Happy Halloween! In honor of this spooky-good time of the year, we’ve put together this short list of ten of our favorite Halloween commercials. From candy brands that are eager to get their product in the hands of trick-or-treaters to non-profit organizations leveraging this holiday to increase donations, we’ve chosen to feature these commercials based on their style, their substance, and their creepiness.
Be sure to watch these ads with the lights on. Don’t worry, we’re not going to judge.
Reese’s: Count Dracula (1990)
A true classic, answering the age-old question, how would Draculat eat a Reese’s peanut butter cup. While personally I’m a fan of the chocolate portion of the cup, who’s going to argue with the Prince of Darkness. After all, there’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s.
Kmart: Halloween Costume Challenge feat. Monternez Rezell (2012)
Kmart proves that you don’t need to incorporate jump scares and horror tropes to stand out during Halloween. They partnered with America’s Got Talent contestant Monternez “Monty” Rezell to shoot this impressive Guinness World Record breaking video.
Westlake Ace Hardware: Zombie News (2011)
Think only big brands can get push the creative Halloween envelope? Think again.This local ad focuses on America’s favorite Halloween monster – the zombie. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll begin making our zombie preparedness plans.
Nike: Run For Your Life (2008)
A killer on the loose. A young lady all on her own. Will she survive? Well, considering she’s wearing Nike shoes in a Nike commercial, yes.
Cravendale: Run For Your Life (2008)
America isn’t the only country Halloween-ifying its advertisements, the UK has some solid spooky good ads of their own. Including this one from Cravendale milk featuring some mildly terror-inducing pink cows.
Snickers: Halloween Grocery Store Lady (2010)
While the concept of these two children joining forces to ensure a Snickers-filled Halloween is whimsical. This fake woman’s face haunts my dreams.
Pizza Hut: Pizza Head Halloween (1994)
Pizza Hut’s iconic Pizza Head Show commercials were given the Halloween treatment in this 1994 commercial. While these commercials were a joy to watch, we’re still mildly confused that the “villain” is a pizza cutter. Pizza Head is a slice of pizza, he’s already been cut. Is he worried he’ll get sliced again? What is the endgame? WE HAVE QUESTIONS!
Skittles: Bite Size Horror (2017)
Skittles shows their dark side in this 2-minute short that is more terrifying than most horror films. Well worth the watch.
GEICO: Let’s Hide Behind the Chainsaws (2014)
The only commercial on this list that is still active, GEICO’s “Hide Behind the Chainsaw” ad pokes fun at one of the classic tropes in horror movies.
Burger King: #ScaryClownNight (2017)
Whether you’re a fan of whoppers or not, you have to give it up to Burger King for using our collective fear of clowns to take a stab (see what we did there) at their competition.
TREAT: Bonus Commercials!!
Skittles: Bite Size Horror
To launch their Halloween campaign “Bite SIze Horror”, confectionary giant Mars screened four commercials for four of their products: Skittles, Starburst, Snickers, and M&Ms. Each commercial takes the form of a two minute horror movie, establishing characters, plot, and building suspense for an engaging story.
Svedka Vodka: Curse
Svedka appealed to the kid inside all of us with their halloween ad. Its car commercial features young boy carving a face into an orange pumpkin, and his adult-self carving a face into an orange Svedka hood cover.
Dior: Halloween Goes Haute Couture
Dior used influencers for its dark (and engaging) Halloween campaign, featuring artists like Bella Hadid to demonstrate how to create hauntingly stunning makeup looks for Halloween.
Vintage Halloween Commercial Montage
Jonesing for more Halloween commercial goodness? Then place your peepers on this compilation of some of the best Halloween commercials of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s.
Have a favorite Halloween commercial? Let us know!
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