Oscars Ads Roundup: 5 Best Commercials

With an audience of millions tuning in for the glitz and glamour of the Oscars (plus apparently some awards get given out too?), brands turn out some of their best work during the telecast of the Academy Awards. Read below to discover the best commercials from throughout the three-and-a-half hours of the ceremony, from Trump digs by the New York Times to alien encounters with Walmart…

…but mostly digs at Donald Trump. Although the Oscars itself was surprisingly light on shade thrown at the small-handed sociopath, save for a few jokes and an impassioned speech by a representative of Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, the ads more than made up the slack with a slew of immigrant and women-positive spots. These intermingled with ads which celebrated the history of movies itself to make it a great year for Oscar ads.

1. New York Times: The Truth is Hard
Agency: Droga5

In a year where Oscars talk was focused on the shining Technicolor of La La Land, New York Times made a huge statement with an advert of black text on a white background. In the ad, the phrase ‘the truth is’ remained on the screen, followed by an ever changing assortment of facts and ‘alternative facts’ spouted by a certain regime, with a soundtrack of muddled voices. The newspaper’s first TV ad in years, they (and the late-night Trump tweets against them) have led to a spike in their subscriptions.

2. Audible: Zachary Quinto – “1984”
Agency: Fold7

Although like the NYT not naming Trump (mentioning it makes it stronger), it was clear who was the target of Audible’s ads featuring famous actors reading politically charged sections from classic literature. Particularly striking was the one with Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto reading the following from George Orwell’s dystopian classic 1984, which topped book best-seller lists after the inauguration:

'If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he had been told about them is lies.'

3. GE: Celebrate the Real Heroes
Agency: BBDO

With millions of women marching against Trump earlier in the year, the latest ad by GE, in which they announce an aim to have 20,000 extra women in STEM positions by 2020, is just as much of the political climate as the previous two ads. The premise of the spot is simple: what if female scientists were appreciated like the women walking that night’s red carpet? The ad, which features people fangirling over so-called ‘Queen of Carbon’ Millie Dresselhaus, gained particular poignancy after the death of Dresselhaus last week.

4. Rolex: Celebrating Cinema
Agency: JWT

Other ads took the sensible, safe route of making ads with a film focus. Best of these was Rolex, who’s ad was a montage of characters wearing Rolexes, including Marlon Brando (twice), Terrence Howard, and Faye Dunaway, who would soon be talk of the night after her and Warren Beatty announced the wrong best picture winner. Alas, turning back time is the only feature her Rolex doesn’t offer her…

5. Walmart: Lost & Found
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi New York

Looking at some of the nominated films, some cynical moviegoers may have thought ‘wow, you really can make a movie out of anything’. Walmart took this as the theme of their latest ads, asking four directors to create one-minute ads based on a ‘found’ Walmart receipt featuring bananas, batteries, paper towels, a scooter, some wrapping paper and a video baby monitor. Best of the bunch is World War Z director Marc Forster’s Lost & Found, a kind of kid’s version of a Mad Max film.