Adverts A-C

Appearing in 1992 to advertise 7Up and attempt to appeal to the 'hip' youth demographic is Fido Dido - a character created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose some years previous.

During the 80s, when unemployment was at a terribly high rate, the ever-helpful UK government brought out... a leaflet. Perhaps not a brilliant scheme, but the overexagerrated screaming makes this an interesting ad. Courtesy of Iam Burn.

5 years later and the advertising has gotten a bit more active, although the 'great fibre provider' tagline has remained.

Cool it brothers - it's 3am. The yoghurts are having a party downstairs but it's keeping the fridge magnets awake. Hey I only commentate on these things, I don't write the advert script!

What better way to celebrate Ambrosia Creamed Rice than with a train station (intended to look like Paddington, but actually St Pancras due to refurbishment at the time), a farmer riding a cow, and a cover of Village People’s Go West?

An earlier 'singing cows' advert for Anchor Butter, from 1988. Computer video animation isn't quite as advanced at this point, so a lot more looping of shots is used to try and create the effect of the cows singing.

The anchor cows sing, as they do battle against the evil lawnmower taking all of their grass. There's some serious stuff going down in fields these days!

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!

An ad from the famous Budweiser Frogs set from the late 90s. The concept itself was very simple - three frogs just repeat the name Budweiser over and over again.

A short advert for the Lancashire park, mainly notable as being owned by Granada at this time, hence the mentions of it at several points. This was during the phase of the 80s and 90s where Granada still kept a large amount of outside-of-television interests. The Camelot Theme Park was sold off in the late 90s, and eventually closed its doors completely in 2012.

King Arthur returns Excalibur... with a twist, in this 1991 advert for Carling Black Label. One of many from across the years where the 'I'll bet he/she/they drinks Carling Black Label' catchphrase was used, which would always follow something unexpected happening onscreen. The slogan was eventually dropped in the 90s as the drink was also rebranded to just 'Carling'.

Another Carling Black Label advert, and this time round it's a spoof Beadles About-style show. Except things are turned on their heads somewhat.

One of the many dogfoods to come out of the Masterfoods department of Mars, Cesar has always been positioned as their more 'upmarket food for smaller dogs' range. And this advert from 1993 is no exception.

The original and well known nodding dog advert for Churchill, voiced by Reeves and Mortimer. Clip courtesy of Iam Burn.

A new ad for Churchill, appearing in 2004, whereby we find out Churchill is no good at saving the Earth from an alien invasion... but is quite good at saving money on car insurance. How exactly we could still use our cars if the human race had been overthrown by aliens is another story! Clip thanks to Iam.

In a follow on advert from late 1990 aired quite close to the eventual banning, Russ Abbot features again, this time clay pigeon shooting. However Des O'Connor is getting his own back for his records being abused in their earlier ad...

A classic club ad from 1987, featuring a remarkable recreation of the famous Wizard of Oz, only this time singing and dancing about Club. Watch out for an early appearance of the well known 'if you like a lotta chocolate' slogan too. Clip courtesy of Iam.

Tom and Jerry feature in this Colgate Toothpaste advert from 1994. Courtesy of Iam Burn.

A warped advert from 1986 for Copperhead Cider. Featuring the slogan 'knock it on the head', it has one of those songs you'll either love or hate! Another one thanks to Iam.

A mix of live action and animation in this lively little number for Kellogg's Corn Flakes in 1987. Where we hear that after just one bowl of Corn Flakes, the whole world will be rockin' to that crunchy golden jive. Even mascot Cornelius is starting to think it's getting a little late for all this!

'Oh what a beautiful mooooorrrrrnnnniing....' -as the Sunshine choir would say. This advert was adapted slightly for use on Channel 5, when it first launched, showing the Corn Flakes ads for when ITV and C4 launched, then this one!

A 1993 ad for Cadbury's Creme Egg, with people from different starsigns telling others how they do it! (no inuendo intended!!)

Launched in the US in the fifties, the Crest brand in the UK has largely been phased out in favour of 'Oral B' by owners Procter & Gamble. Prior to the purchase of Oral B in the late 2000s however, their toothpaste products were marketed heavily in the UK as Crest too. Here in a simple 1991 advert promoting how much Crest helps improve that nightmare visit to the dentist for children.

An ad from 1990 encouraging people to secure their houses against criminals. Thanks again to Iam for this.