[adverts] The Hard Sell: Wonga … the Guardian takes an amusing look at the Wonga.com adverts … ‘[The Wonga.com puppets] work on a simple but watertight assumption: that everybody trusts an old person. The over-70s usually offer us fluffy sweets, tell long stories, or send pound coins taped to the inside of birthday cards. They never, repeat never, push barely legal, morally questionable loans at 4,214% APR.’

[advert] Singing in the Rain Remix — MP3 remix using the music from the VW advert.

[advert] Golf GTI commercial and Elsewhere — Kottke interviews one of the dancers behind the Gene Kelly Golf GTI advert … ‘The sound stage was cold and we had to dance under artificial rain for hours. To avoid freezing we wore wet suits under our already thick, tight costumes. This restricted my movement a lot. My shoes were quite uncomfortable and fake flooring we danced on was soft and spongy. I had to keep my head up and smile constantly which was very unnatural for me.’

[tv] Cleaning Coinage with Cillet BANG! … ‘I, like all Brits love the Cillet BANG advert. It’s cleverly shot, presented and produced. Its a modern day classic, which I hope to remember as long as the J.R. Hartley ad. But is the new revolutionary product really as good as Barry Scott will have us believe? Can we trust TV? Would my life improve if my pockets were full of sparkling coins?’ [via Grayblog]

[advert] Gene Kelly Singing in the Rain – the original updated — an quicktime advert for the new VW Golf GTI but amazing nonetheless. [via Ben Hammersley]

[history] Who was Inês de Castro? … ‘[The King of Portugal] revealed to the country that had secretly married Inês and that she was the lawful queen of Portugal. The king’s word was, and still is, the only proof of the marriage, but Peter took Inês’s body from the grave and forced the entire court to swear allegiance to her as queen.’

[descaler] On eBay: CILLIT BANG – New and unopened [via Tech PR blog] … ‘YES – it does exist – but very difficult to find!! This is an excellent product and does everything that it says it does – great for kitchens and bathrooms and for shiny new pennies!!!’

[descaler] Cillit Bang FAQ — everything you need to know about the much blogged household cleaner … ‘Q: How does Cillit Bang work? A: I’m not sure. Any Chemistry gurus out there? Is it a surfactant? Oxidant? Acid? What would happen if you necked a shot of it?’

• PeterCooper.co.uk: Cillit Bang … From a Comment: ‘…for the people who said it is a real product…..where the hell can I get it? Its driving me nuts…..I NEED Cillit Bang!!! My life will never be the same without it….HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’


• The Ulterior: BANG! … From a Comment: ‘I have seen the advert everyday for about a week now on channel 4, and in my Chemistry class about 2 weeks ago, when discussing oxidation, somone shouted out CILLIT BANG! We were all fairly confused and thought he was winding up the teacher, but no! He was discussing the oxidation power of Cillit Bang! It has now started a religion in my school and every time we meet each other we have to shout Cillit Bang! Its not a great religion, but i thought you should all know about it…’

[comic] Dan Clowes Switch Commercial — the creator of Ghost World did an unused commercial for Apple (directed by Errol Morris) … ‘It’s like a perfect robot pal.’

[nostalgia] Classic Kia-ora Advert from the 80s … ”I’ll be your dog! Wuff, wuff, wuff. It’s too orangey for crows, it’s just for me and my dog. We all adore Kia-ora!’ [via del.icio.us]

[advert] Wheels Within Wheels — brief commentary on the Mercedes car advert …



‘…the Mercedes branding of Lucky Star is subtle, verging on imperceptible. Those who watch the trailer and are eager to find out more will unearth not a high-octane thriller, but an invitation to their nearest Mercedes showroom. Whether Mann’s glacé camerawork will then be enough to sustain that interest once they notice the car’s £92,000 price tag is moot. For Mercedes, it is evidently a risk worth taking. The prize, after all, is precious indeed: the neutering of our scepticism when confronted with advertising.’

[distraction] Could You? — Amusing spoof on recent UK Police TV Ads. [via Wanderers Weblog]

[distractions] Feed The Tango Inside … ‘Oh no! You’re not still seeing her, are you? You’ve been wanting to get out of this relationship for years, and now the mother speaks of marriage? You must do something drastic my friend. Make a pass at her father! Go on… just give his knee a little squeeze…’

[apple] Rip, Burn, Mix. If you’ve got the time or bandwidth… a great Apple TV commercial. [via Scripting News]

[ad] Great spoof of the White Horses Guinness advert…. [requires Quicktime]

[it must be love] BT’s lastest banner ad for ISDN. ‘If we can still monopolise it, we can still be cack at it.’

[whassup in the UK] Budweiser have started showing the Whassup! TV ads in the UK…

[beeb.com] According to my flatmate [who wants me to link to this and this for some reason] the BBC has released it’s first commercial television advertisement… it’s advertising beeb.com a internet shopping site.

[ads] Blast from the past — umbongo.com.

[web] newsUnlimited reports that Tim Berners-Lee doesn’t like ads on web sites. “Newspapers insert a line saying an ad is an advertisement when it looks confusing. I want to see something similar on a web page. Perhaps the mouse should change shape when it passes over an ad to alert you to the fact.”

[tv] Channel 4 have a list of the greatest UK TV ads.