Adverts M-P
Macleans - 1990
Macleans - 1990
Macleans - 1991
Maltesers - 1990
Maltesers - 1991
Mars - 1989
Mastercard/Access - Christmas 1996
Maxpax - 1993
Maxwell House - 1990
Maxwell House - 1990
Maxwell House - 1993
McCain Oven Chips - 2004
McCoy's Cracker Snacks - 1993
McEwan's Lager - 1990
McDonalds - 1986
Ronald and his friend Grimace advertising the McDonalds chain in the UK in 1986, long before the characters were dropped from their UK advertising in an attempt to change the chain's image. Grimace seems to think if you shake a cow enough you'll get a fresh milkshake. From a time when you could legitimately tell a cow to 'ooh, shake this end Daisy', and hint at a character being 'really thick' on a kids advert without anyone complaining.
McDonalds - 1993
McDonalds - 1996
McDonalds (Money Saving Tips - Launderette) - 1996
Another McDonalds Ad from 1996, and one of a series of 'Money Saving Tips' from the mid 90s featuring footage with effects applied to make it appear like an old and worn film from the 70s (yes, not all of that is from my aging Betamax). Here they detail how to save on the costs of a launderette by donating your clothes to a second hand shop, before buying them back later!
Mellow Birds - 1988
Metz - 2000
'Beware The Judderman' was an infamous but well-remembered campaign for the drink Metz in 2000. Using a jarring mix of live action and stop-motion puppets, with some pretty haunting audio, the advert was voted highly in the Channel 4 poll of 'scariest TV Moments', as well as finding itself restricted to post-9pm slots only at one point.
Mercury - 1993
Micro Chips - 1998
Midland Bank - 1991
Midland Bank - 1995
Midland Bank - 1997
An advert from 1997, promoting Midland Bank as the bank that's listening. Basically, a Midland Bank worker overhears two blokes discussing what they want from their banking, then does a load of James-Bond style stunts to take the idea back to the bank's bright ideas department quickly! Also by now the branding from their parent company HSBC is well and truly starting to take hold, ahead of the full rename that was to follow.
Milk - 1987
Milk - 1987
Milky Way - 1986
Milky Way - 1989
First transmitted in 1989, an animated Red Car and Blue Car have a race. Red eats everything he sees, whilst 'smart' Blue only eats a Milky Way, as he knows it won't spoil his appetite for dinner. The advert was so well remembered, it was brought back again 20 years later in 2009 (see the Comeback Ads page), albeit now updated to remove any reference to someone eating chocolate being 'smart' and to it not ruining your appetite.
Milky Way - 1992
Millenium Bug - 1998
A nice little one to chalk up in the annals of 'remember the build up to this'. For the turn of the Millennium, there was a lot of worry about how computers would handle the date change to 00, with fears the sudden change of date could result in computer crashes which could destabilise the economy and DESTROY THE WORLD. To try and head off this, a massive campaign was run in the years running up to the year 2000 to make sure all businesses were ready!
Mint - 2004
M&Ms - 1991
M&Ms - 1997
M&Ms (Bowling) - 1997
M&Ms - 1999
Nationwide Anglia - 1990
Smith and Jones reprise their 'talking heads' setup, albeit less comedic than usual to plug the Nationwide in 1990. At this point in time, the building society was going by the name 'Nationwide Anglia', following their merger with Anglia Building Society in 1987. They would revert to their more commonly known name in 1992.
Nationwide - 1992
Nationwide - 1998
Are you a Dunroamin or a Letsby Avenue? Another stop motion advert from the Nationwide from 1998, this time focussing on mortgages from the building society. This advert had originally aired at the same time as the above one in early 90s, before being brought back several years later with only a few slightly tweaked lyrics, a new singer and the addition of references to their website.
Nationwide - 1998
Another jolly little tune and stop motion for the Nationwide Building Society, produced a little later than some of their others as it now includes showing some of their non-branch services, such as internet and phone-banking, presented in a lighthearted way! Watch out for the Ghoulies and Ghosties!
National Lottery - 1995
National Lottery - 1997
National Savings - 1994
Natrel Plus Antiperspirant - 1992
Natwest - 1987
Natwest - 1991
In the early 90s, Crockett's Theme by Jan Hammer, originally written for Miami Vice, found itself being used for a series of campaigns for Natwest. In this one, a small business adviser reminisces about how his father made many mistakes as a small business owner, with his greengrocers ultimately being replaced by a video shop. They'd not quite predicted video shops would soon be replaced by the internet at this point!
Natwest - 1991
Natwest - 1993
In the years long before Brexit became a hot topic, Natwest advertise their new software to help businesses navigate the upcoming changes to the European Single Market. Full of positivity at the time with grey clouds and grainy footage, you could almost mistake it for a Eurosceptic Party Political Broadcast were it not for the solemn remix of Crockett's Theme in the background.
Nescafe Gold Blend - 1984
Nescafe - 1989
Nescafé - 1990
Nescafé - 1990
Nescafé - 1991
Nescafe - 1995
Newcastle Exhibition - 1990
Gelsen Kirchen is looking for a place to become twinned with, but the deciding factor is the beer. The actual Gelsenkirchen in Germany has been twinned with Newcastle Upon Tyne since 1948. Newcastle Exhibition was originally brewed within the region, but production was moved with sales and mergers of the breweries in the 2000s.
News of the World - Christmas 1992
Nike Airmax - 1993
Nokia - 1995
Nokia - 1996
Northern Electric - 1991
Northern Electric - 1995
One2One (Vic Reeves) - 1997
One2One (Parkinson) - 1999
Opal Fruits - 1991
Opal Fruits was the original UK name for 'Starburst' chews, before being rebranded to match the global brand in the late 90s, although the name tends to resurface as part of nostalgia drives every few years. Here a jolly little advert using the original name from 1991, promoting them as the chew 'Made to make your mouth water'.
Options - 1990
Oracle - 1986
Oracle - 1987
Oracle - 1991
Oriental Express - 1992
Oxo - 1989
The Oxo family became well established on our screens throughout the eighties and nieties, as we followed them growing up. The final advert was broadcast in the late 90's, and featured only the Mother and Father, as everyone had already left. This one, from 1989, shows one of the ads from the family's heyday and features the late Lynda Bellingham.
Pal - 1993
Panasonic (Barcode VCR) - 1988
Pedigree Chum - 1992
Pedigree Chum - 2001
Penguin - 1986
Penguin - 1991
Peperami - 1995
Peperami - 1996
Pepperami Cheezie - 1997
Persil Washing-Up Liquid - 1990
Persil Washing-Up Liquid - 1991
Persil Washing-Up Liquid - 1991
Persil Washing-Up Liquid - 1993
Persil - 1992
Persil - 1993
Persil - 1995
Peugeot - 1991
Peugeot - 2001
PG Tips - 1990
PG Tips (Robbery) - 1990
PG Tips (Channel Tunnel) - 1991
PG Tips - 1992
There are 2 things PG Tips are famous for. Their tea, and the Chimps. The chimps were the main front for PG, for decades, until 2002, when finally they disappeared from our screens, to be replaced with the T-Birds. 4 Plasterceine characters. More recently they've revisited the chimp theme with a cunning return to the screens of Al and Munkeh. Here is one of those good-old chimp ads, from 1992.