PRE-NOTE for you new subs: I do cover good currents ads, when I find them, which is pretty fucking rare, because the state of ad creativity is most-accurately described as: shit-awful.
Therefore, If I only covered new ads, it would be 90% shit-awful ads, which would send me to the woods/mountains/desert to work on the next great American novel, or at least the first ever great ad industry novel, which wouldn’t get finished because I’d get eaten by a bear/pack of coyotes/aerie of bald eagles. I do also cover the shittiest of the shit-awful ads every month, fyi.
Anyway: This is why I often go back in time to When Advertising Tried Harder (great book for reference, highly recommended, buy it here).
New York City was still New York City. (I don’t know WTF it is now.) I made the best ads of my career (CLIOS, ANDYS, One Shows, etc.). Wave after wave of great new rock music, so many great new bands. Habs won the Cup in 93. And, eight years of prosperity under Slick Peyronie Willy. GEN X for the WIN.
IT’S 1990s WEEK ON COPYRANTER!
And: so many memorable ads. Here’re eight examples to start this week of ads that tried harder. I will be posting a total of 30+ great 1990s ads—many you haven’t seen—through Friday. Buy a sub here to see them all.
1. NYC Anti-Littering PSA (1991)
What happens when you get David Lynch to take on Gotham litterers? You get dramatic shots, eerie-ass music, and close-ups of rats (look for guy spitting/coughing on the sidewalk). Nice try Dave, but…NOTHING CAN STOP NEW YORK CITY RATS. Us residents know and accept this.
2. THE INDEPENDENT (1999)
This 1999 commercial for The “Indy” is again (sorry I keep bashing the shit out of that poor dead horse) so simple because BIG ideas aren’t born in bullshit round-table meetings about “native” advertising or at a high-tech production house. They’re created on a blank page/screen, usually by one person, two at the most.
Listen to the copy, look at the visuals, absorb the brilliance. Ad agency: Lowe London.
3. JIFFY Condoms (1990)
Theo Delaney directed this classic British commercial from 1990. No, those aren’t the procreators of some of the biggest monsters of the 20th century—they’re patients at a London elderly day center who unwittingly posed as the parents. A dirty trick for sure, but at the time, the general public actually thought this was genuine archival footage. The press coverage was thick.
Dig the old-time projector sfx. The spot won a Silver Lion at Cannes that year.
4. United Colors Of Bennetton (1990s)
The camapign, shot by Oliviero Toscani, put the fashion brand on the map, for sure. It also caused an unending wave of fashion brands trying—and failing—to be “edgy”. He told the New York Times, at the time:
“I have found out that advertising is the richest and most powerful medium existing today. So I feel responsible to do more than to say, 'Our sweater is pretty' ".
Top Left: Roman Catholic Church shit their vestments. The ad was reprised as a campaign in 2011. Top Right: Titled “Anthem To Life”, was the campaign’s most censored ad. Bottom Left: Journalism student Therese Frare’s image of gay activist and AIDS victim David Kirby as he lay on his death bed was coloured by artist Ann Rhoney with oil paint for the campaign. Bottom Right: The hearts were later revealed to be pig’s hearts photographed by Toscani.
5. Monster.com (1999)
“When I Grow Up…” Still, the best, most effective Super Bowl commercial in history. So simple and it hit—hard—a lot of nerves of a lot of unhappily employed people, and it made Monster an instant job-search player. Agency: MullenLowe, Boston.