Worst advertising characters of our time

ARISTOCRATIC meerkats, kidults and showering aliens. Our senses are constantly being assaulted by the most annoying TV ad characters. What else makes our hit list?

IF YOU choose to watch free-to-air TV, there’s really no way to avoid the terrible, terrible ads that clog the airwaves.

Yes, yes, the ads pay for the content we watch for free but there’s no reason why so many of these ads have to be so bad. Adland is riddled with mascots, ambassadors and downright kooky characters that have haunted viewers for years with their all-over annoying presence.

So here are some advertising characters we would like to never see again.

DODO

Is it internet that flies? Is it?! And yeah, we’re sorry this jingle is now stuck in your head as it is in ours.

VODAFONE

Mercifully, the Vodafone ‘Kidults’ vanished off our screens as fast as they hit them. The creepy characters faced a barrage of criticism on social media and attracted a few complaints to the Ad Standards board.

COLES

Oh dear lord. We can only imagine old school rockers Status Quo had some big bills to pay because why else would they do it? As for their claim that “saving money is never annoying”? We beg to differ.

BUDGET DIRECT

So maybe you were baffled by Budget Direct’s ‘Boojay Boojay’ ad with the old dude and his much younger partner. So naturally, it replaced them with aliens named Zeek and Zia. Of course.

NATIONAL TILES

My oh my. Melburnians will be familiar with the less-than-dulcet tones of Frank Walker. In fact, there are numerous parodies of ol’ Frank as well as a Facebook page dedicated to expressing their displeasure.

But then there’s this little bugger who’s certainly divided audiences ...

COMPARE THE MARKET

His name is Aleksandr Orlov and he’s equally beloved and reviled by Australians. There are those who wants to throw him and sidekick Sergei over a cliff while others are utterly charmed by his ludicrous nature. And then there are the Brits, who fell so in love with the meerkat that he has a whole line of soft toys and a biography in Old Blighty.

But in the interest of balance, here are a few advertising characters who we think have just nailed it. Attention marketers: this is how you get people to watch your ads.

YELLOW PAGES

Oh Jan, we love Jan. 14 years on and the catchphrase can still be heard in the Australian vernacular.

YELLOW PAGES

The Yellow Pages were absolutely killing it back in the days of paper. The Goggomobile guy has to go down in history as one of the most iconic branded characters, as well as a top speller. And not just because he looks like Tom Wilkinson, which he totally does.

AAMI

The story of Rhonda was a storytelling marvel which had everyone invested in something as dry as an insurance company. Well played.

What do you think? Who are some of your favourite and least favourite characters in ads over the years? Sound off below.

Originally published as Worst advertising characters of our time