7. Halifax - Howard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-Y6V5sqf0U Now try and do you best movie film-trailer voice for this next one: "In a world before viral media, one man will randomly start singing... into a FISH." And lo, the horrific flash-in-the-pan 'celebrity' of Howard was born, the all-singing all-dancing mockery of common decency that became many year's worth of viral-sensations that were actually scarily ahead of their time. Of course in the early noughties he was lapped up and paraded about everywhere from Big Brother to The Office Christmas Special, finally departing the company three years ago. Yes it's one of those "they MUST have been self-aware" back then, but considering just how far the marketing team churned these things out - and the utmost honesty that little Howard sang his heart out - he'll be remembered as one of the most annoyingly cringeworthy additions to daytime TV in years. 6. Sony - Moon Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dpzhMMFk5U Now we're talking, remember this one? Back before the likes of Wii Sports and Call of Duty took gaming and made it culturally acceptable, it remained on the fringe of the mainstream psyche, with Sony throwing adverts like this into the pot for the sake of drumming up... god knows what. Like every Metallica fan's expression following the godawful German post-expressionist Lou Reed album Lulu, most of us were either unsure what we were supposed to take away from this, or were simply too young and ended up being terrified of the quirky girl's facial expression and the David Lynchian warblings around 'landing on your own moon.' Still, very memorable overall, so that's something.... right?