Why the Moldy Whopper and Womb Stories are creatives' favourite ads

Paige Murphy
By Paige Murphy | 23 July 2020
 

Over the last three weeks, AdNews has been asking creatives what their favourite ads are for the year so far.

While we’re only in July there are some clear winners among the creative community that will likely take out the top awards for 2020.

Bodyform’s Womb Stories and Burger King’s Moldy Whopper have scored numerous mentions each week with creatives applauding the global works’ craft, storytelling and staying true to the brand.

This week creatives have also given praise to Apple’s One-Take Journey, the Ohio Health Department’s PSA and Klarna’s Swedish For Smoother Shopping.

Wunderman Thompson national chief creative officer Simon Langley
Burger King ‘Reduced Methane Whoppers’
There are so many reasons I should hate this new work from Burger King. I’m not a big fan of country music, in fact I can’t stand it. I also find gags like farting and burping in ads, a cheap laugh. And kids line dancing with lemongrass in their hats, should look ridiculous. But throw in a genius like Michel Gondry and a brave client, and you have a thoroughly enjoyable film that clearly explains how the smart scientists at BK are helping reduce the methane coming from cows. Bravo for the weirdness and making us smile during these crazy times.

Special Group senior art director Josie Fox
It’s easy to add another paragraph of praise for Womb Stories, particularly as a womb carrying creative, but instead I’ll talk to another favourite of mine this year - The Moldy Whopper.

I can still remember when a woman came to my school wielding a pristine looking, two year old cheeseburger to frighten us away from fast food. Yet I’ve been a strictly Macca’s Cheeseburger (no pickles) girl ever since. Who knew the sight of a decomposing Whopper would have me considering eating one for the first time ever? This ad stood out to me as an advertising person, and a junk food eating person.

For me, this idea is equal parts brave and simple. And ironically, fresh for the category. It feels like it’s come from the golden days of advertising where product demonstrations reigned supreme, yet still feels innovative and modern in its execution.

Emotive group creative director Ben Clare
Using a rotting sandwich to advertise a fast food joint sounds wildly counterintuitive. But when Burger King unveiled its time-lapse video of a Whopper decomposing over 34 days to prove it was removing preservatives from the burger, it made its point in the most disruptive way possible.

The lettuce wilts, the bun sags, and the entire thing develops this thick layer of mould, which is filmed in a way that kind of makes you regret HD video ever being invented. There’s no denying it’s shocking. But that unashamed honesty deserves respect. All food goes off. All food SHOULD go off. That’s not nauseating. That’s reassuring.

Thinkerbell creative director Tom Wenborn
Apple ‘One-Take Journey’
I'm a massive sucker for a good product demonstration. Show me that it does something cool in a cool way and I'll probably buy it.

This was a classically 'Apple way' to show off the fact that you can record cinematic film for five hours, 19 minutes and 28 seconds before your battery dies. The film takes place in one of the world's largest museums and features artwork, live dance and musical performances.
*I haven't watched the whole thing.

opr chief creative officer Bridget Jung
My favourite campaign of 2020 is without a doubt #wombstories but as it’s already been featured several times I thought I’d write about something different. Very different to the three minute epic film from Bodyform is this PSA from the Ohio Health Department that uses ping pong balls and mousetraps to show why we need social distancing. I love the simplicity of the idea. Super effective and brilliantly crafted it lands the key message effortlessly and in a way that literally anyone can understand.

It’s interesting to see the behind the scenes first “shot” which took eight hours to set up.

Bear Meets Eagle On Fire co-founder and ECD Micah Walker
Bit early in the year to be calling favourites, but luckily there’s some lovely work to choose from. Womb Stories? Great. Deserves significant love. Burger King’s yodeling, cow fart kid? Pretty funny. And it’s giving American farmers the shits.

But my pick is the new US campaign for Klarna, ‘Swedish for smoother shopping’.

There’s not enough room to explain it in detail here, but it’s a simple construct - old Swedish programs, re- purposed and re-titled, to introduce a new, Swedish shopping app. It’s Swedish kitsch meets good writing, and as fresh as anything I’ve seen in for a while.

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