Pakistani ads have always gained attention, either for being too controversial, too unique, or too different (good or bad). But whatever their intent and the way they portrayed it, in the end, they ended up gaining the attention they wanted. Albeit not always the way they wanted. Here’s a list of the best and worst Pakistani ads ever made.
Best Ads
LU – Bakery NanKhatai
LU, always known for its unique approach to marketing, reached yet another level with its Bakery NanKhatai TVC. The ad contains sketchings with a song playing in the background, the story proceeds one scene after another telling us about the good old childhood days, talking about how beautiful they were. The ad concludes by showing a Bakery NanKhatai box talking about how it contains a taste of one’s childhood and memories.
Dastak Cooking Oil – Split the Plate
Dastak Cooking Oil released their latest TVC on World’s Food Day promoting the idea of splitting your food’s plate with someone in need. The ad shows the story of a boss and his clerk who always cleans up the boss’s plate and eats whatever’s leftover. The idea promoted is that the food we’re wasting must be the source of the day’s biggest reward for someone else. So practice donating, splitting your food, and sharing.
Shaan – More Than Just a Cook
Time and time again, Shan has tried to promote the idea of breaking gender stereotypes through its marketing, and this time once again they’ve won our hearts with their tear-jerking, future accurate advert. This ad shows the story of an office working girl and her father who waits for her to come home every day to cook dinner for him. One day, when she’s at work, the father follows his late wife’s cookbook recipe to prepare dinner and as the girl comes home, she’s surprised to find food that has the same taste as her mother’s recipes. And the father talks about how cooking is not just her responsibility. It’s yet another Shan advert that’s going in the right direction through all the right ways!
Pepsi Litre of Light
Pepsi made this ad to show how buying a single Pepsi bottle can end with donating money to their Litre of Light campaign to provide electricity to underdeveloped areas in Pakistan. It’s a wholesome, peaceful ad with the right kind of background that goes with the tone of the campaign as well as the month of Ramadan – the month this campaign was launched.
Nurpur
In 2016, Nurpur introduced its latest Ramadan TVC that was a new and unique look at how Nurpur Milk can be added in different dishes that are made throughout the holy month. It didn’t include stories but the visuals and the background music had such a nice feel to it that even today, it’s one of the most memorable ads for me.
Worst Ads
Mobilink Jazz X
I just want to ask, why? Why is a guy scared for his phone when someone in a FERRARI is following him? A fear of Kidnappers, I get. A fear of mugging from someone sitting in that expensive car? And again, why would someone in a Ferrari be interested in a Jazz X phone? Or be so ‘Nadeeda’ for the lack of a better word that they ask ‘Ye konsa phone hai?’ And lastly, the highlight of the entire ad, why is Nargis Fakhri floating in the background when the features are being described? Why is Nargis Fakhri even in this ad? Why is this ad?
Line Messenger
The entire ad seems wrong. And you have to watch it for yourself to get what I mean. Mehwish Hayat seems to have been forced to be in the ad and she behaves exactly like it. The dialogues are off, they have obvious grammatical mistakes, and the ad just doesn’t seem to connect even its own story.
Rani Pulpy
The visuals, story, lameness aside, why would you use a political slogan in a juice ad? How is this tabdeeli? And why is this legit?
Nescafe
Nescafe always makes good, soft ads that seem to align with their underlying message. But this time, they’ve failed tremendously. I get that you want to show a difference between old-age methods and the modern world, but what does it have to do with coffee and tea? It’s lame and also, it’s offensive (to tea lovers, that is).
Maxx Mobile
An ad that got released and did rounds on social media. Not for its well-depicted message but the exact opposite of it. Why do you need an item song for any given ad let alone a phone? Why are item songs a thing? And what even is this ad? Judge for yourself.
This was my pick of the best and worst Pakistani ads. If you have more suggestions, feel free to comment.
