Riaan Wolmarans
There are few things as irritating as seeing a suburban housewife sing the praises of the newest super-duper washing powder (“My husband is a mechanic …”) or hearing about the latest waist-slimming, brain-numbing exercise belt-cum-vibrator (order now and get this stylish set of porcelain ducks for free). Thankfully the ad industry does manage to come up with far better ads – and now you can feast your greedy little consumerist eyes on a selection of the best of these.
Ad-Eaters: A Crazy Night, a six-hour extravaganza of the best commercials from all over the globe, will be screened in Cape Town’s Baxter Theatre on Friday June 25 and Saturday June 26, and in the Wits Great Hall in Johannesburg on Friday July 2 and Saturday July 3. But do not despair, the organisers don’t expect you to sit quietly in the dark all night.
Prepare yourself to cheer loudly for some catchy bits of commercialism while sipping or swigging your favourite alcoholic beverage. Even during break times the fun does not stop, with DJs playing upbeat tunes to dance to.
The concept originated in France 18 years ago under the name La Nuit des Publivores [Night of the Ad-Eaters]. Offering the public a chance to view quality advertisements in an informal setting, with a high level of audience interaction, proved to be quite popular, and since then the event has grown every year to include cities like London, Warsaw and Athens. This year is the biggest ever – after the South African screening, the show moves on to countries like Australia, Hungary, China and even Tahiti.
The ads included in this year’s screening have all been produced in the past 12 months and even include a few commercials that were censored in other countries, so you can eagerly await the scenes which had foreign censor boards reaching for the scissors.
The viewing marathon kicks off at 8.30pm and tickets, available from Computicket, will set you back R50.For more information on the event, have a look at