Adverts Q-Z
Quavers - 1989
Quilted Velvet - 1998
Red Bull - 1995
Red Bull have utilised a similar animation style for their advertising for almost as long as the drink has been sold. This particular one from early after their entry into the European market in 1995 doesn't use their more well known 'Red Bull Gives You Wings' slogan. However it does refer to European Members of Parliament proving just how long the subject of the EU has remained topical.
Red Leicester - 1984
Renault Clio - 1991
Renault Scenic - 1998
Right Guard - 1996
Rocky Bars - 1995
Rolo - 1998
Roses - 1992
Rover Metro - 1989
Rumbelows - 1990
Safeway - 1995
Neil Morrisey provided the voiceover for a small child for a series of adverts for former UK supermarket chain Safeway in the mid-nineties. Here a very localised version (albeit with generic footage) to celebrate the opening of a new store in Wolverhampton - these days the location having been taken over by Waitrose.
Salon Selectives - 1993
About as American an ad as you could get at the time, Salon Selectives was launched by the US cosmetics firm Helene Curtis as a salon-inspired hair care range. Originally heavily promoting the ability to mix and match just the right set of products for your hair, since the mid 90s the brand has changed hands several times as well as the products themselves being relaunched in various guises.
Scotch Cassettes - 1988
Scotch Cassettes - 1990
Seven Seas - 1993
Shredded Wheat - 1992
Shredded Wheat - 1997
Shreddies - 1986
Skol Lager - 1986
Sky - 1989
Promoting an early multichannel lineup from Sky Television in 1989. Launched a few months earlier in the Spring of that year, the initial lineup that included Sky One, Sky Movies, Sky News and Eurosport. A far cry from the hundreds of channels that would be available on Sky in later years, but enough to allow them to steal a headstart on fellow satellite provider BSB. With apologies for a few video sync errors in this advert.
Sky - 1990
Still fresh from the BSkyB merger earlier that month, Sky promote their subscription service with an advert for The World Masters snooker. Given what a killer part sport would play for the broadcaster in the following years, it's hard to remember a time where it was almost more of afterthought to their movies service.
Smarties Mini Eggs - 1997
Smoking Quitline - 1993
Smoking Quitline - 1993
Snes - 1992
Snickers - 1991
An early 90s reminder of how buses in London looked before they all had low floors in this Snickers advert. At this point Snickers was still a very young brand to the UK, having only changed from the more familiar Marathon name a year previous. Whether a bus driver and a design consultant were really the most memorable people to push a new brand is debatable... but 1991 was a different time!
Snickers - 1995
Snickers Ice Cream - 1995
Solpaflex - 1997
Special K - 1992
Special K - 1996
Stella Artois - 1996
Stella Artois - 1998
After being used for many years, Verdi's Overture to La Forza Del Destino became almost synonymous with the Stella Artois campaigns, doubtless not to the like of opera lovers. Here it plays out over the background of a story about an expensive pair of shoes, one of many such adverts promoting the drink as 'Reassuringly Expensive'.
Strong Mints - 1986
Sun Valley - 1993
Surf - 1995
Tandy - 1996
The original Tandy UK electronics chain launched in 1973, and at one time were a well known name on the British high street. This advert from Christmas 1996 is from their latter years as the UK stores were ultimately sold off to Carphone Warehouse three years later, who had quietly phased them out by 2001. Similar to Woolworths, these days the name still exists in the UK but as an online-only store with little connection to the original chain, after the brand was sold on in 2012.
Tango - 1997
Tango (Vote Orange) - 1997
Okay dont kill me... its an advert for Tango. Tango ads have earned the reputation over the years for being... well pointless! This was one of a series of ads shown around the time of the General Election, and designed to look like a political campaign. This one urges us to vote for Orange Tango. Courtesy of Iam Burn.
Tango (Clowns) - 1997
Tango - 1998
Tango - 2001
Tango Apple - 2003
Tango Apple - 2004
Tango Soda - 2003
Teletext Holidays - 1995
Tennents Lager - 1989
Tetley Tea - 1990
Tetley Tea - 1991
Tetley Tea - 1992
No teafolk in sight in 1992, as Tetley take a different approach to advertise their freeze dried tea. In the early 90s, all of the brands were rushing out their own versions of instant tea, so in order to give themselves the edge Tetley make the offer of allowing you to keep the empty jar afterwards.
