Supermarkt ("Tina, wat kosten die Kondome?")

Why it works

A shy young man (Ingolf Lück) tries to buy condoms without anyone noticing, until the supermarket cashier (Hella von Sinnen) wrecks his discretion with one loud question to a colleague: "Tina, wat kosten die Kondome?" ("Tina, how much are the condoms?"). The spot was shot in 1989 for "Gib AIDS keine Chance" ("Give AIDS no chance"), the HIV prevention campaign that Germany's Federal Centre for Health Education had launched in 1987 with a series of cinema and TV films. Of roughly 90 spots the campaign made by 2006, this is the one the agency calls the classic. It is studied for using comedy rather than fear to change behaviour: the BZgA says it took the taboo out of buying condoms, and the line is still remembered by many Germans decades later. The campaign ran for nearly 30 years, during which the BZgA reports rising condom sales, and in 2016 it paid tribute to the spot with a remake starring a grown-up Lück, now buying condoms alongside his film son.