20 Famous Food Ads You’ll Love to See

Since food is first tasted through the eyes, you need to learn good food advertising and create unique ads that will make tummies excited. And how to learn better, if not from the best food ads in history?

Print ads are still around, and especially effective when you’re driving around town and a juicy meal on a billboard makes you even hungrier. On the other hand, mouth-watering TV ads that immediately prompted us to open the fridge.

That is exactly what a good and well-thought-out ad can do: create a sense of urgency and awaken the hunger for something tasty. Food marketing is often centered around hunger - one of the most basic and powerful human emotions/needs.

However, as you will see from the following famous food ad examples, that’s not the only creative route there is. Here’s your food for thought!

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1. Pizza Hut: bringing the taste (and look) of Italy

Pizza is undoubtedly the most popular Italian export and the first thing you think about when thinking of Italy. However, another symbol of this romantic European country is the leaning tower of Pisa, which Pizza Hut used and gave a personal twist. If you can’t get to Pisa, you can see the leaning tower of Pizza. Looks good enough to me!

2. Burger King: Sticking to tradition

The key difference between Burger King and many other fast food chains (ehm, McDonald’s), is that their burger patties are flame-cooked. They take pride in their method of cooking their most popular menu item, so they produced a whole line of quirky print ads that show that if something isn’t broken, you shouldn’t try to fix it.

3. McDonald’s: Food for the night owls

If your fast food joint delivers during the night, it’s an important value to highlight. Remember clubbing and eating at night? Or maybe cramming material before an exam, and noticing you haven’t eaten all day?

This McDonald’s print ad makes sure the night owls know they can depend on it. It is visually stunning and smartly designed.

4. Kapiti: When ice cream-making turns into art

An ice cream chain from New Zealand took a risky approach to print advertising, in order to relay the statement that they’re making designer ice cream. It’s no usual ice cream, so it deserves more than a usual ad.

5. Maggi: Feels like home

Who isn’t reminded of home and coziness by a bowl of warm soup? Maggi knows what soups mean to people, so they created this ad to show that even in the worst of times, the feeling of home can be achieved with a comforting soup.

6. Dairy Farmers of Canada: You are what you eat

The choice of food can say a lot about a person. As a fan of all sorts of cheeses, this food advertisement speaks to me. I like to think that I am, truly, strong, bold and a touch nutty. 

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7. Pampaverde: A big bite

This ad for a packed and ready to grill barbecue created for the Chilean brand Pampaverde simply tries to show how big their burgers are. Brilliant food ad design like this immediately captures the attention of its viewers, but also relays the message in a visual way.

8. Eini & Co Cupcakes: Wait, it’s not real?

Before, the “is it cake trend” Eini & Co created this lovely food ad with cupcake so well decorated, that a bee mistakes the flower on top of it for a real one.

9. McDonald’s: Count to three, and they’re gone!

The evolution of a potato: you peel it, you dice it, you fry it, and then you can’t stop yourself. This effective fast food ad focuses on a simple product that everybody loves.

10. KFC: Finger lickin' goodness

KFC’s slogan is “Finger lickin’ good”, featured on some of the most famous food ads of all time. In the one below, you can see a greasy thumb and palm print in the shape of a chicken drumstick. They did the same with hot wings and mini filet burgers.

11. Burger King: The glove is thrown

One of the most epic ad wars in history is the one between McDonald’s and Burger King. The two brands are known to directly challenge and refer to one another in advertisements, and one of the focal points of Burger King is the size of their Whopper. In this famous food ad, they show how much bigger than a Big Mac it is, by trying to fit it in a Big Mac box.

12. McDonald’s: For experts only

This print ad perfectly matches the catchphrase. By stacking books and encyclopedias about each of the contents of the new M sandwich, McDonald’s mimicked the menu item itself.

13. KFC: Oh FCK!

When the UK branch of KFC ran out of chicken, they found a brilliant way to apologize to their loyal clientele. This comical ad featured in newspapers across Britain, and thanks to its daring copy and design it made great ad design history.

14. McDonald’s: One for the vegetarians

Burgers are made out of beef, but not everyone likes beef or eating animals at all. To promote their veggie burger, the German McDonald’s assembled some veggies in the shape of a cow.

15. Burger King: Could it get scarier?

Once again, Burger King showed it's also the king of trolling. For Halloween, they were dressed as McDonald’s. Utterly scary!

16. Burger King: Brave and honest

What happens to food that doesn’t have any artificial preservatives? It gets moldy. To prove that their hamburgers are 100% fresh and natural, they simply published a timelapse and ads of a rather disgusting, but an effective image: a moldy Whopper.

Talk about picking on McDonald’s, whose Big Mac is still going strong in an Icelandic museum, mold-free.

17. Chipotle: Back to Start

Video marketing is huge these days. Still if you don’t have the funds to hire a video marketing agency, motion graphics can be a great alternative!Case in point: this powerful ad from Chipotle that tells the story of how a farmer’s journey “back to start”, from large industrialized production, to more sustainable and eco-conscious farming and production.

18. Taco Bell: Viva Young

Many successful video ads show us everyday situations we can identify with. But certain brands successfully subvert expectations and make ads that stay memorable for decades.Taco Bell’s Superbowl ad “Viva Young” shows a group of elderly people enjoying a wild night out that ends with the irreplaceable afterparty snack at Taco Bell.

19. Coca Cola: Share a Coke

Ok, it’s not exactly food, but this campaign is definitely one of the most iconic ones in the food and beverage industry. As you probably know, the premise is dead simple: personalization. Instead of buying a regular can of Coke, why not find one with your name or funny nickname?

You wouldn’t think something as simple as this would be so impactful, but the results definitely speak otherwise. Share a Coke campaign helped the Coca-Cola company to increase their revenue by over 11%. And when a brand is as popular and long-lasting as Coca-Cola, this number is pretty major!Not only that, the social impact of the campaign (the social media shares, etc.) was also immense, helping increase brand visibility and make it top of mind for its consumers.

20. Chick-Fil-A: Eat Mor Chickin

Cows as chicken restaurant mascots?

It’s precisely wacky ideas like this one that help to create some of the best food ads of all time. A campaign that spanned over 20 years saw mischievous cows encouraging people to “eat more chicken” (obviously as a way of diverting them from beef).

Although some have noted the somewhat dark undertone of this campaign, its execution is near flawless. From the misspelled words to the slightly threatening tone and not so subtle messaging - these ads are quirky, funny, and memorable.

Conclusion

These food ads are some of the best examples of visual storytelling and effective marketing strategies.

From taking a dig at your opponents, to subverting expectations to awakening the taste buds - there’s definitely more than one way to create a food ad that resonates with your audience.I

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