What is the oldest Christmas commercial still on TV?
The oldest Christmas commercial still regularly airing on TV is the Hershey’s Kisses “Christmas Bells” ad, which debuted in 1989. It features 11 Hershey's Kisses ringing to the tune of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." While updated to CGI in 2012, it has run annually for over 35 years.
The world's longest running TV commercial is the Discount Tire Company's Thank you commercial, produced by Swartwout Productions (Arizona, USA) and first aired in 1975. The same commercial has been aired continuously every year in parts of the USA.
“As what we believe to be the industry's longest running holiday TV spot, the O'Tannenpalm commercial has been a cultural staple for 35 years – with its simple, yet magical tone that captures the spirit of the Corona brand,” said Rob Nelson, vice president of brand marketing, Corona.
[Christmas Special] Longest-running ad ever? The unknown story of the iconic Corona Christmas spot
How old is the Eat n Park Christmas commercial?
One long-running tradition here at Eat'n Park is our cherished Christmas Star commercial, which first aired in 1982. Every year, we are moved by the comments we hear about this classic spot.
There's no single "best" Christmas advert, as it's subjective, but top contenders often include John Lewis ("The Bear and the Hare," "Man on the Moon"), Coca-Cola ("Holidays Are Coming"), Sainsbury's ("1914"), and Apple ("Heartstrings"), praised for emotional storytelling, humor, or nostalgia, with recent hits like Cadbury's "Secret Santa" and Amazon's heartwarming shorts also topping lists.
The Guinness Christmas commercial first aired on December 1st 2004. Since then we like to think it has become an essential part of Christmas. We hope you enjoy it again this year and… “Don't forget to turn the lights out”.
Iceland's latest Christmas advert was banned from TV recently, but was subsequently viewed more than 20 million times online and declared the best Christmas ad by The Independent. The advert – featuring an animated orangutan named 'Rang-tan' – focuses on the devastating effects of deforestation and the use of palm oil.
The Coca‑Cola Company began its Christmas advertising in the 1920s with shopping-related ads in magazines like The Saturday Evening Post. The first Santa ads used a strict-looking Claus, in the vein of Thomas Nast. In 1930, artist Fred Mizen painted a department-store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke.
The estate of George Orwell and the television rightsholder to the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four considered the commercial to be copyright infringement and sent a cease-and-desist letter to Apple and Chiat/Day in April 1984.
January 2, 1971, the "Public Health Cigarette Act" went into effect. This law banned the advertising of cigarettes and tobacco products on television and radio.
While subjective, Apple's "1984" Super Bowl commercial, directed by Ridley Scott, is often cited as the most famous and influential for changing advertising with its cinematic quality, while Volkswagen's "The Force" (2011) is among the most-watched, and Nike's "Just Do It" campaign is renowned for its long-lasting cultural impact. Other contenders include Wendy's "Where's the Beef", Old Spice's "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like", and Coca-Cola's "Mean Joe Greene".
The oldest television commercial is a 10-second spot for Bulova watches, which aired on July 1, 1941, in the United States, before a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.
There's no single "best" Christmas advert, as it's subjective, but top contenders often include John Lewis ("The Bear and the Hare," "Man on the Moon"), Coca-Cola ("Holidays Are Coming"), Sainsbury's ("1914"), and Apple ("Heartstrings"), praised for emotional storytelling, humor, or nostalgia, with recent hits like Cadbury's "Secret Santa" and Amazon's heartwarming shorts also topping lists.
How old is the Hershey Kisses Christmas Bells commercial?
First aired in 1989, the whimsical stop-motion spot featuring Kisses playing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” has brought holiday cheer to homes all across the country. Pictured is an original storyboard by Ogilvy & Mathers, the advertising agency that developed the commercial with The Hershey Company.
The same actors crop up different scenes, including brand ambassador and actor Terry Crews. A 14-hour version of the film aired on Brazil's Woohoo channel, earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest advert broadcast in TV history.
McDonald's Netherlands has taken down a Christmas advert made with Artificial Intelligence (AI) following online backlash. The 45-second advert was produced with generative AI clips and released publicly on McDonald's Netherlands YouTube channel on 6 December.
A four-minute feature film made by director Baz Luhrmann (Australia) advertising Chanel No. 5 perfume is the world's most expensive TV advertisement, costing £18 million ($33 million) to produce.
Versions of charity smash Do They Know It's Christmas? have topped the festive Top 40 three times: for Band Aid in 1984, Band Aid II in 1989, and finally for Band Aid 20 in 2004. The first version of Do They Know It's Christmas? is the best-selling Christmas Number 1 of all time, with over 3.8 million copies sold.
