by William J. Stevens

Created on: July 03, 2008   Last Updated: July 04, 2008

Very few subject areas are as bemoaned as advertising, mainly because the vast majority of adverts are mildly annoying interruptions to our perfectly pleasant everyday lives. There are, however, exceptions, little cultural gems that genuinely entertain whilst selling their wares. I should admit here to being fascinated by advertising, even the bad, or more particularly, what it is that makes one particular advert good. So I have compiled my favorite five adverts, concluding with, unsurprisingly, the one which I consider to be the very best.

There is good reason why an ad for the latest anti-aging cream, or cure for baldness will never be great. Great advertising should be truthful, nobody likes to feel that there are being conned. One of my favorite adverts was penned by John E. Powers, to whom 'Advertising Age' bestowed the title, 'the father of modern advertising', no less. He wrote for a Pittsburg clothing company. "We are bankrupt. This announcement will bring our creditors down our necks. But if you come and buy tomorrow we shall have the money to meet them. If not we will go to the wall". This copy still feels amazingly fresh despite it being written at the turn of the last century. You'll also be happy to note that consumers were so impressed they flocked to save the store.

Great advertising also, invariably, presumes the intelligence of its audience. A formidable example of this is Doyle Dane Bernbach's (so written for not even punctuation would come between them) iconic campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle. The most celebrated print ad of this series simply featured a little picture of a Beetle on the upper left corner of a page above the words "Think small." Admittedly this advert has been over celebrated to the point that it has almost become high art, however, challenging America, where everything is bigger, to 'Think Small' is wonderfully daring and far superior to my alternative, 'Why not try a small car?'

To be considered great it also helps if an ad is shocking and/or funny. To illustrate this point I shall take you to South Africa 1992, the agency TBWA\Hunt Lascaris and their TV commercial for Aspro Clear Headache tablets. The spot showed, presumably a married couple, in bed. The man hurriedly dissolved some Aspro Clear into a glass of water and offered it to his wife, "But... I don't have a headache" said the woman. "Excellent" replied the man. An advert so simple, funny and mildly shocking it begs the question. Why didn't it arrive earlier? If

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