Crush...Yiff...Destroy!

Charisma · Prattler Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 189

For my graphic design research project I've decided to write about 'Anthropomorphism in Adverting'. So far I've written a list of TV adverts that feature not only humanised animals, but also Aqua Bloo's talking toilet and Citroen C4's dancing Transformer robot car.

Can anyone think of any adverts that contain anthros that I mat have missed. I haven't looked into magazine ads yet either so links to any interesting ones you have come accross would be nice. Also, I realise quite a few of you are from the US and may have seen alot of ads that I wouldn't have otherwise have come accross.

Any links and help will be appreciated.
Also, I think it'd be interesting if we discussed the effects of anthros in advertising and what it does for companies. The most obvious reason I can see for using anthros is to appeal to childrens' imagination and to perhaps grab their attention with animation. Of course anthros dont always have to be animated, The Febreze dog, the Bacardi cat and the PG Tips are of course all glamoured-up real animals to play the roles of humans for humour.

The New Meat · Vociferator Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Posts: 466

Um, you kinda have to show us th elist before we can say if you've missed something:)

Appealing to kids is definitely a big part of using anthropomoophics. That's why there was such a brouhaha over the Joe Camel campaign, after all.

Charisma · Prattler Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 189

good point, this is what I have so far.

PG Tips- monkeys talking
Citroen C4- robot
Febreze -dog
Duracel -Duracel bunny toy? (not sure that would count)
Cutrus Bloo -anthro toilet
Herbal Essences -talking sloth things
Specsavers -Sloths
Toys R Us -Geoffrey Giraffe
Coca Cola -Polar bears
Penguin chocolate bars -Penguins
Barcardi -Cat trying to pull women
Rocky chocolate bar -Rocky Robin
Cookie Crisp (cereal) -cartoon wolf
Frosties -Tony the Tiger
Nesquick -Quicky the bunny (WTF)
Elephant Finance -Elephant suit
Co-Op -Dancing/singing sheep
Big W -puppet sheep and dog
Dairy Lee -'Aardman-style' animated cows
Crusha -kitten band
Switch-Maestro -Penguins getting married
Charmin toilet paper -bear
Tesco -Talking trolleys

Can anyone think of any ads where the actual product comes alive? like a bottle of something dancing?
I seem to remember a supermarket ad where the products are talking to eachother too.

Donotsue · Vociferator Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 310

Kitchen stuff becomes alive in the Bugs' safety-ad on dis page.. tho they aren't selling anything...
Does it count? =)

http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0891/

Skunkfunker · Qualificator Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 27

There's the recent/current Cadbury ones about pampering yourself with chocolate - someone contemplates whether or not to eat a chocolate bar and a talking animal pops up and essentially says "Go on, you know you want to". The animal is representative of the person's sense of 'pleasure'. Buggered if I can remember whether it's specifically for Cadbury's Dairy Milk, or Cadbury in general. They've featured a sheep, a leopard, and a pack of hyenas.

---

PG has recently changed to Aardman style flat-sharing birds, hasn't it? Some kind of tea anyways.

---

The Cadbury's Caramel Bunny:

as voiced by Miriam Margoyles:

Charisma · Prattler Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 189

ooooh excellent for those! I forgot about the Cadbury adverts, thats a good one. I don't think the cat and dog suit ads count or not.....I guess I should research the meaning of the word anthropomorphic more then.

mouse · Needs to get out more Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 817

The Cadbury's Caramel Bunny:

HOT

as voiced by Miriam Margoyles:

NOT

Donotsue · Vociferator Joined: 17 Jan 2004 Posts: 310

Ak! Thanks for ruining that fantasy! =)

Took some pics of the life size bunny in a cafeteria of Tussaud's waxworks 8 years ago... and saw some ads whilest in ireland....

Kadius · Vociferator Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Posts: 370

What about the Scrubbing Bubbles? Those evil little bastards have eyes!

I used to have nightmares where they'd swarm me and then scrub me to death. :(

Rankin · Needs to get out more Joined: 03 Jan 2004 Posts: 891

What about the Scrubbing Bubbles? Those evil little bastards have eyes!

I used to have nightmares where they'd swarm me and then scrub me to death. :(

...now we know why furries have an aversion to bathing.

ZenZhu · Needs to get out more Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 897

Half of those I'm not familiar with, so I guess they're European things. Here are some from the U.S. you may or may not be familiar with:

Scion commercial where the Scion that looks like a shoebox on wheels transforms into a beast that looks like it's out of the MDK game

Snuggle fabric softener bear

Chick-Fil-A's "Eat mor chikin" cows

Honeycomb..... thing.... I think it's formally called the Honeycomb Maniac or something like that

Skippy Peanut Butter rastafarian elephants (What's up with the one in a bikini???)

AFLAC duck

The GEICO gecko

Talking magpies in Windex commercials

Cheetos' Chester the Cheetah

Wal-Mart flying happy face guy

Paul · Venter Joined: 01 Feb 2004 Posts: 297

Can anyone think of any ads where the actual product comes alive? like a bottle of something dancing?

I vaguely recall having seen a few of that type back when I still watched television. Right now, the only specific ones I can remember are Apple's two ads for the second-generation iMacs (the first flat-screen ones) where the iMac comes alive. Both ads were made by Pixar - one of them (where the iMac reminds a bit of Pixar's own dancing Luxo lamp) can be found here (3.4 MB QuickTime file), from this site.

An older example, from 1958: a Xerox machine come alive, courtesy of this site that shows some of Boris Artzybasheff's drawings of anthropomorphic objects (I'm not sure if the Xerox machine is for an advert or "only" an illustration - most of Artzybasheff's works are magazine illustrations).

ZenZhu · Needs to get out more Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 897

There's a Jet Dry commercial where the spigot where you pour dish soap in moves like a mouth and tells you about Jet Dry.

What you never see are the outtakes where the producer came in drunk and horny one night.

DISHWASHER: "Hi! I'm here to tell you about Jet Dry dish detergent! It has a powerful..... hey.... why are you unzipping your fly? What does this have to do with Jet Drmmppphglslghsghglurleglurglesplortch!"

In the days of B&W television, just about everything freaking talked and danced... butter, vegetables, packs of smokes.... and let's not forget the talking nacho at the movie theater and the apathetic jalapeno that only said "Si."

Computolio · Vociferator Joined: 01 Jun 2003 Posts: 462

THERE'S FURRIES ON MY CEREAL BOX

MORNING WOOD GET IT HALUGHALUGHALUH OH GOD THE MULTICOLORED DICKS