Rolling Stones’ Rice Krispies Jingle

On last night’s Mad Men, a reference was made to the Rolling Stones having made a commercial for Rice Krispies in England. Well, the crack research team here at Postcards of the Hanging tracked down the ad, which only aired in England in 1964, and we’ve got it here for your viewing pleasure. The Stones don’t actually appear in the spot, but they do perform the ad’s jingle which was specially co-written by Stones guitarist Brian Jones and the J. Walter Thompson ad agency. It’s probably the hippest breakfast cereal you’ll see all day.

Brad Pitt’s 1980s Pringles Commercial

Last week Brad Pitt received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Moneyball, his third overall Oscar nomination. You have to wonder, when Pitt was starting out in the business, did he expect to make it this far? While we ponder that question, let’s go back to the dawn of Pitt’s career, when he appeared in a ridiculously ’80s Pringles potato chip ad. Watch for a shirtless Pitt as a bronzed Pringles lovin’ beach goer in this clip which looks like it was edited by someone on a lot of cocaine.

The Best Bear Commercials

Stephen Colbert may believe that bears are “godless killing machines,” but bears also make great commercial pitchmen. So, in the spirit of Friday, let’s watch some commercials with bears.

Our first is a recent ad for the French premium cable channel Canal+. This clever clip features a director working on a medieval epic who takes a break from filming to discuss his love for cinema.

 

This second clip is from British salmon company John West which shows all the hard work that goes in to getting the best salmon for John West products. This clip is so old, I actually remember it going viral online in the pre-Youtube age.

 

Finally, here’s a great fake beer ad from the excellent movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. This goofy bear themed spot is almost indistinguishable from a real beer ad. This weekend, why not try to convince a friend that this is a real ad?

Chan Hwee Chong’s Spiral Art

The image to the left is the work of an artist named Chan Hwee Chong and it consists of one continuous line. This spiral Mona Lisa is part of an advertising campaign Chong helped create for the Faber Castell series of artist pens.  Check out the rest of Chong’s work for the campaign and a video of Chong in action at the Behance Network.

Christina Hendricks and James Bond

Does anyone not love Christina Hendricks? She’s only the most beautiful person on Earth and a great actress. But before she got our collective attention on Mad Men, she was just another young actor trying to make it in Hollywood. Naturally, this means that she must have done a few odd projects here or there before she became she made it big. For Hendricks, one of these odd little projects was a 1997 Visa commercial starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. This commercial was released as a form of cross-promotion with the then current Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Hendricks appears as an English tea shop girl who nearly causes some trouble for Agent 007. Strangely enough, I vaguely remember when this ad first aired.

A Century Of Style

The Westfield corporation is opening up a new shopping centre in East London and have released a clever ad to promote the new shops. In this ad by The Viral Factory, a man and a woman dance their way through one hundred years of fashion starting in 1911 and ending in the present day. The music by Tristin Norwell cleverly transitions through every major musical style of the 20th and early 21st century, including jazz, rock n roll, psychedelia, punk, disco, new wave, hip hop and contemporary electronica. It’s a fun revisiting of the last century’s worth of fashion and music. Personally, I enjoy it just for the reminder that late 80s/early 90s fashion really was terrible.

The First Ronald McDonald Ad Is Terrifying

When I say Ronald McDonald, you’ve probably got a pretty standard image in your mind: A redheaded clown in a jumpsuit. Oh, but it wasn’t always that way. My friend Clark sent me this video of Ronald’s first commercial and let’s just say it’s kind of disturbing. Between his happy meal hat, straw hair and proto-John Wayne Gacy make-up, this Ronald is more likely to try to invite you to check out the puppies in his van rather than entice you in to buying a hamburger. I’ve watched this clip a few times now and every time I find myself asking new questions: Why is Ronald wearing a cup on his nose? Why do the burgers make a ping sound? Whose hand comes creeping in to frame about twenty seconds in to the clip?

Damndest thing though, right after I finished watching that, I got a phone call saying I’d die in seven days. Eh, it’s probably nothing to worry about.

Prime “Big Series” Ad

Belgium’s Prime Televise network is a pay cable channel that mostly airs American hits like Boardwalk Empire, Mad Men, Lost and Breaking Bad. To promote their line up, the network commissioned an ad showing miniature symbolic representations of the network’s  line up of “Big Series.” The clip features tiny toy figurines standing among images related to the network’s shows. A figurine in a business suit strikes a Draperesque pose in front of a glass of whiskey for Mad Men and the Breaking Bad figurine scans the Periodic Table while perched upon Walter White’s glasses.

Unfortunately, we don’t know who made this advert, which is a real shame as it’s quite good. Check it out.

Thor Goes To The Movies

If you’ve been to a movie theater in the past few months, you’ve probably seen the giant reproduction of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir promoting the film version of Thor. Well, a Youtube user by the name of CobraTucker wanted to see if he was worthy of the power of Thor and attempted to lift the giant Mjolnirt at his local cineplex. Hilarity ensued.

Cereal Box Civic

Remember opening up your cereal box and finding a cool toy prize? Well, Vancouver ad agency Dare does and sought to recreate that experience to promote the new Honda Civic. Dare built a giant tipped over cereal box outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, and surprise, the giant box contained a wrapped up prize: The 2011 Honda Civic. It’s a pretty clever idea, but I have to question how effective this ad was as most people in the video seem to be more interested in playing with the giant cereal pieces.