History Main / WhatWereTheySellingAgain

** Snickers also has a weird campaign where the tagline is "you're not yourself when you're hungry, so grab a Snickers", but they only say that at the very last second. Until then, it's just some random celebrity AdamWesting with some schlubs.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', various sectors are having a science fair to demonstrate the latest in 2x4 technology. The judges approach the booth for France's sector, Sector F. The operatives there display a video in black and white, bizarre imagery and dialogue, and the two operatives reciting Frère Jacques. The lead judge needs to call out to them to even figure out what the hell they're demonstrating. It turns out to be a spray operatives can use before taking a bath so they will not get clean. It ends up winning the fair.

* On the subject of consoles, there were the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} pre-launch ads, which [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSuLMZJXKLE simply showed]] a rotating green sphere with various strange noises and non-sequitur dialog from unseen people; at the end of the ad the "X" symbol would open inside the sphere, with the Xbox name and web address fading in below. No indication of what an Xbox was or any affiliation with Microsoft; the ads for the initial launch titles were more straightforward, though.

* This [[https://youtu.be/3uB8gbWAuV4 bizarre]] [[https://youtu.be/Gkwhxh5txJ0 pair]] of Japanese ads for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' starring an ostrich. WordOfGod says it's supposed to represent a Chocobo (as evidenced by the upbeat tropical rendition of the Chocobo theme the ads use), but even with that context, good luck figuring out what an ostrich has to do with the tale of a knight fighting against the evil empire he once sided with and atoning for the misdeeds he committed under them.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', various sectors are having a science fair to demonstrate the latest in 2x4 technology. The judges approach the booth for France's sector, Sector F. The operatives there display a video in black and white, bizarre imagery and dialogue, and the two operatives reciting Frère Jacques. The lead judge needs to call out to them to even figure out what they hell they're demonstrating. It turns out to be a spray operatives can use before taking a bath so they will not get clean. It ends up winning the fair.

* This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-qBkWerZDg inexplicable 1980s ad]] for ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' interspersed shots from the game with Creator/JohnKassir dressed in black randomly flailing around a darkened room and yelling for "Zelda!" in between freaking out about some of the game's monsters while seeming like he's tripping on a cocktail of various highly illegal substances. As one [=YouTube=] commenter put it:
-->'''Commercial director''': Hi, I'm here to direct this commercial.\\
'''Nintendo representative''': So have you looked at the game?\\
'''Commercial director''': No, but I've got a bargain-basement Robin Williams and a pound of crystal meth.\\
'''Nintendo representative''': You're hired.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB_WH-j4EqA This commercial]] by Mylan for the [=EpiPen=] from 2016, shows the effects of the condition that their product protects against without naming the product in question.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB_WH-j4EqA This commercial]] by Mylan for the [=EpiPen=], which they had recently bought the rights to from Merck, shows the effects of the condition that their product protects against without naming the product in question.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB_WH-j4EqA This commercial]] by Mylan for the [=EpiPen=], which they had recently bought the rights to from Merck, shows the effects of the condition that their product products against without naming the product in question.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB_WH-j4EqA This commercial]] by Mylan for the EpiPen, which they had recently bought the rights to from Merck, shows the effects of the condition that their product products against without naming the product in question.

* [[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhD2mTxyUaE Do you feel like Chicken Tonight?]] A highly memorable jingle (from 1992) that never ever leaves your head, and you completely forget that "Chicken Tonight" is a pasta sauce product from Ragu intended to be cooked with the chicken. The ads might have sold more chicken than sauce.

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFnqhefkQJw Great American Soups]] ad, the most expensive TV ad ever at the time (featuring top-of-her-field tap dancer Creator/AnnMiller and a complete BusbyBerkeleyNumber), was ''hugely'' popular and extremely effective at getting people to buy soup. Unfortunately, the ad didn't manage to impress the brand name on buyers; they bought the familiar Campbell's brand instead. Notice that ''the link itself'' mistakenly attributes the ad to Campbell's!

** A year before "Grrr", Honda also made an ad called [[https://youtu.be/rYabfifhEPE Cog.]] It's a two-minute chain of events that you generally see in a ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' deathtrap scene (a RubeGoldbergDevice), culminating in a finished car and the voiceover "Isn't it nice when things just work?" The commercial itself is a masterful achievement; filmed in two takes edited seamlessly together and containing no CGI. But nothing about the commercial itself screams "Honda."

* Creator/{{Sony}} brought in Creator/DavidLynch to direct a series of advertisements for the launch of the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in Europe. They were surrealist black and white affairs about The Third Place, which is apparently an enigmatic land of play alongside people's work life and home life. There were many jokes about the other meaning of the slogan, but only amongst gamers — Sony had neglected to actually include the console, or any other gaming references, in the advertisement.
** They repeated the mistake with the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, using a series of adverts styled in the manner of a glossy drama or soap opera set in a holiday resort, and ending with "This Is Living" and the URL "thisisliving.tv". Non-gamers (and gamers' spouses) thought it was an advertisement for Living TV[[note]]Later known as Sky Living, now rebranded into Sky Witness[[/note]], a UK satellite channel specialising in glossy dramas and soaps. They added a "[=PlayStation=] 3" flash at the tail end of the commercials' run, after the machine [[http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2007/03/victory-in-europe-photographic.html shuddered, uneventfully, into stores.]]

** There was one for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation that merely showed blood cells shaped like the [=PlayStation=] buttons in a microscope. It never even made mention of the name of the product, either.

* There's a reason for the above trend in American insurance commercials: They aren't doing much to sell insurance because they're not really selling insurance. In reality, the goal is to introduce likable and memorable commercials and characters that will be associated with the company....and remembered by jurors if/when they are sued.

* An ad a few years ago had big beasts with headlights and brakes and stuff in a rodeo championship, with one cocky guy falling off and a more careful guy having a perfect ride. Included were herds of these beasts running on the roads and one drinking out of a trough in a gas station. Its point was supposed to be a lecture in SUV safety.