Saturday, 8 March 2025

Scary TV Ad

 
Television advertisements are intended to sell products, but they have become a kind of art form in themselves with their own entertainment value. Some of them are actually quite disturbing, usually unintentionally; but a few have been banned. In the 1980's a series of ads were produced for Duckhams motor oil. The slogan was: "If an engine could choose its own oil, it couldn't choose a better oil that Duckhams Hypergrade... the engine's choice." One that I remember well includes a horror element. It featured a man driving along a narrow road in a remote area of moorland. There is thick fog everywhere. The oil level warning light goes on so he stops the car to fill it up. After he opens the bonnet and takes a can of oil from the boot the car then comes to life. It shuts its own bonnet and locks all the doors. This is presumably a rebellion because the driver is not using Duckhams. The soundtrack is a series of frightening ghostly moans and reverberating mumbles. It took me a long time to find it online, but here it is: https://www.facebook.com/ben.emlynjones/videos/2373655079665191.

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