Some Old Ads

... and some comments I have relating to them.

The other night I watched a load of old ads on YouTube from the 1970s and the 1980s. I love trying to decipher their strategy (I think unplanning stuff is great fun) and just reminiscing really.

It's really nice watching old ads, especially for now-defunct products and brands as they're simply now a piece of art, a comment on the society of that time, a bit of history that future generations can use to inform themselves.

So here are ten that I like, with a little comment or question I was thinking when watching them.

The Woolwich

The Woolwich staff member at the end may have been right for the time, but you'd smack her in the face these days if she was that nice wouldn't you?

Silkience

The Who. In a fucking shampoo ad!?

Pedigree Chum

She thinks "Chum is the tops." That's not scripted at all is it? I'm sure she uses that terminology all the time...

Menu Master

Making a song from the strategy - word for word - isn't the best advertising ever... and how bloody aspirational and emotional is that! For a microwave meal!

Martini

This is LITERALLY THE MOST ASPIRATIONAL AD EVER. Odds of cocaine being consumed during this shoot: 100%.

Edam

1) This is shit. 2) Cheese is not low in fat.

Duracell

THREE HOURS life for a CALCULATOR! I love that it needs four batteries too...

Denim

Strapline: "For men who don't have to try too hard" = MOST. ARROGANT. AD. EVER.

Castella

"A pint and Castella." Totally and utterly illegal now... but still what everyone is trying to say even though they're not allowed.

BT

"In the out of the way places in a push button world." Wow. Seems like another lifetime ago. It was.