Emotion
314 articles
NISSIN FOOD | hungry? | 1993
At the Cannes festival, someone shouted "Hungry!" In 1993, Moa and Synthetoceras won the Grand Prix together, two films at once. Even across 60 years of Cannes, it's one of the legendary moments.
NISSIN FOOD | hungry? MOA | 1993
A Japanese commercial that won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1993. It's just a caveman chasing an extinct bird called a moa and never quite catching it—that's the whole story—but somehow it's funny, and somehow it sticks with you. The timing of the stop-motion creatures moving is just perfect.
THE LEE APPAREL CO. | SHOWER | 1993
In 1993, Lee Jeans teamed up with Fallon McElligott to put out one humor-driven ad after another.
TALENS RUBBER CEMENT | Nuns | 1992
Have you seen this Spanish ad that won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1992? It's the one where a statue of the baby Jesus in a convent garden is missing a very particular part, and the young nuns, blushing furiously, rush off to tell the mother superior. More than 30 years later, people are still talking about this masterpiece that used humor to break through a taboo.
ライオン | チャーミーグリーン | 1992
I was washing dishes just now when this suddenly came back to me out of nowhere. Songs really do stick in your brain in a scary way. Along with that tune — "Using Charmy Green makes me want to hold your hand~♪" — the image of a married couple holding hands and dancing while they shop comes rushing back, and even now, more than 30 years later, I can picture it vividly. Just that alone tells you this ad was a win.
YMCA SUMMER CAMP | SLEEPING IN | 1991
An ad for YMCA Summer Camp from 1991, back when videotapes were still the norm. The title is "SLEEPING IN." It means sleeping late in the morning. Somehow that one phrase seems to capture both kids' summer vacations and what parents are secretly thinking.
VAUXHALL MOTOR CO | CAR PET | 1991
It's 1991, and the ad is called "CAR PET." It's wordplay—CAR and CARPET, PET and CARPET. And there's probably a dog somewhere in the video (just guessing here). Just the hint of that very British wit is already enough to make this fun.
MAXELL | INTO THE VALLEY | 1990
In 1990, cassette tapes were losing ground fast to CDs. MAXELL and HHCL's answer wasn't to explain sound quality—it was to talk about misheard lyrics.
MAXELL | THE ISRAELITES | 1990
In 1990, the cassette tape was already on its way out. Losing to CDs on both sound quality and futuristic appeal, it had slipped to fifth place in the UK blank tape market. That's when Hitachi Maxell dropped this 30-second ad.
BATCHELORS | ODE TO A PEA | 1990
A white plate. One single pea. A violin swells as a poetic voice intones, "Oh pea, perfect sphere of jade, why do you torment me with your beauty?" Britain, 1990.
HUSH PUPPIES SHOES | VENTILATED | 1989
1989, just 15 seconds. A basset hound's droopy ears lift gently in the wind from a passing subway train. That's it. But somehow, that's enough to make it work.
JR東海 | クリスマス・エクスプレス | 1989
When this commercial came on TV, it was nothing but pure excitement. Breathing in the air of the 1989 bubble economy, set to Tatsuro Yamashita's "Christmas Eve," Riho Makise dashes through Nagoya Station. It's only one minute long, but it leaves you with the happy afterglow of having watched a short film. Even now, the scene where 17-year-old Makise hides behind a pillar, waiting, hits with incredible force.
NYNEX | If it's out there, it's in here / DUMBWAITERS | 1988
A phone book ad that actually gets a laugh — that's a big deal. NYNEX's Yellow Pages ads were a memorable presence in the northeastern US in the late '80s.
NYNEX | Human Cartoons | 1988
In 1988, how do you make a "boring free product" like the phone book interesting? TBWA CHIAT/DAY's answer was a visual riddle.
JOHN SMITH’S | THE WRONG CROWD | 1985
Two slightly rough-looking guys at the pub. Convincing enough to lead anyone astray — that's the tagline of this ad. A piece of British advertising from 1985.
JOHN SMITH’S | COLD（The Dog） | 1982
In 1982, a dog did a handstand in a British beer ad. That simple 30 seconds became part of the culture.
LEGO | KIPPER | 1981
LEGO, 1981. A mouse turns into a dog, a cat turns into a dragon, a submarine turns into an elephant. For 45 seconds, every time the bricks get rearranged, something new appears.
FRATELLI BRANCA DISTILLERIE | BR… BRANCAMENTA | 1975
"Brrr." Just four letters, and somehow they carry the brand name, how to drink it, and the sensation all at once. This campaign, which began in 1971, is said to have become the most famous piece of onomatopoeia in the history of Italian advertising.
LAURA SCUDDER DIV | SUPERMARKET | 1965
It's 1965, right around the time supermarkets were becoming part of everyday American life. This film, made by the California potato chip brand Laura Scudder together with DDB, won the Grand Prix.
ROHM UND HAAS CHEMISCHE FABRIK | King Acrylius (253,000 Hours) | 1965
1965. A transparent sheet of acrylic became an animated king and took home the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival — a first for Germany. The idea of handing a material's own qualities — transparency, durability, workability — to a character and building the whole ad around it still feels completely alive with 60s energy, practically spilling off the screen.
LUSTUCRU | LA PREUVE PAR L'OEUF | 1964
France, 1964. The pasta brand LUSTUCRU released an ad titled "Proof by the egg." Instead of just saying their pasta used fresh eggs, they set out to show it honestly, and with humor, through film.
SCHWEPPES TOMATO JUICE | Gardening Advice | 1961
In 1961, a British commercial that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes advertising festival pretended to be a gardening program. But underneath, it was really an ad for Schweppes tomato juice. It talks about gardening with a completely straight face, and before you know it, it's talking about tomato juice instead.
CHEVROLET | STATION WAGON | 1959
It's 1959. This is the year Chevrolet's station wagons hit American roads with cat's-eye taillights and tailfins that looked like wings. The ad film, made by Campbell-Ewald, reportedly won a GRAND PRIX.
MAGGI | OPÉRA BŒUF | 1957
1957. This is a MAGGI pot-au-feu ad where cattle sing and dance in the style of an opéra bouffe (comic opera). The moment I saw the title, I tilted my head and thought, "Beef opera?"—but once I watched the video, it all made sense. For an ad of its time, this is wildly bold.
BARCLAYS BANK | Put Una Money For There | 1956
This is the first British ad to win the Grand Prix at Cannes, back in 1956. It's called "Put Una Money For There." It's a three-minute animated ad built around a calypso sung in pidgin English (simplified English), urging West African farmers to "put the money from your harvest into Barclays Bank." Ba-ba-ba-boom. That tune is impossible to shake, and when you remember this was 1956, it's pretty wild.
VINS DU POSTILLON | SERIE ROUGE | 1955
In 1955, this French brand became the very first winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. The first glory of its kind. And yet, almost no details about it remain.