45 Advertisements You Will Never Forget
Advertisements are everywhere. Consumers have a need and advertisements direct the consumer to the company that has a solution for their need. For years, we have tried in vain to escape advertisements, but aggressive advertisement companies have stepped up their creativity. These days, instead of relying on the simple goodness of lemonade and children’s laughter, ads have taken a decidedly more provocative turn. Gone are the nostalgic days of skipping through wheat fields. These days, ads venture on the irreverent. They cater to your physical senses and bend your mind to what is possible. Here are some of the most insanely good advertisements of recent memory, broken down into ambient, billboards, commercials and print.
Ambient
1. Skin Cancer Towel
2. WINZIP Compressed House
3. WPPED Cream Elevator Award
4. Neglected/ Invisible Children
5. McDonald’s Pole
6. Piano Stairs
7. Human Meat
8. Life Is Too Short for the Wrong Job
9. Kleenex Soap Dispenser
10. Elm Grove Police Department: Slower is Better
11. Unicef Land Mine
12. 2012. We Were Warned
13. Nikon D700: Papparazzi
14. Pantene Anti-Breakage Shampoo: Rapunzel
15. Swiss Skydive Elevator
Billboards
1. Panasonic nose trimmer: Fatty
2. Nestle Billboard
3. Sign from God
4. Formula Toothcare Bite
5. Imodium AD Toliet Tissue
6. Allstate Auto Insurance
7. Zimbabwean Money Billboard
8. iPod and iTunes
9. Powerhouse Gym
10. Get Organized with Peter Walsh
1. Findus FraichíFrites: Granny Fries without the Granny
2. International Vegetarian Union: Vegetables Are All Your Body Needs
3. Bose Noise Reduction Headphones
4. Clorets: Fishy Breath
5. Gun Central Alliance, South Africa
6. The Joy of Pepsi
7. Utopolis: Reality Sucks
8. Fortis Bank: Plastic Surgery Loans
9. Target Dri Bots Nappies: No One Likes a Bed Wetter
10. McDonald’s Baby Ronald
Commercials
1. Honda Cogs
2. Adidas/ FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003
3. Yellow Pages
4. Jack in the Box/ Meaty Cheesy Boys
5. BMW/ Theo Jensen
6. Apple Macintosh/ 1984
7. Dove/ Evolution
8. Heineken
9. Traveler’s Insurance/ Prized Posession
10. Vizzavi/ Pixar
Related Posts
Here's some other articles that you will definitely find useful.










29 comments
Mark Kaigwa
November 30, 2009Great collection, Jacqueline. Thanks for sharing.
Bookmarked with pleasure.
–
Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa
Andrei
November 30, 2009Astonishing collection. Indeed can’t be forgotten.
Vitezslav Valka
November 30, 2009Yes! This is awesome! I’m also having some ideas in my head for Pixmac so hopefully we’ll be in lists like this soon
Shane
November 30, 2009Really cool post, lots of powerful advertisements.
Thanks.
Josha
November 30, 2009A nice read, there are some very good entries.
Thank you making this post.
cucky
November 30, 2009thats a great collection! thanks for sharing
Tobbi
November 30, 2009Cool collection.
Anton Ranestam
November 30, 2009Very cool collection, very funny ads!
Jared Fitch
November 30, 2009Nice collection.
Reminds me of a campaign I did a couple years ago for a regional personal injury law firm.
http://jaredfitch.com/portfolio/advertising/
All the contact info was on the back window. The images were placed on both sides of the vehicle—the rest of the car was plain yellow.
It got SO much response from the public. People telling the drivers at stop lights how they thought this girl was trying to get out, or that the door had come open, etc.
Lots of calls into the office too.
Fun stuff.
NooT
November 30, 2009Totally awesome. Very creative thinking.
What’s the deal with clowns btw?
The Baby Ronald ad is just creepy/anoying.
Maybe it’s just me, but McD should really ditch the clown some day. Just stick with the cofee serving streetlights
That was awesome.
jacob
December 1, 2009I’ve seen some of these before – thanks for the reminder!
Lisa
December 1, 2009Love it…….
Greg Satell
December 2, 2009Thanks for the great list. I’d like to also add the famous Sony Playstaion “Double Life” ad. It’s one of my all time favorites!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bqq38WZctA
- Greg
Beau
December 3, 2009Powerful ads by great companies.
Graphic Design Blog
December 4, 2009All these ads were fantabulous but McDonald’s one is the best. Here is another interesting collection you would surely enjoy
“30 Typographic Print ads… Hard to ignore!!”
http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/typographic-print-ads/
Adam Hermsdorfer
December 6, 2009Baby Ronald is one creepy baby! I remember seeing the Cream Elevator Award at the AAF Addy award show a couple of years ago.
Mohammad Elsheimy
December 13, 2009Really hot! thank you
Css Awards gallery
December 17, 2009Really nice collection , thanks
misty
December 22, 2009as in awesome!! i love it!!
Jonathan
January 4, 2010Excellent! Thanks! Awesome Collection!
(I have to agree with NooT about McDonald’s clown. It is creepy, like Burger King’s King – now THAT’S creepy.)
Firas Al-Khateeb
January 11, 2010Great advertising that is artistic, funny, cute and grabs attention.
Firas
Alt148
January 29, 2010Nice collection!
Just a small correction on nr. 5 BMW/Theo Jensen.
The man telling his story is Theo Jansen, Dutch artist famous for his Stranbeesten (Beach Animals) See: http://www.strandbeest.com
Emmanuel
January 29, 2010Awesomely Wonderful post
Thanx u so much from Mexico
Jesse
March 21, 2010Awesome collection. Thx.
Alex
March 23, 2010Excellent! Its been ages since I actually scrolled the entire way through a chain of images. All fantastic. Fortis Bank, classic.
Puzzle Glue
April 10, 2010Great and unique collection. Some of them I alrady seen, but some of them are pretty new.
- International Vegetarian Union: Vegetables Are All Your Body Needs
- Clorets: Fishy Breath
grrrrr.. :/ Don’t like these ads at all!
Senguttuvan
May 11, 2010Very nice Ads.. good thinking.. fine
Arshad Cini
June 3, 2010All are funny and meaningful but i like ”Life Is Too Short for the Wrong Job” ad so much
Thanks Jacqueline:)
rampics
September 15, 2010nice…… creations starts from heres…….
1 Trackback
[...] tweetmeme_source = 'webdesignledger'; tweetmeme_service = 'bit.ly'; In the world of print advertising, there’s a small window to grab the audience’s attention. Being restricted to a still [...]