in music – Zombies’ Time Of The Season, anyone? Now they’ve got comedian Mark Watson (Mock The Week, We Need Answers) on board to be ‘the voice of the people’ in new ads for their Pear Cider, in which he complains about OTT marketing claims – as opposed to Magners Pear which is “100% Pear. 0% Disappointment”, so they say. Pop over the cut for the first of three ads in the campaign, in which Watson suggests that something calling itself a Gigantaburger should at least be the size of his head…
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Thursday, April 30th, 2009
You’ve seen the commercial right? Iggy Pop dances and mugs around a purple room talking about offering more than just insurance… but offering ‘time’ to ride his wheels or whatever. Most people have watched it and thought “Hmmm… I’m not sure I like Iggy Pop being in an insurance advert” while others have just give it a shrug and thought “Well, it’s not half as bad as some of the bands he played with in the ’80s”. However, there’s a couple of real sadsacks out there who phoned up to complain about it. No, not because his weird veiny face should be post-watershed, but rather, on admin grounds. A dozen complained because the insurance policy doesn’t cover people who work in the entertainment industry. Jeez’ Louise!
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Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Pepsi Max and Coke Zero are two brands that are guaranteed to wind me up like no other. Basically, they’re both Diet Coke For Men. Men who are completely vapid little shagsakcs who strut around like nutless ’80s yuppies. My lack of sugar in my drink means I’m careful about what I put in my body… I wanna look trim… but hey! I can still have fun! Yeah? Only if it’s at someone’s expense no doubt. I bet Pepsi Max drinkers like lodging 2 pence pieces in tramps forehead shouting “Yeah? YEAH!? YOU WANTED SOME MONEY DINCHA? Get a job! Hahaha! Did you see that guys?” That’s what this new commercial makes me think. You’ve seen the new adspot? Job interview, deceit then funny walk? If not you can find it overleaf. Warning. You might commit suicide.
Related: Coca Cola Zero advert makes me smash my TV up
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Have you seen the commercial for Mikado, currently airing across the commercial channels? Is it making you feel as weird as me? If you ain’t, the ad’ – in essence – goes like this: Japanese girl accidentally photocopies her fanny. There. I said it. Obviously, it’s all over some minute biscuits (that barely touch the sides, it has to be said). The first thing I thought when I saw the commercial (which you can see over the jump) was “I hope she’s got her knickers on!” Maybe that says more about me, but it made me feel weird. We’ve long been told about Japanese men and their fondness for young women’s knickers… and this commercial splashes it across our TV, all over some biscuits! I know adverts have used innuendo for years… but this one is really not sitting well with me.
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Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Uncle Ben’s is running an ad for sweet and sour sauce at the moment that hits just about every Chinese stereotype button there is. Clearly someone in their marketing company thinks this is (a) funny, (b) acceptable, and (c) a good way to sell more of their product. Ha! (Not a Chinese sort of Ha! in case you thought I was falling into the same trap as UB) I’ve got news for them. There’s a bit of a backlash going on in the backwaters of th’Interpipes. Turns out it’s only funny if you’re not Chinese, it’s only acceptable if your view of Chinese people is stuck somewhere in the 1940s, and you may well end up selling less sauce that you thought. Or at least, with some egg (foo yung) on your face. Click through to find out what the flippin’ heck I’m on about.
Related: More of our musings on the nation’s telly adverts.
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Friday, April 17th, 2009
All the big guns of advertising are constantly striving to create iconic images that will burn themselves into our retinas, forever and ever. One that doesn’t quite do it, but at least stands out, is the Visa ad’ doing the rounds which features a guy dancing around on crutches (‘I hope he’s not claiming benefits!’ shout readers of The Mail). That guy is called Bill Shannon who is a self taught dancer, aka, The CrutchMaster believe it or not. However, you might be wondering what that great brassy tune is called, that has a whiff of Vegas Elvis. Well, read over and you’ll find out!
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Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Televisual commercials are irritating. That’s the point of them. Okay, not 100% of the time, but mostly, they’re like earworms, burrowing into your skull and incessantly gnawing away at your synapses, demanding that you at least remember the product… over and over and over again to the point of prescription tablets. Goodbad Ads know exactly what they’re doing. I’ll never forget a commercial that sang “Bensons for beds… number one for value (value!), number one for choice (choice!)…” Goodbad adverts know that you’ll hawk that info for life. Same goes for Cilit Bang! commercial. Same goes for the Sheila’s Wheels spots. The latest advert plying the Goodbad schtick is the ’118 247′ one, which sees a insipid casio-pop choogle, mooching along with some middle aged bloke rhyming “curry” with “hurry”. You’ve seen it. You’ve remembered it. It’s probably stuck in your head right now…
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Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
I’m one of those wet liberal types who doesn’t like the whole ‘army thing’. If I got called up, I’d paint a yellow stripe down my back and set off for the local jail, ready to be tied down and beaten as a conscientious objector. However, I do appreciate the armed forces. I mean, they make sure cowards like me can stay safe from marauding people who want to wreck up my life and the like. That said, the latest recruitment commercial for The Army has me feeling nauseous. Really nauseous.
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Friday, April 3rd, 2009

