Advertising Facts

In 1984, a Canadian farmer named Murray Chicken began renting ad space on his cows, pioneering a bizarre form of outdoor advertising.

The first banner advertising was used in 1994.

For beer commercials, they add liquid detergent to the beer to make it foam more.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was invented for Montgomery Ward's Christmas promotion in 1939.

There are only 14 blimps in the world.

The typical image we have of Santa Claus dressed in red clothes with white fur trim, is an amalgamation of cultural input over many years. Some people claim the image of Santa we know today is from Coca-cola advertising, but this simply isn't true. The st

The first Ronald McDonald was Willard Scott in 1963.

U-Haul is the world's largest advertiser in the Yellow Pages.

Dunkin' Donuts rigged nearly 500 city buses across Seoul with hidden scent atomizers. Every time the Dunkin' jingle played on the radio, the bus filled with the smell of fresh coffee. Commuters would step off — right next to a Dunkin' location. Store visits near bus stops jumped 16%. Coffee sales shot up 29%.

In the mid-90’s, Coca Cola recalled an advertising poster due to a hidden sexual image.

As part of an advertising campaign, Molson, a Canadian beer company, strategically placed 'beer fridges' around Europe that only Canadian passports could unlock.

It costs around 2.75 million dollars to make an episode of The Walking Dead, and it pulls in 11 million in commercial revenues for a profit of 8 million an episode

Pepsi ran a commercial showing a Harrier jet for 7 million Pepsi Points. A business student named John Leonard did the math, raised $700,000, and mailed Pepsi a check demanding the jet. Pepsi said no. He sued. A judge ruled "no objective person could reasonably have concluded" the offer was real. Pepsi re-aired the ad with the price changed to 700 million points and a "Just Kidding" disclaimer.

Pharrell Williams was fired from three different McDonald's locations. His reason: "I was eating the chicken nuggets." Years later, McDonald's hired him to produce "I'm Lovin' It" — the most successful fast food jingle in history.

In 1999, David Phillips spotted a Healthy Choice promotion: 1,000 airline miles for every 10 barcodes. During the bonus window, that doubled. He found pudding cups at 25 cents each, bought 12,150 of them for $3,140, and donated them all to the Salvation Army — earning an $815 tax deduction. Total haul: 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles and lifetime Gold status. His story inspired the Adam Sandler film Punch-Drunk Love.