It's the most wonderful time of the year—time to look back at the oddest, creepiest, quirkiest and downright freakiest ads that we covered on AdFreak this year. We've selected 30 spots from all over the world that truly left us with that not-peaceful, uneasy feeling. The majority are PSAs—their freaky means apparently justified by humanitarian ends. The list is also heavy on the U.K., another reminder that we can always count on the English (and the Welsh) for a solid dose of depravity. So, here's to the freakiest of 2009, and more of the same in 2010.
—Posted by Tim Nudd
ADVERTISER White Castle
SPOT "Exotic Dancer"
AGENCY Zimmerman, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
COUNTRY United States
Mmm, White Castle pulled-pork sandwiches. Just what you crave after watching a female pig dancing suggestively on a stage and then pulling a lever that douses her in an explosion of tangy barbecue sauce .
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ADVERTISER Dentyne Ice
SPOT "Squid"
AGENCY McCann Erickson, Bangkok
COUNTRY Thailand
This unsettling spot has it all: a cheating husband, a jealous wife and a giant, horrible squid. The sea beast represents the man's sushi-breath from a secret after-work dinner. The wife smells it when he gets home and flies into a rage. So, the man pops a Dentyne Ice and, with more anger than seems appropriate, breathes a big "Ahhhhh" into the woman's face. Weird.
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ADVERTISER Lay's
SPOT "Happy"
AGENCY Juniper Park, Toronto
COUNTRY Canada
With its catchy song and playful attitude, this Lay's spot seems harmless enough. Until the end, when our hero gives up the struggle to remain a human being and becomes a mindless dancing balloon like everyone else.
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ADVERTISER Diesel helmets
SPOT "Quique the Head"
AGENCY Shackleton, Madrid
COUNTRY Spain
Freaky in a fun way, this Diesel video tells the poignant tale of Quique the Head, an Argentinean man born without a body but with plenty of hope and attitude—and a Diesel helmet that protects him when he rolls off tables and down stairs. The tabloid-style announcer outdoes himself with lines like: "Quique's head is not only full of strangely arranged organs, it's also full of dreams." How true.
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ADVERTISER McDonald's
SPOT "Are We There Yet?"
AGENCY DDB, Stockholm
COUNTRY Sweden
DDB Stockholm remained king of the weird McDonald's commercials with this spot, in which the prototypical childhood car-trip question takes on a sinister aspect.
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ADVERTISER New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation
SPOT "Blob"
AGENCY Colenso BBDO, Auckland
COUNTRY New Zealand
An expanding, grody pink blob takes over a suburban home and eventually smashes through the windows in this breast-cancer awareness spot.
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ADVERTISER Palm
SPOT "Déjà Vu"
AGENCY Modernista!
COUNTRY United States
Actress Tamara Hope creeped out plenty of viewers with her ghostly turn in this Palm campaign. Luckily, she's trapped on a rock and worshipped by a dancing orange cult, and can't come hunting for you.
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ADVERTISER Tabasco
SPOT "Singing Pepperonis"
AGENCY TracyLocke, Dallas
COUNTRY United States
If you put Tabasco sauce on pizza, you're in for a real treat, as small faces will erupt from the pieces of pepperoni and sing for you like a barbershop quartet. Bizarre entertainment right on your dining-room table.
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ADVERTISER PlaneStupid.com
SPOT "Polar Bears"
AGENCY Mother, London
COUNTRY United Kingdom
Polar bears fall from the sky to splattery deaths in this PSA, which tries to make some point about airplane emissions. For extra discomfort, how about a blatant 9/11 Falling Man reference?
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ADVERTISER Apoliva
SPOT "Seasons"
AGENCY Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg
COUNTRY Sweden
Sure, this spot for Apoliva personal-care products was a little eerie. But Swedish people lost their minds over it. More than 100,000 people joined a Facebook group called "I am scared of the girl in the Apoliva commercial." A rep for the company told a Swedish newspaper: "We definitely weren't prepared for this reaction. It was never our intention to scare people."
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