I've been meaning to do these for a while now - they're not set in stone and I'm sure I'll do some tweaking over time. I'm sure you'll have yours too. Most have been included for cleverness, cat-ness or dog-ness (or both), many for nostalgia or because of an oft-quoted catchy line or song.
This is said to be an autistic/audhd thing this list-compiling - but it would be very hard to put them in ascending or chronological order. Unlike pop songs, it's not always easy to pinpoint the exact year. Harder still, to find any evidence of the existence of one or two anywhere on the internet. Where possible, I've included a link, even if it's just a still.
And so, with no further ado, I give you my favourites.
1. - 'Walk Tall' - you know, the one with the cat walking on two legs advertising a credit card. Courgettes fly off a nearby stall and float around our two-legged feline at one point and nothing fazes it. Probably my all-time favourite.
https://share.google/UXZjJP31N5q8CnrPN
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| Walk Tall |
2. J R Hartley - this has to be on everyone's favourites list. The old gent trying to track down a rare book and finally being given the good news on an ancient telephone. The punchline - that he is the author of the book - is what makes this, and as an author resonates deeply! If I'm not mistaken, a book may have even been written after the advert.
https://share.google/jprAVGleBzdzOXUsV
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| J R Hartley |
3. Another one advertising Yellow Pages - this time, for French polishing. A frantic teenage boy is tidying up his parents' house after a raucous party the night before, where furniture has been scuffed (hence the need for a french polisher) and a painting has been doodled on.
https://share.google/f2yzTo9gAoLB0DfKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws-0Ea9967o
4. 'Where Has All The Mud Gone?' - This is an example of doggy wittiness, helped on by AI. Yes, many ads have made use of moving a cat or dog's mouth along with the lyrics. But it all seems to have come together with the changed lyrics of Queen's 'Flash Gordon' for the Flash cleaning product in a hilarious way,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TtsMhCVn64&t=14s
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| Where has all the mud gone? (Flash) |
5. 'Daddy or Chips?' This one has always stuck in my mind for the sheer bizarreness of asking your younger sister whether she prefers daddy or chips. We hear the little sister pondering the question all day until at the evening meal 'daddy' nicks a chip from her fork. It's that way she says 'chips' knowingly which gets me every time.
https://share.google/mHEYCc2kKrB3nPLoe
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| Daddy or chips! |
6. 'B-B-Baltic in the bathroom' - I had to delve a bit to find this one and found it mentioned in a forum and linking to the compilation below (it can be accessed at around 4 minutes). It was for the heating system Economy 7. We see a family braving their icy house on rising - Siberia in your slippers, Vladivostok on the landing and b-b-baltic in the bathroom - the final phase being the one that stuck across the years. It was good to revisit it again and of course it ends with Maraca-shaking in minimal clothing when it is Hawaii all over the house!
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxGrIkjZfipUpmR0Y6nRrbehmQIDWXqGcb?si=sFjE1tE6Mh3Qoal8 at 4 minutes
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| B-B-Baltic in the bathroom |
7. Felix cat food - 'It's great to be a cat' but NOT the Robbie Williams one. I loved the one before Robbie where the to be a cat ending was much slower and more emphatic. It's largely disappeared from the internet since the RW version but I managed to salvage a German version and eventually the English one.
https://youtu.be/QIkX-MyHTvk?si=DB2zNu5aYXxSmkNE
https://youtu.be/kpPbfkXesRE?si=UCuCun24sto5S8aD
8. Specsavers - once again featuring a cat or - perhaps not. There have been some great ones from. Specsavers.
https://share.google/fiuHmQdRfGYMNXxYQ
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| Should have gone to Specsavers |
9. 'Dad, I really need a wee!' - a boy with his dad in Comet as I recall. This one's no longer easily available online, except on Vimeo. And one still (below).
https://share.google/images/AtEXHkhbYXmFMahB3
10. Cat and budgie singing. Nowadays, all sorts of things can be done with AI, but this was quite cutting edge in its day which wasn't so long ago.
NB - I don't in any way support birds being kept in cages or cats and birds sharing a living space so please don't try this at home!
https://share.google/DtvG5YODOmQaT3cqS
11. Ovaltine - I'm sure this is on many people's favourites list with the Ovalteenies singing. This was very nostalgic, even in the 1970s.
https://youtu.be/-8qQMi2s8Mo?si=YPebuoX4BO9x_xL-
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| Secret Lemonade Drinker |
It's also worth mentioning a couple of other notables.
Leonard Rossiter and Joann Collins in the Cinzano adverts. This could have easily made the Top 10.
https://youtu.be/wk31k2BIFR0?si=Eb-lHejKgiZg0SNG
'He's Staying In With Ferguson'. - this also would have definitely been in my Top 10 if I could have found any trace of it. It was advertising Ferguson TV with a woman calling 'Romeo, Romeo, where art thou?' and when there's no reply she repeats: 'Romeo?'. Then another woman (?) replies to us viewers in a loud whisper: 'He's staying in - with Ferguson'. Genius!
Well, I hope you've enjoyed my choice and some of them chime with you too! There are so many more, plus I also have some of my least favourite ones - you could say most hated ones! - but that's for another time.
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