The shots Guide to...Fantasy Creatures

Inspired by Three's recent giraffe-amingo ad, we look at more ads from across the years that feature other fantastical creatures both recognisable and revolutionary, including lovelorn mermaids and a sexy reimagining of Cupid...

Speaking in general, ads featuring fantasy creatures fall into two camps; either the ad gets it's power from taking the creature and putting it into the everyday world, or from taking a fantasy world and taking a unique spin on it. Let's compare those two approaches with every faux-quirky brand's favourite emblem, the unicorn.

Unicorns in the Real World

At the beginning of 2016, VCCP brought unicorns to an everyday city for First Utility, with their horns providing 'HD Electricity', making TVs and street lights shine brighter. Just like unicorns, however, the ad then revealed that HD Electricity was a fantasy, bringing the ad crashing back down to earth by highlighting how all electricity is the same, so you shouldn't pay more for it.

Unicorns in a Fantasy World

In contrast, the viral hit ad for Squatty Potty by Harmon Brothers never gets close to coming down to this Earth or any other. Featuring a handsome prince and a unicorn that looks like Jim Henson's worst ever post-cheese dream, the ad has all the traditional fairytale trappings, and then literally shits all over them as we watch that unicorn curl out rainbow ice-cream from its sphincter. Definitely not a sentence I thought I'd be writing today.

With these two ads in mind let's look at each camp of fantasy creature ads in turn:

Fantasy Creatures, Real World

Doritos: Heat Will Come

 Looking similar to Squatty Potty's unicorn (but with a lot less defecation,) AMV BBDO's baby dragon acts as a physical representation of Doritos' Heat Burst flavour, and is perhaps the ideal example of the power of a cute creature in a commercial. It would take a hard heart not to want to hug this dragon, even if you might be incinerated.

Galaxy - The Chase

AMV BBDO take the reverse approach in The Chase, taking the traditionally cute Cupid and turning him into a lithe adolescent, firing deadly-looking arrows in a women in central London.

Greater London Authority: GLA Anti-Litter Fairy

Havas London also brought something that definitely doesn't exist to the United Kingdom capital; a fairy that cleans up the litter of London. Like the HD Electricity spot mentioned earlier, the ad uses fantasy to emphasise the real world, rather than detract from it.

Fantasy Creatures, Fantasy World

Lutti Arlequins: Fizz

It doesn't get any more fantastical than a rainbow-coloured centaur, on Venus, wearing fluorescent clogs, a crazy fantasy that Dufresne Corrigan Scarlett get away with by literally making it the fantasy of the central character.

SNSM - The Mermaid

Publicis Conseil, in contrast, show the fantasy creature's fantasy in their spot for lifeboat charity SNSM as a mermaid dreams of a romantic life with a sailor that unfortunately means dragging him down to the bottom of the ocean.

DirecTV: Troll

The Mermaid's combination of fantasy with real-life elements with fantasy ones is also mirrored in this ad by Biscuit Filmworks that shows how you can use DirecTV to watch TV on your iPad even whilst making food for your baby by showing someone watching TV on their iPad even whilst making food for their baby. Except that someone is a troll, and the food is a whole live sheep. The biggest fantasy element of all, however, is the fact that someone is actually watching that ABC Muppets mockumentary series.