Aussie TV Ads Trivia Quiz

Answer: Holeproof Underdaks

" ... with your pants down."

A series of commercials from the 1970s and 80s featuring men getting caught with their trousers down in embarrassing circumstances, on a football field, accidentally flushing your pants away in an aeroplane toilet, at a mate's wedding, being forced to strip at an airport metal detector, etc. Very funny, and the phrase has now come part of the Australian vernacular.

Answer: Chimpanzees

The late Maurie Fields did the voices for this cute series of ads. Wally saying to his wife "Strewth! I thought ya said green! Aaaaargh!", when he should be painting it in a cream colour.

Answer: World Series Cricket

In 1977, media mogul Kerry Packer organised WSC in direct opposition to traditional cricket. He secretly signed up many of the world's leading players, came up with a whole new set of rules, dressed the players in colourful outfits as opposed to the more traditional whites, and even had a theme song written to promote the whole show.

The "C'mon Aussie" slogan has since become a sporting anthem and can still be seen and heard at sporting events all around the world.

Answer: Underarm deodorant

The ad was full of American references, such as the moon landing, Statue of Liberty, the bald eagle, and red, white and blue bunting everywhere. The campaign only ran for a few months but made a very lasting impression.
Sing along with me...

"You need Uncle Sam, you need Uncle Sam,
Let's get together with the Stars and Striped can
It's the perfect connection 'tween fellers and girls
And under your arm is the top of the world!
No Sweat!"

Answer: Protect against skin cancer

'Slip on a shirt, Slop on sunscreen, Slap on a hat', said Sid the seagull. Later on we were urged to 'Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide' with the addition of 'Seek shade, Slide on some sunnies'. Australia has one of the highest rates of melanoma in the world, so the ad was a timely warning. This question is dedicated to my dad, who died of malignant melanoma.

Answer: That was to keep the rabbits out. Too many rabbits in China

"That was during the time of Emperor Nasi Goring." In the final seconds of the ad, Daniel gets up in front of the class to deliver his school talk on China. His impending humiliation was not shown.

Answer: Peter Allen

Some of the destinations were Venice, New York, Argentina, Thailand, China, Tanzania, New Zealand, Stonehenge and Greece and the ad aired during the American Superbowl in 1999. The commercials were updated several times, and ran from 1997 to 2004. Allen, known overseas as the 'Boy from Oz', was married to Liza Minelli from 1967 to 1974. He died in 1992.

Answer: Tom Cruise

A couple of interesting facts about this commercial. Naomi Watts is a close friend of Nicole Kidman, who is the ex-wife of Cruise! Also, Watts is a vegetarian; a rather strange bit of casting, methinks.

Answer: Pro Hart

He used shotguns, dropping paint from balloons and even his own body to produce his art. The dragonfly he produced for the Stainmaster ads was done with food and looked quite impressive. When the cleaner arrived in the morning, she was not so smitten, and promptly cleaned it all up! The other painters mentioned in the question were all dead well before the commercial was filmed in 1988.

Answer: Soap

He was reading the finance column, she a travel magazine, and the young daughter was in her own bath playing with her pet duckling. All these trappings were used to advertise Cusson's Imperial Leather soap. I never bought it- I just could not see how you could make leather lather!