Celebs vs Muggles

04/23/19 • 11 min

Do celebrities really add all that much to an ad? After all, many of the most definitive campaigns have featured people who were barely better known than a dead hermit.

In this episode, the History of Advertising Podcast tries to get to the bottom of the issue by looking at campaigns from Birds Eye (one of the first to use ‘real’, regional actors) and Holsten Pills (featuring Griff Rhys Jones and the revived digital corpse of John Wayne).

Do celebrities really add all that much to an ad? After all, many of the most definitive campaigns have featured people who were barely better known than a dead hermit.

Previous Episode

Politics (part 2)

What happened to political advertising following the fall of Thatcher? And which anti-Blair ad was banned by the censors following complaints from the Bishop of Oxford? The History of Advertising Podcast looks at pivotal political campaigns from the end of the twentieth century.

Next Episode

Morecambe, Wise, and Benny Hill

Bring me sunshine, bring me love, and bring me comedians to star in my ad. In this episode, the History of Advertising Podcast speaks with Dave Trott, Sir Frank Lowe and Sir Alan Parker about the value that comedians can bring to a campaign.