Psychology
Common enemy
A shared opponent pulls people together, so an ad that names something to fight against gives its audience a side to join.
2020s
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2025Expedition Impossible
Aims its deadpan dare at flat-earthers, giving everyone else a shared target to laugh at and a brand on the side of common sense.
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2021The Lost Class
Films a former NRA president rehearsing a speech for a class that does not exist, turning a leading gun-rights voice into the opponent viewers rally against.
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2021The Unfiltered History Tour
Replays the moment each object was taken from its homeland, casting the collection as an injustice and inviting visitors to side with those it was taken from.
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2020The Uncensored Library
Hides banned journalism where censors cannot reach it, inviting players to side with the reporters against the governments that silenced them.
2010s
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2019Burn That Ad
Lets people aim their phones at McDonald's billboards and coupons and watch them burn, and torching the rival's ads is a gleeful way to pick a side.
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2019The Tampon Book
Names a plain injustice, tampons taxed at the full 19% while books, caviar and truffles paid 7%, giving buyers an unfair rule to rally against.
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2018Keeping Fortnite Fresh
Casts the game's freezers as the villain and smashes every one, giving players a target to rally against, and fans joined in unprompted.
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Order a Whopper for a penny — at McDonald's.Burger King2018
Whopper Detour
Unlocks a penny Whopper only near a McDonald's and then steers buyers away, letting customers join Burger King in a cheeky prank on its rival.
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2018Paving for Pizza
Casts potholes as the foe of carryout pizza, picking an opponent almost every driver already resents and putting Domino's on their side.
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2017Black Supermarket (Le Marché Interdit)
Dresses legal vegetables up as forbidden goods on a black market, so shoppers could side with farmers against seed rules that seemed unfair.
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2016Marriage Market Takeover
Names the pressure behind the 'leftover women' label as the thing to push back against, giving women who felt it a side to stand on with the brand.
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2015Holograms for Freedom
Takes aim at the so-called gag law that fined unauthorised protest, giving everyone angered by it a clear opponent and a way to stand against it together.
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2014I Will What I Want (Gisele Bündchen)
Projects the vicious comments onto the walls around her, turning online noise into the opponent viewers want to see her beat.
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2014Nazis Against Nazis ("Rechts gegen Rechts")
Turns a neo-Nazi march into a sponsored walk against itself, giving everyone who despises the far right a shared joke at the marchers' expense.
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2013The Scarecrow
Invents Crow Foods, a giant that controls all the food in a grim city, giving viewers a corporate villain to oppose and a chain to side with.
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2013The Autocomplete Truth
Lets the world's own searches spell out sexism in plain words, giving viewers a clear injustice to stand against and pass on.
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2012Radi-Aid: Africa for Norway
Holds up the familiar clichés of starving children and gun-crazed men for ridicule, uniting viewers against lazy stereotyping in charity appeals.
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2012Our Blades Are F***ing Great
Takes aim at the economics of the razor industry, giving shavers an overpriced establishment to resent and a cheaper side to join.
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2011Last Dictator Standing
Makes a lonely strongman the butt of the joke in the year his fellow dictators fell, so laughing at tyrants together puts viewers on the brand's side.
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2011Break Up
Casts the other big banks, long seen as one cosy club, as the partner being dumped, so customers could side with the bank walking out on them.
2000s
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2009The Trillion Dollar Campaign
Turns the regime's own worthless money into evidence against it, giving readers a side to take with a paper priced out of reach at home.
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2007Jaago Re (Politician)
Puts a haughty politician on the spot in front of a crowd, giving viewers frustrated with their leaders someone to side against.
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2006Evolution
Exposes the beauty industry's retouching machinery as the culprit behind distorted ideals, giving women a target to rally against with Dove beside them.
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2005Australia Day Lamb
Has a former footballer rail against vegetarians and other supposedly un-Australian types, giving viewers a mock foe to unite against by eating lamb.
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2004Grrr ("Hate Something, Change Something")
Turns noisy old diesel engines into a villain for cheerful wildlife to destroy, inviting everyone who hated diesels to join Honda's side.
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Let's Motor.MINI USA (BMW Group)2002
Let's Motor (MINI USA launch)
Opens with a deliberate stance against the SUV, so buying a tiny car becomes a way of taking sides against the big vehicles of American roads.
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2000Body Bags
Points the finger at the tobacco company rather than the smoker, giving teenagers a villain to stand up to instead of a lecture to ignore.
1990s
1980s
1970s
1950s
1940s
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1943When You Ride Alone You Ride with Hitler!
Seats a ghostly Hitler beside a man driving alone, so sharing a car becomes a way of taking sides against the dictator America was fighting.
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Careless talk costs livesMinistry of Information (UK)1940
Careless Talk Costs Lives
Hides Hitler and Göring in improbable spots to eavesdrop on ordinary gossipers, so readers share a laugh at the Nazi leaders and close ranks against them by keeping quiet.
1910s
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Common enemy: where it comes from
People pull together when they face a shared opponent, and a brand that names one gives its audience a side to take.
In ads it shows up as a rival cast as the villain, a stand against an injustice, or a campaign that asks people to join a fight against something.