The Ads We Never Forgot
The stories, ideas and moments behind the world’s most unforgettable advertising.
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IKEA’s “Lamp”: The Ad That Made Us Feel Sorry for a Lamp, Then Told Us Not To
A woman throws out a red table lamp, and it is left abandoned in the rain. The camera shows the lamp’s view while its former owner enjoys a brand new IKEA lamp indoors. Then a man walks into the frame, turns to the camera and tells us that many of us feel bad for this…
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Levi’s “Laundrette”: The Ad That Sent a Man in Boxer Shorts Into Denim History
On Boxing Day 1985, British television viewers watched a young man in a T-shirt and Levi’s 501 jeans walk into a laundromat in small-town America, styled to look like the late 1950s or early 1960s. In front of the other customers, he took off his jeans down to his boxer shorts and put them in…
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The Best Super Bowl Ads We’ve Covered, From Apple’s 1984 to Oreo’s Blackout Tweet
The Super Bowl is the one night when advertising becomes the main event. Here are the seven Super Bowl stories we have covered so far, each with a link to the full article and the video. Apple’s “1984” (1984) Aired only once, during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. Directed by Ridley Scott, it…
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Oreo’s “Dunk in the Dark”: The Tweet That Became a Super Bowl Ad
The ad was a tweet, so there is no video. Here it is as Oreo posted it: Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC — OREO Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013 Most Super Bowl ads cost millions to make and millions more to air. One of the most talked-about ads of Super Bowl XLVII was not a…
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Netflix’s “The Last House” Billboard: The Ad Where a Man Actually Lived Above Sunset Boulevard
The stunt was a live event, not a filmed commercial, so this is CBS LA’s news report on the billboard. In August 2026, drivers on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles looked up and saw something that should not have been there: a house built into a billboard about 30 feet above the street, with a…
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Budweiser’s “Brotherhood”: The Ad Where a Horse Remembered Who Raised It
A trainer raises a Clydesdale foal from its first wobbly steps, working with it every day until it is ready to join Budweiser’s famous hitch. Three years pass in a single cut. A truck arrives to take the fully grown horse away, and the trainer is left standing alone in the field, proud but clearly…