Stories behind famous commercials
Every ad in Guess the Ad was chosen because people remember it. Here is how 40 of them were made, who made them, and why they worked.
Cars
- Volkswagen — “The Force”2011 · A tiny Darth Vader tries to use the Force on everything in the house, until a Volkswagen Passat seems to answer.
- Volvo — “The Epic Split feat. Van Damme”2013 · Jean-Claude Van Damme does the splits between two reversing trucks, to show how precise Volvo's steering is.
- Honda — “Cog”2003 · A chain reaction made only from the parts of a Honda Accord, filmed without computer effects.
- Honda — “Grrr”2004 · A cheerful animated song about hating things, made to launch Honda's first diesel engine.
- Kia — “Hamsters — A New Way to Roll”2010 · Hip-hop hamsters cruise through a world of hamster wheels in a boxy Kia Soul.
- Hyundai — “Smaht Pahk”2020 · Boston celebrities with thick accents show off a car that parks itself, in Super Bowl LIV.
- Jeep — “Groundhog Day feat. Bill Murray”2020 · Bill Murray relives Groundhog Day again, and finally enjoys it thanks to a Jeep Gladiator.
- Chrysler — “Imported from Detroit feat. Eminem”2011 · A two-minute tribute to Detroit, starring Eminem, that aired during the 2011 Super Bowl.
- Audi — “Prom”2013 · A nervous teenager borrows his dad's Audi for prom night and finds all the courage he needs.
- Mercedes-Benz — “Magic Body Control — Chicken”2013 · Chickens keep their heads perfectly still while their bodies move, to explain a suspension system.
Tech
- Apple — “1984”1984 · Ridley Scott's dystopian commercial that introduced the Apple Macintosh during the 1984 Super Bowl.
- Sony — “Bravia — Balls”2005 · Hundreds of thousands of coloured bouncy balls tumble down the streets of San Francisco.
- Apple — “Think Different”1997 · "Here's to the crazy ones": Apple's black-and-white tribute to Einstein, Gandhi, Picasso and other rebels.
Drinks
- Coca-Cola — “Hilltop — "I'd like to buy the world a Coke"”1971 · A choir of young people from around the world sings "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" on an Italian hilltop.
- Coca-Cola — “Holidays Are Coming”1995 · The glowing red Coca-Cola trucks that, for many viewers, mark the start of Christmas.
- Coca-Cola — “Northern Lights (Polar Bears)”1993 · Computer-animated polar bears watch the northern lights while sharing bottles of Coke.
- Coca-Cola — “Mean Joe Greene”1979 · An injured football star cheers up after a kid offers him his Coke, and throws him his jersey.
- Evian — “Roller Babies”2009 · Babies in nappies roller-skate and breakdance to "Rapper's Delight" in a park.
- Red Bull — “Red Bull Gives You Wings”2000 · Red Bull's hand-drawn cartoons, where every story ends with someone growing wings.
- Pepsi — “Cindy Crawford”1992 · Cindy Crawford stops at a dusty gas station for a can of Pepsi, watched by two amazed boys.
- Gatorade — “Be Like Mike”1991 · A catchy song about wanting to be like Michael Jordan, set to footage of Jordan and kids playing basketball.
Beer
- Guinness — “Surfer”1999 · Surfers wait for the perfect wave, which arrives with white horses galloping in the surf.
- Guinness — “noitulovE”2005 · Three men in a pub take one sip and evolution runs backwards, all the way to a mudskipper.
- Budweiser — “Puppy Love”2014 · A Labrador puppy keeps escaping to see his best friend, one of Budweiser's Clydesdale horses.
- Heineken — “Walk-in Fridge”2009 · A woman shows her friends her walk-in wardrobe; next door, the men find something even better.
Snacks
- Cadbury — “Gorilla”2007 · A gorilla plays the famous drum fill of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight".
- Snickers — “Betty White — You're Not You When You're Hungry”2010 · Betty White plays American football badly, until a Snickers turns her back into the young man she really is.
Fast food
- Chipotle — “Back to the Start”2011 · A stop-motion farmer turns his industrial farm back into a natural one, to a Willie Nelson song.
- Burger King — “The Moldy Whopper”2020 · A Whopper is filmed rotting for over a month, to prove it no longer contains artificial preservatives.
- Wendy's — “Where's the Beef?”1984 · Three elderly women inspect a huge bun with a tiny burger, and one demands: "Where's the beef?"
Sport
Fashion
Personal care
- Old Spice — “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”2010 · Isaiah Mustafa talks straight to the camera while the set changes around him in one impossible take.
- Dove — “Real Beauty Sketches”2013 · A forensic artist draws women as they describe themselves, then as strangers describe them.
- P&G — “Thank You, Mom — Best Job”2012 · Mothers around the world wake their children before dawn, year after year, until they become Olympians.
- Tide — “It's a Tide Ad”2018 · David Harbour turns every other Super Bowl ad into a Tide ad, because the clothes are so clean.
Retail
- John Lewis — “Monty the Penguin”2014 · A boy notices his penguin friend is lonely and finds him a companion for Christmas.
- IKEA — “Lamp”2002 · An old desk lamp is thrown out in the rain, until a Swedish man tells us we're crazy to feel sorry for it.
- Sainsbury's — “Christmas 1914”2014 · The Christmas truce of the First World War, when soldiers left the trenches to meet.
- Aldi — “Kevin the Carrot”2017 · Kevin, a brave little carrot, goes on a Christmas adventure to meet Santa.