Adland's 10 by 10 - Top Ten Freakiest Ads of The 00's

In no particular order...

In 2008, Nike Brand Design EMEA showed us how much like second skin their shoes where. Literally. The result was a bit disgusting and freaky.


November 2007...we all knew French ads have a tendency to be a bit odd. We thought we knew just how odd. Oh, how wrong we were. Fred & Farid of FFL PARIS brought out the freaky guns with their ad for Orangina that gave homage to (at least what appeared to be) furries. Now oft referenced with any new furries-like spot that comes out, this is definitely worthy of the top ten for the decade.

The UK's Gwent Police PSA from earlier this year was not only freaky, but graphic and jaw-dropping. The ad portrayed the dangers of texting while driving in a web video that was over 4 minutes long.
Possibly the freakiest advert for a new store opening has to go to a print ad for McDonald's by Leo Burnett, New Delhi. The ad was done in 2006. Hopefully this model will not grow up to be scarred for life, although I just might be.

Sunshine and coffee and freaky singing sunbeams. What else can one say about the Folgers Happy Mornings Sunshine spot from 2006 by Saatchi & Saatchi, NY?

South African agency, The Jupiter Drawing Room won a silver Lion for this ambient freakiness of drunkards in the bathroom (click image to see more).


One of the freakiest PSAs by AMV BBDO for Anorexia Awareness. Sometimes the truth is disturbing.

Earlier this year PETA has found competition with this crazy spot for Wakker Dier (Animals Awake). It features Ancilla Tilia, who was crowned the sexiest vegetarian of 2008, and is a famous fetish model. Here she strips naked, only to be gutted alive by a chain-smoking fisherman. Fish and ladies, they're all the same, right? Double-u-T-eff?
Burger King and CP+B. I was going to pick just one but, overall they have enough strange and freaky going on that it's worth lumping them all together as one. Let's see...Subservient Chicken, 2004. Chicken Fight, 2004. Fantasy Ranch, 2005. CoqRoq, 2005. Yes, that spot with Hootie. It was one of the first freaky spots Burger King started doing with the help of Crispin (after 2004's Subservient Chicken site and TV spot. In fact, it helped to set the tone for the types of ads we could expect from CP+B for the rest of the decade.

Check out the full video:


Suckling on wolves is always a bit freaky. Especially when it's used to sell sandwiches for Quiznos. Cliff Freeman (RIP) was the crazy agency behind the madness that aired in 2003 across America. And, yes, that's Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory", in case you were wondering.



And sure that was weird, but Quizno's brought it up a notch a year later with the unforgettable Sponge Monkey spots.



Did we miss one you would have liked to have seen listed? Post it in the comments.
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    Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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    Dabitch's picture

    I never knew that was Jim Parsons! Scratch that, I mean I didn't notice until now. :)

    caffeinegoddess's picture

    I hadn't realized until I watched it again.

    Some other freaky ads are the ones including tongues like this one for Toohey's, this Mike's Hard Lemonade and this Doritos spot.