Advertising slogans past and present - gapfill quiz

Try your hand at completing some of Britain's best known advertising slogans.

For each exercise, click on a word in the box and then click on an appropriate gap. If you change your mind, just repeat the process.

arm   · best   · favourite   · helps   · lady   · nut   · rest   · size   · talk   · XXXX

1.	A Mars bar a day helps you work, and play. (chocolate bar)
2.	It's good to . (British Telecom - telephone system)
3.	Are you a Cadbury's Fruit & case? (chocolate)
4.	And all because the loves Milk Tray (Cadbury's chocolate)
5.	The world's airline (British Airways)
6.	Probably the beer in the world (Carlsberg beer)
7.	Australians wouldn't give a for anything else (Castlemaine beer)
8.	It's what your right 's for (Courage beer)
9.	As with so much in life, matters. (Renault Clio car)
10.	Every little . (Tesco supermarkets)

break   · comment   · finger   · good   · meanz   · reach   · robots   · tank   · tin   · vague  

1.	Put a tiger in your . (Esso petrol)
2.	Hand-built by . (Fiat Strada car)
3.	Guinness is for you.
4.	Don't be . Ask for Haig. (Haig Scotch Whisky)
5.	Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot .
6.	Beanz Heinz. (baked beans)
7.	Have a . Have a Kit-Kat.(chocolate bar)
8.	No FT, no . (Financial Times newspaper)
9.	lickin’ good. (KFC)
10.	It does exactly what it says on the . (Ronseal varnish)

appliance   · expensive   · fingers   · melts   · money   · thirst   · voom   · wait   · worth   · yellow  

1.	Because I'm it (L'Oréal cosmetics)
2.	The milk chocolate that in your mouth, not in your hand (M&Ms)
3.	Lipsmackin' quenchin' acetastin' motivatin' goodbuzzin' cooltalkin' highwalkin' fastlivin' evergivin' coolfizzin' Pepsi.
4.	You'll wonder where the went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent. (toothpaste)
5.	Reassuringly . (Stella Artois beer)
6.	Let your do the walking. (Yellow Pages)
7.	The of science. (Zanussi household electrical equipment)
8.	Twice the va va . (Renault Clio)
9.	Good things come to those who . (Guinness)
10.	There are some things can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.

Play on words

Several of these ads use word play. Once you've done the exercises, click on Show, and try and work out the double meanings in the examples.

• Fruit and nut case
• Australians wouldn't give a XXXX
• Size matters
• Have a break
• No comment
• The appliance of Science

Show my comments

• Fruit and nut case - 1) There are fruit and nuts in the chocolate. 2) A nut case is somebody who is crazy, mad
• Australians wouldn't give a XXXX - 1) XXXX, said Four X, is the name of the beer. 2) Newspapers sometimes print the swear word fuck as ****, and we have the expression, couldn't / wouldn't give a fuck - meaning not care. (Remember to be careful if using swear words! Get it wrong and you'll just sound stupid.)
• Size matters - 1) In this small car, every inch / centimetre counts. 2) Some men, of course, hope that size doesn't matter (in the bedroom department)! This is the first of the two Clio ads. And when she snaps that tape measure shut! Much sexier than more obvious ads.
• Have a break - 1) break odd a piece of chocolate. 2) Take a break from work
• No comment - 1) In their comment columns, newspapers give their opinion. 2) This is what politicians say when they don't want to answer a journalist's question.
• The appliance of Science - 1) applying science, putting it to practical use. 2) machines in the house such as cookers, fridges and hoovers are known as domestic / electrical appliances.

Advertising slogans used in everyday life

Quite a few advertising slogans become part of everyday language. According to a survey, reported in the Telegraph, the top three to be used like this in 2008 were from Guinness, Tesco and Ronseal. From my own experience, the one from Ronseal - it does exactly ... - has definitely entered everyday English.

I'm hoping to follow this up in a week or two with a post on humour in British TV advertising.

The ads on YouTube

I've managed to find most, but not all, of them

Ex 1

• Mars bar
• BT
• Cadburys
• Cadbury's Milk Tray
• BA
• Carlsberg - flatmates
• Castlemaine XXXX
• Renault Clio (size)
• Tescos

Ex 2

• Esso
• Fiat Strada
• Guiness
• Heineken
• Heinz
• Financial Times
• KFC
• Ronseal

Ex 3

• L'Oreal
• M and M's
• Pepsi
• Pepsodent
• Stella
• Zanussi
• Renault Clio (va va)
• Guinness

Other links

• Telegraph - advertising slogans most commonly used in everyday life
• BBC News article - worth reading
• AdSlogans.co.uk

Answers