Zombies in Advertising: Oh, the Horror! Corporate America's favorite fiends hunger for your brains, and your wallet
When it comes to scare tactics, advertisers are fond of one rotting, shuffling, foul-smelling, flesh-eating monster in particular: the zombie. In this, they're simply mimicking consumers, who've had an insatiable appetite for zombies for years now. And it's often true that nothing brings an ad campaign to life quite like the undead. It hardly matters what you're selling. Cars, electronics, video games, sneakers, candy—whatever the category, the ads are always happy to welcome an animated corpse or two, hell bent on dispossessing you of your brains and your disposable income. For this infographic, we've collected 10 examples of zombie ads from the past year or so—evidence that the trend is hardly slowing down. These creatures will likely still be selling clear through the zombie apocalypse.
For the second straight Halloween, the retailer has a whole Sears.com/zombie section of its website, with videos, products and advice for humans and zombies alike.
RPA's ads for the Honda Civic featured a zombie named Mitch, one of various motley souls drawn to a vehicle "uniquely suited for unique people."
When you absolutely, positively have to save your friend from becoming a zombie, you choose FedEx to ship the antidote, said this spot from BBDO in the Philippines.
Even the U.S. government has gotten in on the act: The CDC this year posted an online guide to preparing for the zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately, traffic crashed the CDC's website—not a good sign in the event of an actual apocalypse.
TBWA\Chiat\Day threw a zombie into its Starburst "Contradictions" campaign, with a bus-riding rotter claiming that "living dead" in the most noteworthy contradiction of all.
"Come back to life," suggested this Canadian commercial by ad agency John St. for a yoga center whose clientele real does need limbering up.
Undead versions of indie pop duo Matt and Kim, rapper Soulja Boy, and party dude Andrew W.K. threw a rager in a morgue in this creepy sneaker spot from Anomaly.
The Toyota Corolla provides much-needed safety from flesh-eating creeps in this Burrell Communications campaign, timed to the first season of AMC's The Walking Dead.
Zombies make the most sense when the product is zombie related—for example, Activision's zombie game Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection. This live-action trailer from TBWA\Chiat\Day is probably the goriest spot of its kind this year.
This video game, from Techland and Deep Silver, also takes place in a zombie-infested world. The stunning trailer, filmed in slow-motion reverse, won a Gold Lion in Film at Cannes this year.
- Don't Text and Drive, You Mindless Moaning Zombie Distracted drivers are as oblivious as flesh eaters, says California…
- FedEx "Zombie Outbreak"
- Axe Celebrates Halloween With 'Hot Girl vs. Zombie' A classic showdown, with a twist
- FedEx "How to Make a Zombie"
AdFreak is your daily digest of the best and worst of creativity in advertising, media, marketing and design. Follow us as we celebrate (and skewer) the latest, greatest, quirkiest and freakiest commercials, promos, trailers, posters, billboards, logos and package designs around. Edited by Adweek's Tim Nudd. Updated every weekday, with a weekly recap on Saturdays.
