Adverts T

The original Tandy UK electronics chain launched in 1973, and at one time were a well known name on the British high street. This advert from Christmas 1996 is from their latter years as the UK stores were ultimately sold off to Carphone Warehouse three years later, who had quietly phased them out by 2001. Similar to Woolworths, these days the name still exists in the UK but as an online-only store with little connection to the original chain, after the brand was sold on in 2012.

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A very short advert for Lemon Tango from 1997. Featuring that famous publication 'Biggies'!

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Okay dont kill me... its an advert for Tango. Tango ads have earned the reputation over the years for being... well pointless! This was one of a series of ads shown around the time of the General Election, and designed to look like a political campaign. This one urges us to vote for Orange Tango.

Later on in 1997, and we learn how Tango is helping bring Clowns back into society with the use of large orange trucks.... nice!

And then the equally pointless follow-up ad. Basically, 'the boss' tells the person responsible for the clowns ad that people 'didn't get it', and proceeds to teach him a lesson!

A rather funny advert for Tango from 2001. The moral of the story is, if you hear voices telling you to make a pass at your future father-in-law, always ignore them!!

Up to 2003 with Tango ads now, and they're still as insane as ever. Focussing now on elaborate setups people put in place in order to get that fruit hit.

Another Tango ad... this time with everyone favourite - a FAT PIGEON!

Another enthusiastic individual performing another crazy stunt to get that real fruit hit in 2004 for Tango.

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A typically strange ad for Tango's new...um... Strange Soda. Two slightly differently worded edits of this advert are known to exist.

An advert from 1995 with a difference - You need the Page 888 subtitles on as part of the advert. Luckily at TV Whirl, you can get those subtitles too just by hitting that little text button on your remote (or below).

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Actor Steven Hartley appears in this mammoth 90-second long advert for Tennents in 1989. An actor probably better known for his role in The Bill as the suicidal rapist Superintendent Tom Chandler. Presumably that was not as a result of drinking the lager all those years before!

Some clever visual effects to break the laws of physics in this 1992 advert for Tennents Lager.

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One of several shorts of the time playing on well-known phrases or tropes, supermarket chain Tesco do their best to appeal to the furry crowd in 1991 with a brief advert featuring someone dressed in a wolf fursuit blowing down prices on ham. Coming soon to a 'found footage' channel near you?

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Tesco hired Prunella Scales to star as 'Dotty' (alongside Janes Horrocks as her daughter) in a long running campaign between 1995 and 2005. In this spot, she finds an old recept revealing just how much Tesco have cut prices in the past year, although this information does not go down as intended.

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The Tetley Teafolk promote their round teabags in 1990 with a cover of 'I Get Around' by The Beach Boys.

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Although the round bags had now been on the market for 2 years, it was still considered a big selling point for Tetley in 1991. Here The Teafolk let everyone know how it'll improve those days when everything has turned a bit square.

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No teafolk in sight in 1992, as Tetley take a different approach to advertise their freeze dried tea. In the early 90s, all of the brands were rushing out their own versions of instant tea, so in order to give themselves the edge Tetley make the offer of allowing you to keep the empty jar afterwards.

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The Tetley Tea Folk stumble upon a beautiful princess asleep under a deep curse, and need a way to wake her. Luckily they have a fresh cup of Tetley to hand to help out!

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The Tetley Teafolk are back again in 1995, and this time its a cover of This Old House by Shakin' Stevens featuring in order to promote collectable Teafolk houses.

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A Tetley Tea advert from 1997. One of the later batch for the Tetley Tea Folk in their old guise, before they were abolished for a while. Only to be reintroduced again in 2010 for a short time.

The Tetley Tea Folk even make it into the new millenium the first time round, although their days were definitely numbered by this point.

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Thinkbox is a collaborative effort owned by the major UK broadcasters to promote the benefits of television advertising, and in this ad from 2009 draws upon snippets from famous campaigns throughout the years.

Toblerone... made from Triangular Almonds from Triangular Trees, and Triangular Honey from Triangular Bees! That's a lot of Triangles.

