Awesome Commercials

Philips shows how long it took for incandescent and fluorescent bulbs to be rendered obsolete by multicolored and programmable LED bulbs such as its Hue series, with the help of what can only be a family of vampires.

The North Face Korea punked customers when they turned one of its stores’ dressing room into a fairly elaborate trap. Then they enticed shoppers with a dare. Nothing like consumerism to get you moving.

To promote their collision avoidance tech, Volkswagen fitted bumper cars at a theme park with ultrasonic sensors and automatic braking to prevent them from hitting each other. They got the point across, but also wrecked the fun.

We’re not too sure that a simple Snickers bar possesses the magical powers suggested here, but watching the maladroit Mr. Bean trying to be a stealthy ninja is well worth the price of admission.

YouTuber Marcopepito shares this banned BBC Sport ad for the 2012 Six Nations Championship, a rugby tournament involving Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy, France and of course England. Whoever banned this is a curmudgeon.

An unseen predator struggles to keep up with the McLaren 650s GT3 in this cruel tease of an ad. This is one of the rare opportunities that we’ll ever get to see and hear it flexin’, so turn the volume up.

Actor Jeff Goldblum and co-star Awesome Wig present a hilariously offbeat commercial to promote General Electric’s high-tech Link LED lightbulbs. Directed by the madcap comedy duo of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim.

A valet-in-training at the Casino di San Remo thought he was assigned to handle the vehicles of a luxurious gala’s attendees, but the night was actually all set up for him. Captions available. Watch the behind the scenes here.

Matthew McConaughey has continued to channel his dark and introspective “time is a flat circle” side in those recent Lincoln commercials. So leave it to Ellen DeGeneres to lighten the mood a bit as Matt encounters a bull in his new MKC.

Sennheiser chose to promote its new Urbanite headphones using the tried and tested Old Spice route. Watch as a German dressed as a pair of headphones pampers a huge and hairy ear. Join the Urbanite giveaway here.

For many pedestrians, the don’t walk sign is merely a suggestion. Carmaker Smart found a way to make people stop. It set up motion capture booths where people danced, and turned them into eye-catching signs. Making of here.

“Any actor who tells you that he’s not inspired by Bugs Bunny is a liar.” The great Bryan Cranston pretends that he wrote, directed and performed a one-man play about the MLB postseason in this hilarious TBS commercial.

The pressure and roughhousing in an online multiplayer match literally gets to the players in this compelling TV commercial for FIFA 15. Featuring soccer phenom Lionel Messi. It reminds us of Guy Ritchie’s classic Nike ad.

A young girl is ostracized from her neighborhood because of the way she dresses. But her dad’s not going to take that crap sitting down. This ad for German DIY store Hornbach is a bit over the top, but it’s still heartwarming.

Michelle Sugar Art worked through the night to create the world’s first cake billboard. Made for Mr. Kipling, the billboard measured 20′ x 10′ and contained 13,360 cakes, many of which were eaten by passersby. More here.

England will be hosting the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The kingdom summoned none other than Charles Dance, OBE, Hand of the King, Warden of the West, Great Lion of the Rock, Chuck D., to get the world pumped up about the event.

IKEA’s 2015 catalogue can be yours as a book. No, not an e-book; an actual book. A bookbook. It’s completely wireless and never runs out of battery. We should archive this video for future reference.

Gadget reseller Gizmogul gives us a peek at life in Agbogbloshie, Ghana, the world’s largest electronics dump. Parts of the junk in Agbogbloshie are sold or recycled but the rest are burned, polluting the town with toxic fumes.

Made by Solomon Rogers for Holiday Autos, this beach buggy has deckchairs for seats, a sandpit, a slushie maker, a fridge and a GPS-guided parasol that adjusts itself based on the sun’s position.

A rookie circus technician unintentionally gives the audience a show they’ll never forget. If they make it out alive. Office equipment maker Brother makes a case for its label makers with this morbid, but hilarious commercial.

The WorldWide Interweb has put together a fun compilation of some of our favorite celebrities in rather amusing (and embarrassing) commercial roles, before they were big and famous, and frequently, before they even hit puberty.

Clerks meets cats in Pizza Hut Japan’s latest ad campaign. A series of bite-sized commercials show what a Pizza Hut store would be like if it was run by cats. Actually “run” is too optimistic a term for what plays out.

Have you ever wondered what your ancestors ate for lunch? For dinner? Raw meat, live fish and… scroomenbirt? This hilariously bad commercial for a restaurant in New York isn’t helped by its narrator’s English accent.