Tetley Tea - 1997
Toblerone - 1997
Toys R Us - 1988
A reminder that the defunct Toys R Us did have adverts before the 1989 'Magical Place' one they became synonymous with for the rest of their life, with a live action one here from 1988. Also coming from a pre-internet era where it was still acceptable to suggest dolls and teddies were perfect for girls and action toys for boys, without being lynched by parents on social media.
Toys R Us - 1990
The original version of the Magical Place advert for Toys R Us first went to air in 1989, and was repeated throughout most of the 90s in edited forms, fast becoming a staple marker of Christmas advertising in the UK. The campaign even saw a full widescreen remake to mark 25 years of the chain in the UK in 2009 (as can be seen on the comeback ads page). This particular variant comes from the Granada region, with the stores listed closing for the final time between April 21st and April 24th 2018 as part of the overall closure of the chain following changing retail habits.
Transit - 2001
A nice advert for the Ford Transit in 2001, set to Slade's Coz I Luv You. This advert originally started out with the slogan 'Transit - The Backbone of Britain' hence the build up to showing a 'backbone' of lights across the country. However in later variants this was later changed to the far less imaginative 'Job Done' slogan for some reason.
Trebor Extra Strong Mints - 1986
Trebor Tantalizers - 1989
TSB - 1984
TSB - 1992
TSB - 1993
Another ad from 'The Bank that likes to say yes', this time featuring clips from films in order to promote their free cinema tickets offer. The TSB logo and brand was to disappear in the late 90s as part of a merger with Lloyds to form Lloyds TSB. They would later be demerged with a brand new TSB logo appearing in 2013. Clip Courtesy of Iam Burn.
Tunnocks - 2018
TV Times - 1983
TV Times - 1984
TV Times - 1984
TV Times - 1987
Twix - 1997
Twix V2 - 1997
Typhoo Tea - 1993
Vauxhall Astra - 1991
Vauxhall Frontera - 1995
Vauxhall Tigra - 1995
Volkswagen Golf (Changes) - 1987
This famous campaign for Volkswagen launched in 1987 and starred Paula Hamilton styled up as a Diana-esque character. Leaving her husband after the breakup of a marriage, she is seen throwing away luxury items, before deciding to keep the VW car. At the time, the advert was hailed as a sign of a car advert finally targeting women complete with a strong female lead, contrasting with the traditional style of car advertising. The song used in the ad is 'Changes' written by Alan Price.
Vitalite - 1991
One of several animated Vitalite adverts run in the early 90s, set to the song of The Israelites by Desmond Dekker. In this one, the sun with his disembodied white gloved hands releases some poor caged sunflowers. At launch in 1983, the spread was originally produced by Kraft Foods, before the brand was sold on to St Ivel in the mid 90s, eventually ending up under the ownership of Dairy Crest.
Vitalite - 1993
Wall Bangers - 1993
Warburtons - 1992
Weetabix - 1986
Weetabix - 1987
Weetabix (History Book) - 1989
Weetabix - 1990
Werther's Original - 2000
WH Smiths - Christmas 1996
Wimpey Homes - 1983
Wispa - 1993
Woodpecker - 1990
Woolworths - 1990
Woolworths - 1992
Worthingtons - 1996
Worthingtons - 1997
Worthingtons - 1998
Worthingtons - 2001
Yellow Pages (French Polishers) - 1989
The most famous advertising campaign for Yellow Pages, the big phone directory of businesses, aired during the 80s. They featured the book coming to the rescue when no-one else could. In this version, a young male needs some French Polishers to save his life after a crazy party at his parent's house. Originally owned by BT before being sold off as a separate company, the UK editions of the Yellow Pages itself were published from 1966 right through until the end of 2018, when the company finally decided to discontinue the ever-shrinking print copy in favour of going entirely online.
Yellow Pages - 1994
Yellow Pages - Xmas 1997
Originally produced during the 'Good Old Yellow Pages' era in the early 90s, the famous Christmas version of the Yellow Pages advert well outlived any others from the campaign. Reappearing every Christmas without fail well into the 2000s, when only the internet largely killing off the big thick book resulted in the advert becoming increasingly irrelevant.