We’ve had a few really tough-to-watch adverts recently, especially the Barnardo’s advert, and now Keira Knightley has lent her celebrity weight to a new advert highlighting domestic violence. It’s another shocker, but a worthy watch. And fair play to Keira for doing it, lord only knows what it was like to shoot. Have a look after the jump.
Related: Commercial Break: THAT Barnardo’s advert
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Friday, March 27th, 2009
According to The Guardian, “The historic ban on condoms being advertised on TV before the 9pm watershed should be scrapped as part of the drive to reduce spiralling teenage pregnancy rates in the UK.” Did you even know that there was a ban on such ads before 9pm? I didn’t and, quite frankly, I’m staggered. The current ruling on such matters is even more baffling when you consider the fact that, pretty much all day, every day, we can watch a half naked woman in a shower going all When Harry Met Sally, rubbing herself up with shampoo or something. Is the sight of a condom really that stimulating? By the same token, is it any wonder that people have such problems buying and using them?
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Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Advertising campaigns on the TV sometimes go for the conceptual jugular. Sometimes, a company isn’t content to merely let you know about a new product or a new offer. You have to buy into the whole ideology of the brand. The Brand Ethos. So, Coca-Cola want you to buy into cool and harmony. Gold Blend wanted you to think of unattainable glamour and sexual tension, going beyond the whole ‘Going back for coffee’ schtick. Tango and Pot Noodle wanted you to think of them as irreverent and knowingly tacky. So what on earth are we supposed to identify with when we’re watching the latest conceptual TV commercial campaign for BT?
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Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
I don’t know about you, but Comic Relief feels bigger than ever this time round; there are just so many ways to get involved and keep in touch with what’s going on, thanks to the likes of Twitter and the three shows supplementary to Red Nose night itself – Let’s Dance, The Apprentice and the Kilimanjaro climb. There’s loads of extra footage on the BBC and Red Nose Day YouTube channels too, the oddest of which must be the video over the cut, in which characters from commericals try to come up with an advertising campaign for the charity. The Sugar Puff Monster, the Smash alien, the 118 guys and even that Meerkat are all involved, and all in all it makes for a very strange couple of minutes…
Set The Video: Comic Relief Does The Apprentice | Set The Video: Kilimanjaro – The Big Red Nose Climb
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Monday, March 9th, 2009

Glade. They’ve always done absolutely dreadful adverts. There was that one of the kid on the pan shouting: “It’s all gone! It’s all gone!” What had gone? His Glade Touch ‘n’ Fresh. However, his crap stunk up the place so bad that he locked himself in the bathroom, presumably in some dirty-protest, with a pen and paper, which saw him slipping a note under the door to his mum saying something like ‘I’d give it 10′ or something. However, somehow, Glade have managed to outdo themselves with their latest commercial, which extols the virtues of shitting in someone else’s house.
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Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Chocolate commercials are weird. They can’t simply say ‘Our chocolate is the nicest’. They have to give you a concept. Look at those iconic, but awful, Cadbury’s commercials with a drumming simian and some twitchy eyebrows. It’s not just chocolate, it’s high-end conceptual tuck! Look at the Flake ads. Phallic symbolism, lizards on telephones and women in the bath. Aero are in on this too. They’ve been asking us to ‘taste the bubbles’, which is weird, because a bubble in chocolate is actually an absence of product. Anyway, Aero have a new commercial coming out, which is essentially saying “HA! IN YOUR FACE!” to Cadbury’s as it’s actually rather good. It features Bob Burnquist (pro-skater and star of computer games) and the Jackson 5 and… the concept bubbles. In short, it’s a really ‘catchy’ commercial. Click over to see it.
Related: The Cadbury’s Gorilla advert – the best YouTube remixes | Our Commercial Break section
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Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
I’m not one for bitchin’ about musicians doing Coke adverts. Okay, I am… but there’s been some great bands in the past to pimp Coca-Cola (there’s a nifty little article on that very subject here). However, doing a Coke ad’ and doing a Diet Coke commercial are very different prospects. You see, Diet Coke adverts are aimed squarely at women, because, presumably, Coke think women need to lose a bit of that chub. The best way to do that is to stare at some rugged bloke doing manual work like he’s a piece of sausage meat. With Duffy, sisters seem to want to do it for themselves…
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Friday, February 13th, 2009
What do you get if you mix Rubick’s Cubes, problem solving puzzles and cause-and-effect wizardry? You get the new Honda commercial, which is causing something of a stir online. Honda have been pretty kooky over the last few years with their marketing and the new one is no different. It’s all about one of those no-emissions cars which leads me to think it may well be a US only thing… but I could be wrong. All I know is that, as an advert, it’s fun to watch! I hate it when I like adverts, but sometimes it’s inevitable. Anyway, get yourself over the jump to watch a cool ad’ with people doing cool things.
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Monday, February 2nd, 2009

I was looking at a trailer for the forthcoming film, The Damned United (based on the novel by David Peace, the man responsible for the Red Riding trilogy soon to air on Channel 4), the other day and it made me remember just how much I loved Brian Clough. Peace’s novel charts Clough’s ill-fated, 44-day tenure as manager of Leeds United in the 1970s, and the film looks great. However, after a pang of Clough-related nostalgia and having watched some other videos on youtube featuring the legendary manager, I came across this. I remember this SO well! Clough to Shilton: “Aye, I told you not to eat three.” Classic stuff from a much-missed man.
Related: Our Commercial Break section | Our Red Riding section
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