Top 12 Christmas Commercials

Nostalgic commercials are back, and we’re looking at the Top 12 best Christmas ones, old and new!

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About Doug Walker

Creator of 5 Second Movies, Nostalgia Critic, Bum Reviews and more.

126 comments

  1. I love your videos Doug.

  2. I think that Planter’s commercial with the nutcracker is my favorite Christmas commercial. Hilariously creepy.

  3. From the very first commercial entry, I could just tell, “Oh yeah, this is gonna be funny as fuck”

  4. “How can they have Christmas if Jesus isn’t born yet?”

    Really, Doug? Have you never heard of the Saturnalian festival? It’s only the Pagan tradition that Christianity stole most of its traditions and iconography from for its TOTALLY ORIGINAL WINTER HOLIDAY CELEBRATION.

    And who even knows where the Pagan festival got its ideas from. Point is, Christmas absolutely can exist without Jesus, and had in fact done so for centuries.

    • …Except that said holiday wouldn’t be *called* Christmas if it preceded the birth of Christ. And if we’re going to split hairs, the popular image of Santa Claus (fat man with white beard and red suit) was created by the Coca Cola company in the 1940s.

    • Not to mention Christianity stealing that Pagan holiday is real reason why Christmas is at day that it is.

      • Christianity never stole anything. They just invented there own holiday. Practically every culture has there own winter celebration and Christmas is just one of many.

        Also the POINT of Christmas is Jesus’s birthday. It’s like saying there can be a Hanukkah without a menorah.

        • Except that scholars estimate from clues the story to Bethlehem could have occurred in the late spring….

          • Christmas’ date was chosen based off the holiday of King’s Day, and Jesus is sometimes referred to as Christ the King. Also, Jesus’ birth is suspected to be in September based on what little relevant historical records exist.

      • Does it honestly matter?
        Why are people still arguing about something that happened thousands of years ago?
        Even the Romans are telling us to “get with the times”

    • Wolfgang Von Frankenstein

      Don’t be such a smart ass, he’s clearly referring to the Christian holiday of Christmas and NOT the Pagan holiday from which it originates. And you damn well know that, you just wanted to be a smart alec.

    • “Christianity” stole nothing. It was Romans who originally celebrated Saturnalia but since became Christians who turned it into Christmas, so they stole the festival…from themselves. I’m well aware that the timing may be off as the actual day of Jesus’s birth is unknown, and the only real reason we celebrate it on the twenty fifth of December is because that’s when Saturnalia was.

      Heck, at my church every year they even say that the Wise Men, who may have been more than three, actually met Jesus, Mary and Joseph at their home some time later, and not at the manger. I still believe in the gospel, and like the nativity scene story anyways, even though it’s become somewhat of a fairytale. How Christmas came to be and the actual historical details behind some aspects of it is irrelevant to me as long as I never lose sight of why we celebrate it.

    • disembodiedvoiceofreason

      They didn’t steal from the Pagans, the pagans had no options after the Emperor converted. After centuries of murdering Christians, Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and banned all the pagan religions.(one over-reaction to another) the pagans having nowhere else to go, integrated their traditions into the church at the time. also if you understood just how fucked up the Roman festival was, you’d be thanking Christianity for wiping the global conscious of rampant boy rape. Also, Doug isn’t wrong in what he said, Santa, rather Sinterklaas came after Christmas.

  5. About the Number 1: If you want there’s a movie named “Joyeux Noël” (merry christmas) dunno if they translated it because it’s french, it was great.
    Merry Christmas btw

    • I’ve seen this movie, and I love this movie. What’s great about this movie is that the English/Irish soldiers are speaking English, the French soldiers are speaking French, and the German soldiers are speaking German, so it’s authentic, and it needs no translating (though it is subtitled for your non-native language, whatever that happens to be).

    • It’s one of my favorite movies of all times (top 3 actually). Doug already talked about it during a top 11 christmas movies video

  6. Okay, Why is this not a Top 11?!
    {enjoys episode}

  7. Please spread the number one commercial around. Considering how shitty 2016 was to us, especially last month, we need something to remind us to love our fellow man, even if we are enemies.

    • Oh no it wasn’t. For me anyway, 2016 was a pretty good year! It’s only the crybabies in New York that are trying to ruin it. We just can’t let them!

