‘Make a funny advert’. Four words that can make most creatives break out in a cold sweat. I know bona fide advertising legends who have run screaming from even trying to make a funny ad.

But the thing is, funny works. Neuroscience has proven that humour activates reward systems in the brain, making ads – and brands – stick with people long after they’ve seen the ad.

To be honest, we don’t need the brainbods to tell us funny works. It’s just common sense. As Jay Leno said, “You can’t stay mad at somebody who makes you laugh.”

Which is all well and good. But you need to get it right. Having your joke flop on a national scale is not good for the ego. Or the career path. Hence the sweats.

So, to know how to get it right, how’s about looking at who’s already got it right. 

PSBNMDAPQWCOTFACOAT

Introducing a “Purely Subjective, By No Means Definitive, And Probably Quite Wrong Collection of the Funniest Ad Campaigns of All Time.” PSBNMDAPQWCOTFACOAT, for short. And because this article has a word limit.

First up, the US of A. I’ll give it to them: they know how to do funny. It’s why I upped sticks and moved to Y&R New York back in the 2010s. To learn from the best – who at the time were ECDs Ian Reichenthal and Scott Vitrone.

One of their campaigns – Skittles’ ‘Taste the Rainbow’ – is the first entry into the PSBNMDAPQWCOTFACOAT. ‘Beard’, ‘Touch’, ‘Pinata’. Spots so good they make you want to vomit. Surreal. Tragic. Hilarious. And with the product centre stage. But also the first films in a campaign that has consistently delivered the goods, for decades, all over the world.

As if that wasn’t enough, they were also the brains behind Starburst’s ‘Little Lad’, ‘Tashi’ and ‘Ernie the Klepto’, and Southern Comfort’s ‘Whatever’s Comfortable’. Stone-cold classics. Damn you Scott and Ian. Too good.

Ok. What else from the US can go in the PSBNMDAPQWCOTFACOAT?

Old Spice’s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’? Definitely.

DirecTV’s ‘Get Rid of Cable’ campaign? Often copied, never bettered; that’s in for sure.

ESPN’s ‘This Is Sportscenter’? Yup. Three-pointer. In it goes.

Geico’s ‘Unskippable Ads’? That’s skipping right in there.

But what about funny from this side of the pond? Well, UK funny hits a bit different. Always has. In fact, there was a golden age of funny ads on British tele that hit very different. And I don’t mind admitting that I’m old enough to remember watching most of this motley bunch:

Hamlet’s ‘Happiness Is a Cigar Called Hamlet’.

John Smith’s ‘No Nonsense’ campaign.

The Orange Gold Spots.

(And even though they’re not technically a campaign, John West’s ‘Bear Fight’, and Tango’s ‘Orangeman’ and ‘St George’.)

These were ads that people talked about as much as Bobby Ewing not dying in Dallas (anyone under 45, apologies, that’ll be lost on you). Ads that school kids mimicked. That adults quoted in pubs. These were commercials becoming culture. In no small part because they were funny. 

Do UK ads do the same today? Well, it’s a different world now, isn’t it. We’ve got a billion things fighting for our attention every day. But that legacy of funny ads is still alive and kicking. Just look at Andrex’s ‘Get comfortable’ campaign. And the Uber Trains’ ‘Trains, now on Uber’ work.

Phew. This PSBNMDAPQWCOTFACOAT is getting pretty full. But we still need to put in some non-UK work.

France has a shoe-in with its wonderful storytelling campaign for Canal Plus, including ‘The

Closet’ and ‘The Bear’. And there’s a whole heap of Australian campaigns that demand a place in the collection - Carlton Draught and Telstra are the ones I’ve picked.

And before we declare this collection a done deal, maybe we should spread our remit a bit wider. After all, film isn’t everything.

In goes the Economist’s campaign in OOH and print. ‘Management Trainee aged 42’, ‘Brains’, ‘Missing piece of the puzzle’. Seminal pieces of work.

And so does the more recent Oatly OOH campaign. Irreverent work that demonstrates how being funny can literally take a brand from being ignored to being one of the most iconic brands in the world. A modern legend, as we say at JOAN.

Is there anything else that could go in the PSBNMDAPQWCOTFACOAT? Of course. But time and word counts are limited, so this will have to do. Hopefully, this smorgasbord of campaigns will have brought a chuckle to your daily grind.

As Steve Martin once said: “Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.” I couldn’t agree more.