Zombie Commercials

The best things in life are free, or so goes the saying. But what if the best things in life are found in the small thirty second blurb called a commercial? Then what? It kind of skews a person’s perception, don’t you think? By their very nature, commercials are supposed to change a person’s perception. So if a commercial should happen to have zombies in it, what would be our opinion of the product? For today’s Monday Mayhem post, let’s have a look at what advertisers are doing with zombies to get you to like their product.

It’s been a few years now that I’ve notice zombies infiltrating commercials. I roar with laughter when I see those undead meanies take it on the chin when a company promotes their products. Sometimes the ads are smart, making the zombies look realistic and fit for a good beating. Sometimes, of course, the undead don’t look so hot and the producers are the ones who deserve the beating. In any case, whenever those maggot bags do make their appearance in a new ad, I’m anxiously watching the TV wondering what the advertisers have planned for me.

Below are a few of the absolute best zombie commercials available on YouTube. At one point, these ads were on TV, making their rounds, hocking their goods for the companies. Now, they are reminders of how inventive some ad wizards were with their campaign to grab our attention.

Disclaimer: I’m not an affiliate with any of these companies nor do I condone any of the products advertised. I’m simply highlighting quality ads with zombies in them. I’m also not linking to them. However, it doesn’t take a mathematician or a genius scientist to figure out how to find these gems. In fact, there’s your challenge—if you find all six, you win! What do you win? A sense of accomplishment. What did you think I was going to say, a brand new car? I don’t think so.

Doritos: Zombie Party Commercial—Comedy at its best. Zombies arrive at a house party with a pretty blonde as their host. She munches on Doritos all the while entertaining guests. Apparently, her mouth stuffed with the desirable snack causes her to talk zombie, saying things like, “Looks like you work out.” That is until we can plainly discern “that’s what she said” to a stoic undead audience. She clogs her pipes with the chips and once again says the line, this time mumbling. They all laugh.

BMW Commercial Zombie—Another good one. In the still of the night, a limping woman hops to escape from a pack of marauding zombies. She falls into a fetal position waiting for fate to takes its course. It isn’t until she realizes she’s still alive that the zombies have another thing on their mind. She sees them admiring a gorgeous BMW. Of course this does not sit well with her. What girl wants to play second fiddle to a car? Attempting to get their attention, she huffs, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. No use, the undead are mesmerized. Fade to the BMW symbol on black.

Zombie Escape / Ford Canada—Guy runs around the corner of a container in a shipping yard to spot his car. He unlocks the door on his remote and makes a run for it while a zombie chews on leftovers of who knows what. He hops into his car. Safe. Or at least he thinks. Inside, zombies surround him. Great makeup, by the way. What to do? He distracts them opening the automatic sunroof, of course. As they’re busy looking into the sky, he escapes to face another rotting corpse heading his way. Slowly heading his way. I wonder why he just doesn’t run. Anyway, he pops the back of the hatch with his foot. Motion sensor, no less. Another distraction. But he has more trouble on the horizon. A crew of zombies drag toward him. He hops back in the car. I guess it’s far better staying with the devil you know than the devil you don’t know. The light bulb flashes above his head. He pops the hood, cranks the tunes and escapes into the sunset while the zombies dance to the rhythm of house music.

Zombies: The Ramifications of Yes (Official Toshiba Commercial)—This is an interesting one. Bigwig executive with the Toshiba development team ponders on the new line of laptops. Images fly through his head of an electrician dropping the equipment, then plugging it into the main electrical grid, which shorts out the system, which in turn causes a kid to drink stale milk from a broken fridge, which causes the kid to bite his roommate, which then causes a zombie apocalypse. Mr. Executive says no, telling off the development team to get their act together and make better equipment. A fun watch for its absolute ridiculousness.

XXL all sports united vs Zombies—Good gosh, this is a fun watch! Okay, so it starts with a typical suburban neighborhood, you know, woman trimming the rose bushes, man watering the lawn. It quickly escalates from there. Junior riding his scooter darts from a mess load of zombies chasing after him. But it doesn’t end there. The ugly worm-infested beasts are everywhere, crashing through fences, scaring the crap out of sunbathers. Not even the cops are safe. And this is where it gets wild. The zombies have acquired a school bus to which they’ve scale the top and propel golf balls from its surface. Yep, you heard that right. These zombies are sports freaks. As you can imagine the mayhem when zombies gain possession of golf clubs, it becomes a regular party. Until, well, until the people stand their ground with other sporting equipment in hand, tossing the jettisoning golf balls with tennis rackets and maiming the zombies where it counts. Whatever happens to Junior? Oh, he leads the zombies to a stadium where a whole crew of humans outfitted with all sorts of sporting equipment charges the hoard ala William Wallace frenzy. Superb is all I can say.

Run For Your Lives (Official)—This has to be one of the coolest videos. Athletic or not, this is one of those events everyone should participate once in their lifetime. It starts with a mellow soundtrack, a shot of the participants behind a cage, the ribbons. Then we move on to the zombies and their disturbed looks in their eyes and their rotting jowls. The 5K race begins. People sprint, zombies chase. Makes for a great story. Slow motion is awesome for these kinds of shots. John Woo, eat your heart out. On second thought, a zombie could do that. Nevertheless, folks dive through puddles, mud flies everywhere, everybody’s having a grand ol’ time. Shots of the participants smiling fill the screen. Did I say slow motion is awesome? It ends with a massive party, dancing and celebrating the day’s activities. Oh, so good.

I had two more ads to write up, but I think six is enough. After reading my descriptions, you may not need to watch the commercials anyway. Enjoy the hunt!

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, on sale October 22.

How many of these have you seen? Which one is your favorite?