Badvertising – Cadbury’s Gorilla

by Matthew Laidlow on October 2, 2008 5 Comments


When you advertise something, you normally put the product in a situation where it looks like the best thing in the world. When selling a car, it’ll normally be tagged as the best because it’s the fastest or most eco-friendly or most full of pointless gadgetry.

With food products, the adverts will usually end with a fat child licking one of their seven chins and giving the thumbs up to the camera. Cadbury’s has decided not to do this. Instead, they’ve dedicated 90 seconds to a man in a gorilla suit who drums along to a Phil Collins song. What connects a gorilla, Phil Collins and a bar of chocolate is beyond us. A year on, we still don’t get it.

Did Phil Collins control a gorilla army to make bars of chocolate? We bloody hope not – the health and safety people will be all over them. The only person winning in all of this is the irritating baldy drummer Phil Collins himself. Every time that advert got shown, he got paid. He’ll literally be sitting on a throne made out of chocolate and laughing like an idiot as he shaves a gorilla and attempts to make a wig out of it’s hair. You heard us. Literally.

Where’s The Ultimate Warrior when you need him?

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

Julian Mentat October 2, 2008 at 4:32 pm

You may laugh, but that ad is very effective.
After seeing it, I went right out and purchased a Phil Collins album.

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Dermot Muncher October 2, 2008 at 10:06 pm

I myself..did not.

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Julian Mentat October 2, 2008 at 11:45 pm

Hey, have you ever *listened* to a Phil Collins album?
The guy sounds like he’s singing in the bathroom.
All the time!
What’s he *doing*, spending so much time in that bathroom?

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J Bollocks October 3, 2008 at 11:25 am

What I hate about this is the notion that Phil Collins could perform something “cool”. The sight of an ape getting down to Phil is more than sickening. Where are the RSPCA when you really need them, this ape is off it’s tits on drugs.
Almost anything music-wise would be better, ABBA, Bee Gees, my nan on the toilet etc etc.

I’m never going to eat a Cadbury chocolate again, but then again, seeing how they’ve recalled them all due to excessive melamine I might not ever get the chance to refuse one anyway.

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Andreas January 23, 2009 at 5:50 pm

This is a great commercial. It stands out and is creative in a bizarre way. If you doubt the effectiveness of such a commercial, you might want to compare it to a standard unoriginal one.

I hope you take this to your head rather than your heart, as it really is not my intention to insult you: you should practice creative writing, as it could improve your humor.

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