Search - World's Funniest & Cleverest Commercials on DVD

Poor video quality, poor selection of clips, terrible hostin

M. Mertens | 05/23/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This is a terrible DVD. The image is blurry, the colors are washed out, the selection of commercials seems dubious and the hosting is embarrassing. Avoid at all costs.
I wanted to have this for my classroom, but I can't see myself ever using it."

Nice Selection, More Commercials Would've Been Better

Mark S. Smith | Alpharetta, GA United States | 06/12/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I wanted a selection of TV commercials to show my Video Editing class for one of their upcoming projects, and up till now, the only DVDs I've been able to find have been rather disappointing by comparison. The others have been mostly black and white commercials that, though mainly amusing for nostalgic purposes, don't offer much besides the occasional star cameo and "retro animation."

While far from a complete list of "Funniest & Cleverest Commercials," it was more of a sampler of highlights. The other DVDs of TV commercials I've seen have been of far inferior quality, both in selection and scope... others seemed downright random in their choice of "best" if you could even call it that.

This has SOME of the truly cleverest and funniest, but not all. Some that deserved the title were the famous "Mean Joe Green" and the "Kid's Coke" commercial, the Japanese boys in the public bath soap commercial (yes, the one with the infamous... ahem, bubbles) and a John Cleese "Schweppes" commercial about subliminal messages in advertising. There were sections of car commercials, baby commercials, and animal commercials. But my particular favorites were the sections on special effects and animation. Perhaps my favorite ad in the latter category has Inspector Gadget's/Maxwell Smart's Don Adams narrating a telephone spot in an animation studio, an ad that cleverly mixes animation and live action much in the style of Roger Rabbit.

One of my favorite "forgotten classics" was a 7 up commercial that combined live action and 1970s early computer animation.

Missing commercials that I would have liked to see were the Clara Peller's "Where's the Beef?" for Wendy's (she actually made a brief appearance in a clip), the "Gotta Make the Doughnuts" for Dunkin, and the Mr. Whipple ads for Charmin. I also would have liked one of my favorite classic animated commercials, the Tootsie Pop ad with the little boy, Turtle and Owl (voiced by Paul Winchell, who also voiced Tigger and the Smurfs' Gargamel).
I remember seeing that one during Captain Kangaroo!

Another I would have liked (and naturally the list could go on) might have been the detergent commercial that took place in the Chinese laundry... "Ancient Chinese secret, huhhh...?"

All in all, however, due to legal issues this might be the best overview of clever commercials we're likely to see, so I'm rather satisfied with my purchase. (I think I paid less than 15 bucks, though; more than 20, and you might wanna hold off...)

I think my students will get a kick out of this DVD, and hopefully some ideas for their TV commercial projects, as well."