The 100 Greatest TV Ads

The 100 Greatest TV Ads
Genre	Countdown list show
Presented by	Graham Norton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Running time	180 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company	Tyne Tees
Original release
Network	Channel 4
Release	29 April 2000 (2000-04-29)

The 100 Greatest TV Ads is a British TV entertainment programme that first aired on 29 April 2000 on Channel 4. It is part of the channel's 100 Greatest strand of programmes, and was presented by Graham Norton.

Summary

The programme counted down the 100 greatest ever television adverts shown on British television since the launch of commercial broadcasting in 1955.[1][2] A public poll was conducted on both the Channel 4 website and The Sunday Times newspaper to determine the outcome of the result.

In addition to the programme showing the top 100 adverts, it also featured contributions from special guests and those who worked behind the scenes on the adverts. There were also two feature contributions in the programme, one from Peter Kay looking at some of the most obscure adverts in history, and the other showcased some classic international adverts with Gail Porter.

Top 100

Number	Brand/Company/Product	Advert	Year
1	Guinness	Surfer	1999
2	Smash	Martians	1973
3	Tango	Orange Man	1991
4	Heat Electric	Creature Comforts	1991
5	Boddingtons	Melanie Sykes	1997
6	Levi's	Laundrette	1985
7	R. White's Lemonade	Secret Lemonade Drinker	1973
8	Hamlet	Happiness Is...	1966-91
9	Walkers Crisps	Gary Lineker	1993 onwards
10	Impulse	Chance Encounter	1998
11	Cinzano	Collins & Rossiter	1978
12	Renault Clio	Papa and Nicole	1991-98
13	Yellow Pages	J. R. Hartley	1983
14	British Telecom	Ology	1988
15	Nike	Park Life	1997
16	Coca-Cola	Teach The World To Sing	1971
17	Carling Black Label	Dambusters	1989
18	Glade Shake n' Vac	Dancing Woman	1979
19	Andrex	Puppy	1972 onwards
20	Real Fires	Furry Friends	1988
21	Ferrero Rocher	Ambassador's Party	1995
22	Oxo	The Oxo Family	1958-99
23	Wall's Cornetto	Just One Cornetto	1980
24	PG Tips	Chimps	1956 onwards
25	Castlemaine XXXX	Sherry	1986
26	Cadbury Flake	Flake Girls	1959 onwards
27	Nestlé Milkybar	The Milkybar Kid	1961 onwards
28	Hovis	The Bike Ride	1974
29	Heineken	Water In Majorca	1985
30	Kit Kat	Pandas	1989
31	Nescafé Gold Blend	Couple	1987-93
32	Duracell	Bunny	1981 onwards
33	John Smith's	Dog Tricks	1981
34	Pepsi	Swedish Girl	1974
35	Martini	Any Time, Any Place	1971
36	Cadbury Fruit & Nut	Fruit & Nutcase	1977 onwards
37	Fry's Turkish Delight	Eastern Promise	1957 onwards
38	Apple	1984	1984
39	Foster's Lager	Ballet	1984
40	Tetley	Tetley Tea Folk	1973 onwards
41	Campari	Luton Airport	1977
42	Volkswagen Golf	Changes	1988
43	Old Spice	Surfer	1977
44	Esso	Tiger	1964 onwards
45	One2One	Ian2Martin	1997
46	Unigate	Humphrey	1975
47	Mates	Chemist Shop	1987
48	Cadbury Milk Tray	Avalanche	1974
49	Heinz Baked Beans	Beanz Meanz Heinz	1967 onwards
50	Stella Artois	Flowers	1991
51	Dulux	Dulux Dog	1964 onwards
52	Homepride	Flour Men	1967
53	Sugar Puffs	Honey Monster	1976 onwards
54	Holsten Pils	Griff Rhys Jones	1983
55	Whiskas	Eight Out Of Ten Cats	1975 onwards
56	Fiat Strada	Handbuilt By Robots	1979
57	After Eight	Dinner Party	1963 onwards
58	Hoffmeister	Follow The Bear	1983
59	Audi	Vorsprung Durch Technik	1984 onwards
60	Kellogg's Rice Krispies	Snap, Crackle & Pop	1955 onwards
61	Maxell	Ears Are Alight	1989
62	British Airways	Face	1989
63	Yorkie	Coast To Coast	1976
64	Schweppes	Shh...You Know Who	1963
65	Birds Eye Fish Fingers	Captain Birdseye	1968 onwards
66	Toshiba	Hello Tosh	1984
67	Sony	Armchair	1995
68	British Gas	If You See Sid	1986
69	Dunlop Tyres	Tested For The Unexpected	1993
70	Cresta	Singing Polar Bear	1972
71	The Guardian	Points of View	1986
72	Fairy	Hands That Do Dishes	1964 onwards
73	Murray Mints	Too Good To Hurry Mints	1955
74	Lego	Kipper	1980
75	Mars	Work, Rest & Play	1978 onwards
76	InterCity	Relax	1988
77	Egg Marketing Board	Go to Work On An Egg	1966
78	Olympus	Wedding Photographer	1977
79	Remington	Victor Kiam	1978
80	Birds Eye Beefburgers	Ben & Mary	1974
81	Fruit Gums	Fruit Gums Mum	1956
82	Shell	We're Going Shell	1963
83	Cointreau	Christian & Katherine	1974 onwards
84	Brut	Henry Cooper	1976
85	Courage Best	Gertcha	1979
86	Nimble	Balloon	1973
87	Strand	You're Never Alone With	1959
88	Double Diamond	Works Wonders	1968
89	Chunky	Clement Freud & Henry	1967
90	Barclaycard	Alan Whicker	1984
91	Benson & Hedges	Istanbul	1974
92	Gibbs SR	Tingling Fresh	1955
93	Timex	Tick-a-Tick Timex	1964
94	Parker Pens	Finishing School	1975
95	Charlie	Charlie Girl	1975
96	Sainsbury's	Celebrity Recipes	1992
97	Clarks	Foot Drawing	1976
98	Meccano	Boy In A Man's World	1967
99	Pedigree Chum	Top Breeders	1974
100	Stork SB	Taste The Difference	1978

Great Ads of the 21st Century

Since its original broadcast, the programme has been repeated numerous times on both Channel 4 and E4. On its first two reruns — in both 2003 and 2004 — additional inserts were added that showed some adverts that were not part of the original vote in 2000.[3] These were, in order of appearance:

• Reebok - Belly's Gonna Get You
• John West Foods - Bear Fight (not included in the 2004 re-run)
• Adidas - David Beckham & Jonny Wilkinson (only included in the 2004 re-run)
• Metz - Judderman
• Bacardi Breezer - Tomcat
• John Smith's - Diving
• Monster.co.uk - Beware Of The Voices (not included in the 2004 re-run)
• Lynx Pulse - Make Luv (only included in the 2004 re-run)
• Microsoft Xbox - Life Is Short, Play More

See also

100 Greatest (TV series)

References

1. "UK TV Adverts - Fun Facts". Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-01-15.
2. "The 100 Greatest TV Ads". London: Channel 4. 2000. Archived from the original on 18 June 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
3. "The 100 Greatest TV Ads". Channel 4. 29 August 2004. Retrieved 2 November 2022.