Adverts A-C

An Abbey National ad from the eighties... ooh remember those interest rates though! Clip thanks to Iam Burn.

Back from the days when describing yourself as a 'great fibre provider' wouldn't instantly bring you under the eyes of Ofcom, Kellogg's tell us just how much you'd need to eat to get the same amount of fibre as a bowl of All Bran.

Allinson reminding us in no uncertain terms that 'Its bread wi' nowt taken 'owt'... (and they dont make Brown!)

Oh no, someone's stolen all the Ambrosia Devon cows! In true Famous Five style, the group have to solve this mystery quickly or there'll be no Ambrosia Devon Custard for anyone. Keep your eyes peeled for the textual jokes scattered throughout this one.

Back from the days when Lord Sugar's company made more than just Sky boxes, this man has £450 to spend a computer, so why not buy himself an Amstrad? In a throwback to The Generation Game. Courtesy of Iam Burn.

Football fever strikes the Anchor singing cows in 1991, as the video animation continues to improve.

1994, and in a later Anchor advert the cows sing a different song. Perhaps attempting to animate in additional lip motion wasn't the best plan.

An Argos ad from the late 80s... with a song telling us how 'it's so easy' to shop with them. Thanks to Iam Burn for this.

An advert for Asda from the very early 90s. At the time the chain was undergoing a lot of financial issues behind the scenes, but it didn't stop them knocking 9p off a tin of soup! The style of this continues the style of the previous, and use of the song 'Perfect', only this time features more practical pricing shots rather than vague lifestyle ones.

An advert for Johnson's Baby Shampoo, advertising it as 'for the whole family'. Come to think of it, they've always promoted the shampoo this way! Why didn't they just call it 'Family Shampoo' in the first place!

From the late 80s, and DIY chain B&Q puts together a nice little ditty to celebrate the fact 'You can do it if you B&Q it'. The music may long since have disappeared, however the retailer continues to use the slogan to this day.

Throughout the nineties, to promote their credit card, Barclays commissioned several adverts starring Rowan Atkinson as a bungling agent for the fictional government department MI7 alongside his sidekick 'Bough' who would usually come to the rescue with his Barclaycard. The idea behind this was to form the basis for Atkinson's later film Johnny English in 2003.

The daily routine of a man who's house is falling to bits is shown in this Barclaycard ad, with the slogan 'Dont put it off, put it on!'.

The States - Nice Place, shame aboot the beer! One of several similar-style ads for McEwans Best Scotch from 1990. There's a hilarious song, which a lot of local knowledge references which probably make much more sense to those from the North East. Thanks to Iam Burn for this.

Samantha Womack (at the time Janus) stars in this advert for the shortlived Bingo bar from the mid 90s. Admittedly with the internet age looming, choosing a generic name which would be nigh on impossible to search for mightn't have been the best marketing choice, but there you go.

Discussing parents either getting back together or remarrying... over a nice meal with Bisto gravy naturally.

Julie Walters again, this time getting tongue-tied over new Chicken flavour Bisto. Thanks to Iam Burn.

A 2001 Boddingtons where that cow who's supposedly male(with an udder?) teaches us pint survival during parachute failure. Thanks again to Iam.

The run up to Christmas 1991, and the festive advert style from Boots that year followed an animated style for Santa and his friendly elves, who look like the remaining members of a comeback tour for the seven dwarves.

1996 and a non-festive advert for Boots. The 'Someone Cares' advertising style present in the 1995 Christmas campaign continues through to their summer range.

Mrs Collins wouldn't just trust anyone, so she certainly knows who to trust with their important financial needs - The Bradford & Bingley. I wonder how that one panned out for her in the long term!

A long 1989 advert promoting the rail industry in 1989, featuring footage shot around the country. A fun game is spotting how many of the same trains can still be seen in use 30 years later.

Maureen Lipman stars in one of her many Beatie adverts for then-named British Telecom, that ran throughout the late 80s and into the early 90s. In this adventure, a new carphone is the focus using one of those modern 'mobile' networks. We're pretty sure the idea will never catch on!

~ NEW! ~

ET, the alien from Spielberg's famous film, has popped up in numerous advertising campaigns over the years, most recently for Comcast/Sky in 2019. Here, some 20 years earlier, he's busy advertising BT, reminding Mum there's always a good reason to call for no reason.

A later advert from the Budweiser Frogs campaign. This time round, some lizards who weren't able to get screen time due to those showstealing frogs begin plotting their revenge.

One of the most famous of all the 'I'll bet he drinks' adverts for Carling Black Label aired in 1990. Evoking the 1955 The Dam Busters film, a German sentry is responsible for blocking all the bouncing bombs being sent in his direction.

A squirrel runs an obstacle course to the Mission Impossible theme to reach some nuts, in another memorable advert for Carling Black Label from 1991. The advert is also marked for posterity by playing on background televisions in the series 3 episode of One Foot In The Grave 'Monday Morning Will Be Fine', alongside the David Dundas ITV theme of the time.

An advert for Carling, where a bloke just walks home through a pretty normal world, with naked receptionists, talking dogs, and people herding animals on stairs. The tagline for this advert, one of several different words in use during the campaign, is 'Amazing'.

Cheetos have proven a very successful brand in the US for many years, complete with their mascot and his famous catchphrase 'It Aint Easy Being Cheesy', however it has been a much more limited success story over here. Owners PepsiCo initially tried to launch the brand in the UK in 1990, bringing both the character and catchphrase over with him, although it was shortlived. After another aborted try in the early 2000s, the brand was finally brought back to the UK in 2015, although without the famous mascot from America.

Are you eating a sweet? Yep, Still with the same voices, a 2002 Churchill ad now. Once again thanks to Iam.

Advertising cigarettes on UK television was banned back in the 60s, however cigar advertising continued to be permitted through to 1991. Comedian Russ Abbot stars in an advert for Castella Classic Cigars, in the days before the ban. This time he's out fishing, but knows the easier way to do it...

Advertising Jacob's Club in 1984. Starting by showing things going wrong for various groups of people, the song then invites everyone to 'come and be a member of the Club fanclub' instead.

A later, and much more well known advert for Club. Most people can probably remember this one!! (Hint: "If you like alot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our...")

Colman's of Norwich reminding us of how famous they were for producing... Wine!

An advert for electronics and white goods chain chain Comet from 1991, with the logo 'clicking' into place. Comet fell into administration in late 2012, with all the stores closed not long afterwards.

A well loved and well remembered advert from Walls for Cornetto. This particular broadcast was shown on TV in 1992, although the advert remained in frequent use in cinemas for several years afterwards!

From 1991, and Kellogg's remind us all that one of the first things you want to do after that wedding is to have a bowl of Kellogg's Corn Flakes.

Remembering the legendary Bruce Forsyth who could turn his hand to anything, here he appears dressed as a judge in 1997 to promote the Courts furniture store. Courts ultimately folded in the UK in 2004, although stores under the name continue to trade in some other countries.

Matt Lucas (aka George Dawes) stars in this ad, asking people 'How will you eat yours?'. Clip courtesy of Iam Burn.

A friendly lesson from 1995 from Kellogg's on just how hard you're making it for the removal men if you're obsessed with eating endless bowls of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.