BT - Peter Jones and the Gremlins

23 July 2008 by Silky

Here’s another entry in the Scorn in the ASA category.

If you’re anything like me, when you heard that people had complained about Peter Jones’ co-star for having “pointy teeth, green-grey skin, large ears and goblinesque features” you thought “She might bot be the Mona Lisa but that’s a little harsh on Deborah Meaden”.

You’ll then have gone on to feel a little foolish when you found out that the complaints were actually about the Gremlins featured in the BT IT support advert and not about the sour-faced Dragon after all.

Who knew? Who knew?

It does however, turn out that 11 mummies and daddies complained to the ASA that their little prince and princesses got so scared by the advert that they went on to have “nightmares”.

Now, I’m not going to be too critical of the children that were frightened by the Gremlins though, because as a child I had the bejesus scared out of me on a weekly basis by the children’s TV programme Worzel Gummidge.

For all you cocky, city dwelling ex-kids a TV programme about a scarecrow that COMES TO LIFE (yeah, that’s right, bold and capitals) might not seem that bad. But I lived in the countryside, surrounded by fields inhabited by literally hundreds scarecrows which thanks to a kids TV programme I thought COULD COME TO LIFE!

Which sicko thought that was a suitable topic for kids? Honestly.

Anyways, for those of you with a mental age over 4 or those hidden behind a settee, here’s the advert with the frightening Peter Jones and those hilarious Gremlins (I think I got those the right way round):

10Responses:

Jonathan

July 23rd, 2008 6:37 pm

Until it was pointed out, I hadn’t realised Peter Jones was in this advert. He was clearly totally upstaged by the Gremlins.
Ian Finlayson

July 23rd, 2008 7:30 pm

This is multi-millionaire entrepeneur Peter Jones who owns his own telecommunications company… You don’t see Bill Gates doing adverts for Photoshop.

Him and Bannatyne are willing to do anything to be famous
Helsie

July 23rd, 2008 9:09 pm

I’m not utterly convinced by this. Does Peter Jones strike you as the sort of thrusting numpty that has a crappy old CRT monitor? I think not…
Louise

July 23rd, 2008 11:03 pm

I love that advert.
Gordon

July 24th, 2008 12:24 pm

I’m sure Peter Jones doesn’t need to advertise another telecoms company’s products and services, and I’m also equally sure that he doesn’t need the whopping great cheque that BT undoubtedly dropped in his lap. I am, however, sure that Peter Jones is a media whore who simply can’t get enough personal publicity and TV air-time. Having said that; there are a lot worse “celebs” out there, greedily vying for every scrap of cheap exposure they can lay there untalented, vacuous, time wasting little mitts on.

By the way, I’m sure that the original version of this advert was longer. After the shot of the BT logo it cut back to Peter Jones and not only were the computer problems resolved, at least one Gremlin had been stuck to the wall with sticky tape. Has this been removed to save our delicate children from the distressing images of puppet torturing? Gives me nightmares thinking about it.
Hand Shandy

July 25th, 2008 10:51 am

This advert has got nothing on the silliness of “the gadget helpline” advert - at least the BT tech support counterparts actually produced an advert with a budget over £10
Mikey P

August 7th, 2008 7:46 pm

Is there another, unseen, ad where Peter Jones is sitting on the phone utterly naffed off having spent five days and numerous hours being passed from idiot to imbecile in BT’s fault department, from Scotland to Bombay to China, having to repeat himself over and over again, calling BT “a bunch of useless fucking wankers?”
Silky

August 7th, 2008 8:12 pm

Sounds like you’ve had some issues with BT then, Mikey P.

You might have to try what Dave Gorman did and e-mail the CEO of BT to get it fixed!
Mikey P

August 9th, 2008 5:52 pm

Hi Silky

I sent him two letters and got a private telephone number and an operator who could do more than just fuck things up…hey presto back up and running and got free calls for 6 months!

RESULT.

Still a shit ad though.
Cathryn

August 12th, 2008 10:43 am

i think this advert is a bit strange but still funny but thats my opinion