Aliens, chimps and a pregnant man: iconic British adverts – in pictures

‘For mash get Smash!’ ... Cadbury’s Smash – Martians by BMP, 1973 Photograph: Courtesy: History of Advertising Trust Wed 8 Jul 2026 08.00 CEST Heinz – Aristocrat Tomato Man (Maxon Inc), 1934 Lloyd Weed of the Maxon Inc advertising agency created Aristocratic Tomato Man to suggest the superior quality of Heinz’s ingredients. Unaccountably, the red-faced dude often to be seen in ads astride a quite possibly airborne ketchup bottle didn’t make the cut to join the Marvel Comic Universe. In this figurine, lovingly kept at the History of Advertising Trust archive, Lord Tomato Man looks as though he’s been duffed up by some horny-handed class enemy, poor chap. All images: Courtesy of History of Advertising Trust Pregnant Man (Saatchi & Saatchi), 1969 This Health Education Council ad depicted a worried-looking chap who, Lord knows how, had got up the duff. No wonder he looks miffed: soon he would have to pass that baby through – I’m no doctor – his urethra? In truth this brilliant and at the time shocking image was aimed at encouraging men to use condoms and take their sexual responsibilities seriously. And we all know how that worked out. PG Tips – Mr Shifter (Davidson Pearce Berry & Spottiswoode), 1971 Beginning in 1956, PG Tips shamelessly/ingeniously exploited our evolutionary cousins to flog tea. It’s not clear if the chimps’ agents negotiated royalties but possibly they were paid handsomely in tea and bananas. In this ad, likely riffing on Laurel and Hardy’s 1932 piano-removal film The Music Box and Bernard Cribbins’ 1962 single Right Said Fred, Mr and Junior Shifter are tasked with moving a piano. ‘Do you know the piano’s on my foot?’ asks Junior, to which Mr Shifter replies: ‘You hum it, son, I’ll play it.’ Hovis – Bike Ride (Collett Dickenson Pearce), 1974 Soundtracked by Dvořák’s New World Symphony No 9, Ridley Scott’s commercial transformed Gold Hill in Shaftesbury into an enduring symbol of British nostalgia. The image of a baker’s boy pushing his bicycle uphill sold more than bread: it presented an idealised vision of community, tradition and home that continues to resonate with audiences today. Cadbury’s Smash – Martians (Boase Massimi Pollitt), 1973 The Smash Martians ridiculed Earthlings for preparing mashed potato by hand, creating one of Britain’s best-loved advertising campaigns for a humble convenience food. John Webster’s surreal humour and Bob Godfrey’s distinctive animation created memorable characters, whose cry ‘For mash get Smash’ entered popular culture and demonstrated the enduring commercial power of comedy. Photograph: History of Advertising Trust Cinzano – Mile High Boozers (Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners), 1979 The ad begins with a stewardess offering Joan Collins and Leonard Rossiter each a glass of Cinzano. ‘Can’t you just smell those Italian wines?’ oils Rossiter before Collins joins in to chorus: ‘Suffused with herbs and spices from four continents.’ But just before she can take a sip, he pushes the seat recline button and she flips backwards, spilling the drink over her chest. ‘Getting your head down sweetie?’ asks Rossiter. ‘Jolly good idea.’ Apparently the punchline was a piece of improvisation from Rossiter. Levi’s 501s – Laundromat Man (Bartle Bogle Hegarty), 1985 Ladies and indeed gents, start your engines. It’s 1985 and the guy stripping off to his boxers (all the better to wash his 501s) in front of an audience of drooling bobby soxers to the soundtrack of Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine is none other than God’s own Nick Kamen, he of the ripped abs and no less captivating quiff. Result? The world lost its mind and, presumably, Levi’s shareholders ordered new yachts. Shake ’n’ Vac Woman (Benton & Bowles), 1980 Ladies and gents, start your engines. And when I say engines, I mean vacuum cleaners. The fabulous Jenny Logan, known to older readers as WPC Sally Reed from Dixon of Dock Green, brought the copywriters’ concept to life with gusto. ‘Do the shake ’n’ vac / And put the freshness back,’ she sang with enviable posture, generously cut skirt and legs quite possibly on loan from Shirley MacLaine, all the while spiritedly hoover-dancing in possible homage to Morecambe and Wise-era Angela Rippon. Truly, nobody has ever vacuumed a room so joyously. Mrs Oxo (J Walter Thompson), 1984 Lynda Bellingham stars in this unwitting paean to the sexist norms of yesteryear. She presents something lovely slavered in Oxo gravy to her family, including a spouse who thinks it OK to read the paper at the table rather than IN ANY WAY HELP. But wait, there’s a saucy subtext! As Mrs O presents her dish she looks knowingly at her husband and says ‘Remember Preston?’ prompting Mike to put down his paper and look wistful, remembering either 1) the couple’s dirty weekend in Lancashire or 2) their threesome with someone called Preston. Probably the former. Heat Electric – Frank the Talking Tortoise (GGK), 1990 A year after Wallace and Gromit captured our hearts in A Grand Day Out, Aardman matched claymation animals with voice interviews in which members of the public chatted about their central heating tastes. Here, Frank tells us that he needs his heating system to be ‘easily controllable because I don’t have much time. I’m a very busy person. I need to have everything just as I need it,’ adding, alluding to the radiator at the back of the shot: ‘Well they’ve got to be fairly modern in design and they should be easily turn on- and off-able.’ Tango – The Big Orange Fella (Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury and Partners), 1991 Older readers may still flinch from the memory of this ad in which a man is peaceably drinking a can of pop when, suddenly, a man in an orange body suit slaps the drinker’s face with both hands. As the assault is replayed in slow-motion, a football commentator voiceover (supplied by Ray Wilkins) comments: ‘The big orange fella’s run in from the left and given him a good old slapping.’ The ad was banned after children suffered perforated eardrums as a result of a copycat craze – but a new iteration is due this summer. Guinness – Surfer (Abbott Mead Vickers), 1999 Inspired by Moby Dick, Surfer combined dramatic black-and-white cinematography with crashing waves and mythical white horses to create one of advertising’s most celebrated spectacles. Jonathan Glazer ’s direction perfectly embodied Guinness’s promise that ‘Good things come to those who wait’. Cadbury – Gorilla (Fallon London), 2008 A gorilla playing the drum part of Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight had little obvious connection with chocolate, yet it became an instant advertising phenomenon. Funny, surprising and emotionally engaging, the commercial marked a shift towards entertainment-led branding and revitalised the Cadbury image. Sony Bravia – Balls (Fallon London) 2006 Shot largely for real, using hundreds of thousands of coloured balls released across San Francisco, the Bravia campaign celebrated colour and movement in spectacular fashion. The advert demonstrated how ambitious practical effects could create an emotionally engaging showcase for new technology.