Good on ya mum! The best ‘ad mums’ of all time
Our guest writer looks back through recent (and not so recent) memory at some of the mums that shaped our consciousness. Through ads, of course.
Mother’s Day is upon us. In order to be kind to our readers, we thought we’d do this post a couple of days before Sunday so you can all go “Oh! Shit! Is it Mother’s Day already?” and run out to grab a lovely gift for your mum with lots of time to spare. We’re all about service here at Sense.
Because we make ads and we love ads and we eat ads for every meal (not just breakfast, like some agencies), we thought we’d celebrate Mother’s Day by creating a list of all our favourite ‘ad mums’ who, because many of us are foreign, take the place of real mums in our everyday lives. Thanks, advertising!
First off the rank is Tip Top’s classic spot from the ‘80s. While the stop-motion animation depicting the bread getting to the family table is pretty darn snazzy, the moment we all wait for is mum’s happy face as the jingle rings out. “Good on ya mum! Tip Top’s the one…” Beautiful. Unforgettable. Transcendent.
Next up is the crowd favourite Guess Whose Mum Got a Whirlpool? This mum is chic. She’s elegant. She can sing, she can dance and she has got the LOOK. Why? Because she’s Dame Edna, Queen of Australia. “All the nicest people are saying it,” she says, and that’s the goal every time you write a tagline, really, isn’t it?
So who can follow the grand Dame? None other than the mum on a mission: a mission for milk. This mum is not letting her adorable kids and slightly lame husband eat dry cereal! Not even a robber with a stocking fetish can stand in the way of her family’s moist breakfast. A true battler.
So we’ve done the ‘80s, but how about the ‘90s? Of course, the boss mum of the entire advertising landscape of the ‘90s has got to be Aussie icon Paula Duncan, also known as the Spray ‘n’ Wipe lady! Remember back in the day when she was scared of people seeing her messy house because they rudely came over without warning? Well, she continued that cycle of abuse and did the same thing to her daughter! Clearly the earlier ads were lucrative because this mum rolls in a towncar and looks like her clothes were tailor made. Thank you, Spray ‘n’ Wipe!
There are so many ad mums. So many women for us to relate to or recognise, depending on whether we ourselves are mums or not (and what the target demographic is). But, when it comes down to it, the best mum is your own mum, right? Which is why Pandora made this ad where kids show just how special and unique their own mums are. It also made us cry.
Of course there are thousands more ad mums in the world. Almost as many as there are real life mums. If we haven’t included your very favourite ad mum in this list and you feel outraged, why not track her down and send her a card this Sunday? She won’t find that creepy at all.
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