A reminder that the defunct Toys R Us did have adverts before the 1989 'Magical Place' one they became synonymous with for the rest of their life, with a live action one here from 1988. Also coming from a pre-internet era where it was still acceptable to suggest dolls and teddies were perfect for girls and action toys for boys, without being lynched by parents on social media.

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The original version of the Magical Place advert for Toys R Us first went to air in 1989, and was repeated throughout most of the 90s in edited forms, fast becoming a staple marker of Christmas advertising in the UK. The campaign even saw a full widescreen remake to mark 25 years of the chain in the UK in 2009 (as can be seen on the comeback ads page). This particular variant comes from the Granada region, with the stores listed closing for the final time between April 21st and April 24th 2018 as part of the overall closure of the chain following changing retail habits.

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Celebrating 25 years of stores in the UK, Toys R Us resurrected one of their most famous adverts for Christmas 2009. The original advert, featuring a worrying amount of child labour dancing round the store aired in 1989, and remained in full use for a few christmases. Throughout the christmasses of the 90s, the animation and music were both trimmed back before finally being dropped around 2002. For 2009, not only was the whole ad back (albeit for only a few days, with the rest of the christmas period keeping only a few seconds), the whole advert had been reanimated afresh. Bringing it into widescreen, but still sticking to every detail of the original.

A nice advert for the Ford Transit in 2001, set to Slade's Coz I Luv You. This advert originally started out with the slogan 'Transit - The Backbone of Britain' hence the build up to showing a 'backbone' of lights across the country. However in later variants this was later changed to the far less imaginative 'Job Done' slogan for some reason.

Stephen Fry and Ian McNeice appear together in a sinking hot air balloon to promote Trebor's Extra Strong Mints. Aired here in 1986, although the ad would reappear in the 90s too.

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A mix of many different types of sweets make up this collection from Trebor at the end of the 80s.

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TSB... The Bank that likes to say 'Yes'! From its original pre-owned-by-other-banks days, this cheerful little ad from the 80s features a catchy little song for TSB, showing people saving loads of cash.

A giant boot and nest feature in this TSB ad from 1992.

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Another ad from 'The Bank that likes to say yes', this time featuring clips from films in order to promote their free cinema tickets offer. The TSB logo and brand was to disappear in the late 90s as part of a merger with Lloyds to form Lloyds TSB. They would later be demerged with a brand new TSB logo appearing in 2013.

To welcome in New Year 2018, Tunnocks hired out an extended slot on network ITV, which they then used to air a series of adverts from their long history welcoming in the fresh year.

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Although it was more common for TV Times ads to be tailored to that week's edition, sometimes more generic ads for the magazine would air. Here lots of stock photos of TV personalities and sections that appear in the mag feature, with no voiceover talking about any specific feature.

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An ad for TV Times from 1984. These ads all but disappeared after TV Listings were fully opened up in the 90s. Up until then, only the Radio Times carried the BBC, whilst TV Times carried ITV/Channel 4.

From those glorious days when TV Times and The Radio Times would carry listings for different broadcasters, another quick advert for the ITV version of the listings mag. With the late Cilla Black appearing on the cover this week.

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Michael J. Fox is the star of the TV Times this week in 1986, alongside a chance to get a nasty looking bracelet for FREE. There never were such times!

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Another TV Times advert, this time from March 1987. With the cover feature this time round being Rupert Everett from Another Country on Channel 4. Also featuring The World's Most Pointless Dice.

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Stars of Thomas The Tank Engine and Jim Henson's The Storyteller appear in this week's edition of TV Times, from May 1988.

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The first of 2 Twix ads from the late 90s featuring sensible 'Norm'. In this one, the guy is thinking of buying a sporty red car.

In the second version, Norm turns up during clothes shopping.

Norm makes another brief appearance to promote a new larger size Twix. From a time when people weren't pretending treats were healthy by making them smaller!

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Norm's back again with more sensible advice in a third advert for Twix.

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Typhoo want some animation in 1990, but don't want to pay a lot for it. No problem, we'll just do the eyes...

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A brief ad for Typhoo One Cup, mixing colour and black and white footage.