You are now entering Ad Space, a realm of commercials, brought before us so we might examine how they work, and discuss why we both love and hate them so. So it is written …

The Product:
M&M candies

The Promotion:

The Pitch:
M&Ms, Santa Claus, same basic thing – can’t have Christmas without ’em.

Few commercials we’ve covered here on Ad Space have been as successful as this one. Since first airing back in 1996, Mars Incorporated has re-aired this same commercial every December since – they even leave its aspect ratio unchanged, despite other 90’s television hits like Seinfeld and Buffy the Vampire Slayer being stretched and mangled to fill widescreen TVs.

It seems odd that this particular ad would be such an evergreen hit. It’s just a short little fifteen second thing that tells one pretty solid joke, and then it’s done. What makes it worth going back to again and again?

I think the answer has less to do with the ad itself, than it does with Christmas. There’s something about celebrating the Christmas holiday that makes people want to revisit the same media again and again, turning them into annual traditions. Many people have their own selections of movies and Christmas specials that they rewatch every year and are, for them, a key part of setting the mood for the holiday (for me, it’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Mickey’s Christmas Carol, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation).

And this ad has ended up falling into that same category. People normally object to seeing the same ad over and over again, but if it’s a short, well-made, and Christmas themed ad, and airs around Christmas and only around Christmas, it gets a pass. More than gets a pass: it becomes associated with holiday cheer in general. It just wouldn’t feel like Christmas without it.

Happy Holidays, y’all, from all of us (well, all of me) here at Ad Space!