As a balance to the last post about annoying adverts, here is a list of the top five adverts of all time.*
5) Google Superbowl Advert (2010)
I had to be persuaded to put this one on the list, since it’s by an evil multinational conglomerate, and it’s probably never even been shown in Britain (I stand open to correction), but when I agreed to watch this it did make my eyes go a little moist. It’s sweet, and true, if you know what I mean. It deserves a place.
If I hadn’t put the Google ad in, it would have been the John Lewis ad in which a baby girl grows up until she’s a grandmother. It’s lovely, if only because of the Billy Joel song backing it.
This is quite a recent advert, but very funny. The visuals are just like the film “The Snowman”, and so is the angelic choirboy’s voice. The lyrics aren’t. “Now I’m falling through the air, I wonder where I’m going to land. He nicked my Irn Bru and let go of my hand.” It’s The Snowman if it had been set in Glasgow.
(A note of interest for those readers not from round here – this advert shows cartoon versions of many famous Scottish landmarks, including ones from Glasgow, and the boy actually lands in George Square in the centre of Glasgow.)
3) Boddingtons – The Cream of Manchester (1992)
Dusk. Plush surroundings. A beautiful woman in a black cocktail dress applies white cream to her face while a voiceover tells you how luxurious it is. Then we see it’s beer foam. A suave man in a suit comes in, embraces her and bursts out, “By eck! You smell gorgeous tonight, petal!” in a broad Northern accent. I think it works because there were plenty of Milk Tray and perfume adverts that looked much the same, so you really didn’t see it coming.
2) Batchelors Mushy Peas (1994)
This is how Batchelors make peas mushy: They get Craig Charles to talk to them about the good old days, back on the farm. Cruel, but funny. (A word of warning about the link – there is other stuff before the Batchelors ad. The advert itself starts 28 seconds in.)
This is a magical blast from the past. I think this advert is from the 80’s. It absolutely hooked the target audience – wee girls, of which I was one at the time. It was probably about the same time as the film “Labyrinth” was around, and it goes for the same normal-girl-in-magical-world conceit. To really understand the appeal of this ad, though, you have to watch it and then consider this fact: the shoes actually had a key in the sole! This advert has stayed with me for many, many years, and deserves first place in my little list.
* These adverts have not been selected in a scientific way and may not actually represent the best five television advertisments of all time. Please do not complain to the Trading Standards Authority about this post. Instead, complain about those Channel 4 “Top 100” programmes where the best item is always at number 2, while number 1 is some piece of drivel.
K C Murdarasi 
Weirdly, I loved the Clarks shoes adverts, too! I remember one with people dancing – we used to copy the dance moves in the playground at school. Seems the advertisers did manage to reach their target audience of 9 year old girls!
It might be a good idea to embed the videos on the site, to avoid clicking. Just a suggestion… 🙂
Embedding – hmm, sounds difficult. However, I will look into it.
But who was the actress?? #MagicShoes