Let's be honest: ads suck.
God, they suck. They suck so bad! In fact - if you're like me - there's a good chance that in the past half-hour you've thrown your phone into the wall because one popped up and wouldn't go away.
However, due to society's in-born hatred for everything advertorial, the clever executives in thin-rimmed glasses and Valentino suits have had to think up clever ways of getting you to pay attention.
Most fail, but here are the five that actually succeeded.
Jaguar vs. Chicken.
When Mercedes released the W222 chassis S-Class in 2013, there was an epic amount of tech onboard - huge. Sensors and screens all over.
The most impressive bit of innovation was Merc's 'Magic Body Control'. A demonstation of which was ingeniously simplified in an ad by using chicken's heads as ride-leveling stabilisers.
Long story short, Jag didn't buy this non-sensical luxury faff - and instead opted to remind everyone why its cars are worth serious consideration.
2. Citroen DS' swiveling headlights (1960s)
Think of car ads from the '60s and you'll probably think of someone with a cultivated accent harping on about disc brakes and "the new Cortina".
Just as Bullit showed a turning point for car chases, this Citroen clip did the same for car ads.
It was one of the first car ads to be single-minded and sharp. Like the car it featured, it was incredibly modern for its time. No dialogue, no explanations, no rambling. It showed you what it did, then - bing, bam, boom - it's over.
3. Audi "Birth"
Yup. This is one of the weird ones.
Normally, when you're trying to sell a performance hatchback, it's always good to 'relate' the performance of your brand-new car to the pedigree and prestige of your established models.
You know, like linking a five-cylinder Audi RS3 to a bigger V10 Audi R8.
In this spot, however, Audi took the word 'relate' a little too seriously.
4. Ford FG Falcon EcoBoost
Back in 2012 when Ford put the EcoBoost Falcon on sale, the Aussie manufacturer had a HUGE challenge: convincing the die-hards to buy a four-cylinder Falcon.
The top-tier executives had approved the engine for the Aussie market. The engineers had married the new engine to the car. And now it was the marketer's job to get it sold...
It was a huge task - one that gave us a classic Aussie ad.
5. Ford Fiesta 'Foreclay'
What do you do when you have to advertise a bland all-rounder? Nothing bad, but nothing good, either. You have to sell it, fast - but you don't know what to do.
Throw everything sex related at it, obviously.
Whoever said "sex sells" was right. Because even though the sixth-gen Fiesta didn't leave a lasting impression, this ad certainly did.
Have any good car ads that you remember? Tell us in the comments.
