Adverts M-P

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.

Another 'gonna want it/bottle' advert from the now disbanded Milk Board in 1987. This time focusing on how it'll help you keep fit and active, whilst repeating those words over and over and over again until they're buried deep in your mind...

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.

Yay! There's a cute little Hamster in this advert for Mint Credit Card. Clip courtesy of Iam Burn.

Red and Yellow, the not-particularly-creatively named CGI M&M characters were brought in to front campaigns for the chocolate from 1995. Here they appear in an advert a few years later alongside footballer Ruud Gullit.

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.

One of the National Lottery ads, where we had the giant hand going 'It's You!!'. This one involves 'a little black dress', and was one of the funnier ones.

Natwest advertises their banks opening on Saturdays. Well, this was revolutionary at the time. Clip courtesy of Iam Burn.

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.

This Nescafe ad stars Paul Eddington and Derek Fowlds, reuniting their on-screen partnership from the BBC series Yes Minister.

Angela Thorne and the late Michael Elphick of Three Up, Two Down fame are reunited in an advert for Nescafé from 1991.

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.

Basketball player Charles Barkley kills the ref... opera style!

A longer advert for Nokia from 1996 going into more detail on the value of communication and keeping it simple.

A later heating ad from Northern Electric. This time the voiceover is provided by Victoria Wood.

People who have a personal connection to Michael Parkinson talk about their experiences with the man for this commercial for mobile network One2One, part of a series of similar adverts. One2One would later become T-Mobile in the UK, and eventually form part of EE.

Oracle used to provide the teletext service on ITV and Channel 4, up until it was outbid by the unimaginatively named 'Teletext ltd', losing it's franchise in 1993. Here is an advert from 1991 for their service. Thanks to Iam Burn for this ad.

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.

Panasonic advertising a VCR with an innovative feature in the late 80s. Before keying in Videoplus codes would become ubiquitous for the machines, the idea here was that you could scan in a barcode to set the machine's recording timer instead.

The puppies above are certainly cuter than the kids in this 2001 Pedigree Chum advert. Bah, humbug!

An insane ad for Peperami from 1996. Thanks to Iam Burn.

Robbie Coltrane pops up to promote Persil Washing Up Liquid in 1990.

Coltrane is getting a little tired of Granny's lack of appreciation for the hard work he puts into the washing up in another Persil liquid advert from the early 90s.

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!

Another chimp advert for PG, and this time there's been a bank robbery. But don't worry, the thief hasn't stolen the PG Tips!

Ann Bryson and Sara Crowe star in one of a long running series of adverts for the then Kraft Philadelphia Spread. Ann has gone away on holiday and is getting a little homesick for her Philly...

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.