Adverts M-P

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A widemouthed frog (voiced it seems by Bill Oddie) tells everyone how much he likes Maltesers in 1991.

The end of 1996 and the end of the Access credit card in the UK too. A commercial, themed for the Christmas season, just letting everyone know you'll soon be finding things sporting the new Mastercard logo rather than Access.

The well-loved Victoria Wood attempts to sell us all on the wonders of Maxwell House coffee using as many words as is possible.

If there's one thing I've always thought improves my coffee, it's the beans being grown in the mountains. Just like I find my toast always tastes better when buttered deep in a cave and my shirt looks more vibrant when washed in glacial water from Alaska.

That famous band The Chinheads, performing in 1990 to promote McEwan's Lager.

26 seconds of dull build up, before reaching a pretty disappointing climax. No, we're talking about an advert for a Big Mac, not my bedroom skills today!

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!

Panning past a montage of various houses to show how McCain Micro Chips make a meal in only 3 minutes, Quickety Quick! With remixed lyrics performed to the song 'Yakety Yak' from The Coasters.

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.

From a carefree era when it was still fine to promote your product as 'fine to eat as it won't fill you up' comes this animated advert for Milky Way.

A nice little one to chalk up in the annals of 'never really panned out as such'. For the turn of the Millennium, there was an awful 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!

A mix of a cheerful tune with some early 90s CGI makes up this M&Ms advert from 1991. Also note the lack of any blue sweets in the pack at that time.

People from all professions, such as Photographers from Ilford and Builders from Hammersmith visit their branch of Nationwide, along with a little song. One of several songs using stop motion put together in the early 90s. Advert courtesy of Iam Burn.

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!

Still using their giant gold hand to let you know when 'it's you', it's the National Lottery from 1997.

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!

Ah those dark days of the mid-80s, when it was still fine to suggest that the main thing a woman at a fancy dinner would be concerned about would be the gold jewellery she was wearing. Lots of such gold abound in this advert for Nescafé Gold Blend.

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The late Richard Briers and Penelope Wilton, who had appeared together in Ever Decreasing Circles in the 80s, appear here in another sitcom-inspired commercial for the coffee brand.

...and a much later ad for Nescafe.

Long before phone-hacking scandals would see the end of the tabloid paper, Turkey is happy to have made it past another Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year's television.

Long before they were pushed off the mobile scene somewhat by new players like Apple come a few adverts from Nokia's heyday. First a short one from 1995 showing how you can use your Nokia to access all those things you need on your laptop.

Heating from Northern Electric. Im sure I recognise the voice-over (Was he not on a Dettol advert at some point)

This ad is well... strange! Basically its telling you how to train your new Vauxhall Nova to be a good car, and not attack the postman!

If The Borrowers had been done on such a shoestring budget that they all resided within the confines of a freezer, you might have ended up with this advert for Oriental Express from 1992.

Letting everyone know the 5 things PAL can bring your dog. Before telling us of the exciting new flavours available. I am particularly glad to hear they've launched Traditional Marrowbone. That newfangled Modern Marrowbone just wasn't the same!

Endless different camera angles showing cute little puppies in this advert for Pedigree Chum from 1992.

Peperami... its a bit of an animal, and now he's found your TV.

Pepperami Cheezie... on the radio of all places. Thanks to Iam Burn.

Robbie Coltrane appears in another advert alongside Granny. This time with the rain threatening to ruin all those nice plates she's put out to dry.

In the modern age, Unilever go to great lengths to tell us to keep their detergents, including Persil, out of the reach of children. Jump back to the early 90s though and involving your children was almost a part of the washing powder ad scene.

A modern-day Peugeot advert!

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.

Harry Enfield reprises his 'Kevin the Teenager' routine for this advert for Toaster Pockets. Clip thanks to Iam Burn.

The secret services storm a building... only to find it belongs to some old ladies. Never mind, they'll have the place looking as good as new in no time. Clip courtesy of Iam Burn.

A spoof of The Shawshank Redemption can be seen in this 1998 Ad for Pot Noodle. Thanks again to Iam for this.