Many of us would say that advertisements, or ads for short, are a necessary evil. I would agree. But in the glut of ads we get bombarded with in our waking life, we miss one simple truth. Ads can also be as jaw droppingly awe inspiring as any other creative art. What we often dismiss with a flick of a remote switch or the turn of a page sometimes does manage to capture our eyeballs.

This is how the best of creative ads serve their primary purpose of passing on a message in the "˜blink of the eye' moment they get. Some of the best ads you will ever get to see don't shout "discount!" or have a sexy smile. They are subtle, with a punchline that sticks to our memory even as we move on to the next one. Ads coerce us to buy, to eat, to drink, to laugh"¦and the best of them make us ponder.

So for a change, deliberately go and look up some of the best creative and funny advertisements out there. Here are ten websites that give ads their own space and respect.

Ads of The World

funny advertisements

What catches the eye is the nice layout of the ad site. The website is an online archive of ads from print, outdoor, TV and other media. You can select ads you want to watch using the four dropdowns that give you the options of media type, region, country, and industry. The site also has a thriving community of users who discuss anything related to advertising and promotions. The site also covers ad-industry news, jobs, awards, and events.

Best Ads on TV

funny tv advertisements

Though the same says so, this website also features ads from print, outdoor campaigns, radio, and interactive ads (which ask for responses). Ads from around the world get ranked and judged. You can browse through these collections or go over the categories mentioned on the top.

With the different ad-ranking charts and a database on the Who's Who of the ad industry, this is one of the better rounded sites out there. Oh, there is a free iPhone app too in case you want to catch the Top 6 best ads for the week.

Very Funny Advertisements [No Longer Available]

very funny ads

You can watch and vote for the ads you think tickle your funny bone to the extreme. The funny ad collection comes from all over the world. There's a small link on the side which you can click and watch the ones that were too sexy to be aired in the United States (if that's possible!). Voting is still open for the funniest ads of 2010.

Visit4Info

very funny ads

This online archive of ads has a collection of ad-clips that's 77,000 strong. You can search through them by brand or a keyword. The clips are also tagged as cool, funny, sexy, weird, classic, and viral. Downloading and iPod transfers are chargeable, but online viewing of the ad clips is free. Paid members get added benefits like HQ viewing and other saving options.

Clipland

very funny ads

Clipland hosts music videos, movie trailers, short films, and commercials. The site also has an active forum. The TV commercials section is around 3300+ clips rich. A lot of the ad clips I went through were hosted on YouTube including one of my favorites - The Honda "Cog".

Shots

funny ads

The site is a showcase for the creativity that drives the ad industry. It is a serious website that focuses on trends, news, discussions, and what's happening around the creation of ads. The site is subscriber based but you can still catch some of the happening ad videos in sections like Hotshots. Videos older than seven days are only viewable by paid subscribers.

Creativity Online

funny ads

Be sure to click once on the Pick of The Day when you land on this site. It represents some of the best and latest ads you might get to see from around the world. For instance, for me it was Scrabble: The Block Project where a complete apartment building becomes a living Scrabble game. Sections like Top 5 Most Creative Ads and CAT: Creativity and Technology will surely make you spend half a day marveling at the creative brains who dream these all up.

Funnyplace

funny ads

Though it is not explicitly advertized as such, most of the short films on this site are ads. What is advertized however is that all of them are high up on the laugh scale. The videos are updated daily. You can even download the streaming videos.

AdFreak

With posts like - The 10 Freakiest Ads From Election 2010 [Broken URL Removed] this ad related blog presents a more opinionated viewpoint on the ads we are bombarded with. You might have to do a bit of reading but the ads picked out are cool enough to look. Also check out the blogroll on the sidebar for a further deep dive into other sites that cover creative and funny advertisements of all kinds.

I Believe in Advertising

funny advertisements

While researching this post I bumped into this little blog on advertising, both TV and print. Though it seems to be an individual blog effort, the collection has been well put together by a guy who knows a great ad when he sees one. Check out the cool collection compiled from 2006 onwards.

For the casual ad watcher, even YouTube is a good enough place to watch cool ads. It's just that you have to do a bit of searching. These websites though trot out some of the best from across the globe.

Do you like watching creative ads or are you suffering from absolute ad fatigue? If it's the former, tell us about your favorite ones.

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