In Defence of WCRS

The list of least year’s most irritating ads has come out and, surprisingly, four of the 20 ads are from WCRS.

But just how irritating are they? I can’t argue with the British Public (believe me, I’ve tried), but I actually love the hatstand insanity of Phones 4U (number 5). I wrote a post about it last year on the other blog detailing the reasons why I just can’t believe a campaign of this nature has been approved, made and run for several years:

Then there’s Churchill (number 7). Hating on insurance ads is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I think Churchill’s ads are some of the least irritating. That dog is quite funny and the scripts are much better than they used to be:

The third and most confusing entry is Oatibix (number 8). It doesn’t appear to be on Youtube, but isn’t that the ad where the couple are sitting in a layby having breakfast when a massive lorry appears with the word ‘Likeaweetabixonlysmallerandmadeofoatsbix’ (or similar) on the side. The couple then suggest that the name Oatibix would be better? I thought it was quite a good way of getting the name across.

And then there’s Holland and Barrett at number 14. I can’t really remember it, but I think there might be two characters called Holland and Barrett who work in the shop. Was it that bad? It was certainly an improvement on the Kim Wilde days.

Of course, it’s all down to personal taste and who am I to judge, but surely WCRS isn’t really the purveyor of the most irritating ads in the UK (even DLKW only has two on the list)? I always think of it as quite a nice place that makes nice advertising.

But maybe that’s just me.