      • 2016 was a good year for Nazism and gaming and that’s about it.

        • STOP IT!!!!! HE’S NOT A NAZI AND HE’S GONNA MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE! HE’S ALREADY MADE SOME FOR THOSE 1,000 FACTORY WORKERS! HE DOES KILL PEOPLE!! THE ONLY ONES HE’LL KILL IS ISIS AND THEY NEED TO BE SENT TO HELL!
          And for me 2016 was a GOOD year! I spent a lot of time with my family. We saw the Statue of Liberty up close and personal (which is a majestic sight to see), we got to go to the Renaissance Fair and it was so much fun! I got a new job that I like a lot and people treat me with kindness and respect (wish I could say the same for HERE), some of my favorite animes debuted on Toonami this year. 2016 for me was an excellent year and 2017 WILL be even better!

  8. thatgirlinthewheelchair

    I don’t know why but somehow the “Let’s remember together” actually made me really emotional. Even more so than listening to Doug talk about the last commercial. It’s amazing how the tiniest change to a simple tagline can actually make it powerful.

  9. There needs to be a parody of the Folgers one featuring the Lannisters.

    Just saying.

  10. I reviewed four of the Christmas Commercials that made the NC’s Top 12 list. Here’s the link to my Christmas Commercials review:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7jrc_uLYrM

  11. I mean, Doug, even without taking a Christmas Carol into account, one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time has a line about telling scary ghost stories in it. Christmas can get a bit Halloween-y at times.

  12. I have a contended smile on my face after that number one commercial. I remember when I first saw it on YouTube that I got a little teary eyed afterward. I’ve always loved the story of the Christmas truce during WWI and to see that commemorated after 100 years was really effective. And I’m so glad that the people who made it put the time and effort into researching the events to make it as accurate to history as possible.

  13. Frankenstein’s monster just wanted to be accepted in a town of normal people. He feared they would hate him. But the innocence of a young child, accepted him, made him feel welcome. (Think Hunchback of Notre Dame) And thus the entire town accepted him. Proving that love can conquer all. Regardless of who you are.

    There Doug, I hope this makes up for the confusion. (I took Psychology.)

  14. I’m glad the commercials videos are coming more frequently, I never get tired of them! Please keep it up, they’re funny even without and funnier with your commentary!

  15. 12. Wow, this commercial got …dark.
    11. I actually haven’t seen this commercial, but now that you brought up the brother/sister thing, …I fully agree that this has gotten as weird as Angelina Jolie’s relationship with HER brother.
    10. I also fondly remember this Honey Nut Cheerio’s commercial when I was very young. I also remember the “Did you say hookers and blow?” joke from your Top 11 Cereal Mascots episode.
    9. I haven’t seen this commercial, and the puppets look like they should tell us not to put “it” in our mouths.
    8. The Christmas Fruity Pebbles commercial is about as memorable as the special, “A Flintstone Christmas.”
    7. It IS a bit creepy when you stop and think about it.
    6. The snowman puppet is about as impressive as the one in Jack Frost.
    5. I also find the Frankenstein/Apple commercial really charming.
    4. Coca-Cola may have cool Holiday commercials, but I’m still a Pepsi drinker. …PLEASE BRING BACK PEPSI HOLIDAY SPICE.
    3. Still a freakin’ classic.
    2. Just don’t make an M&M’s movie, Hollywood. It MIGHT become the next Foodfight.
    1. I should really see the movie Joyeux Noel sometime.

  16. THE CINEMATIC MIND

    Imagine if one of these was a British Public Information Film on the list. Especially this creepy as hell fire safety PIF. https://youtu.be/-fmVU2j6APw

  17. 4:00 – You think that’s bad? You should see Luke and Leia at Life Day time!

  18. I just kept thinking “did you say hookers and blow?” Thanks Doug.

  19. Wolfgang Von Frankenstein

    UK? How dare you Doug, Irn Bru is Scottish 😀

    • Isn’t Scotland part of the UK (and Great Britian, too, for that matter)??
      I know people from Scotland prefer to be called Scottish instead of British,
      just as “certain” people prefer to be called Texans instead of Americans,
      but there is really no need to jump down his throat.

  20. What where the name of those Folgers parodies you showed?

  21. I wonder if it is trying to be subtle with Christmas and combine Frankenstein and The Grinch, in that Boris Karloff was involved in both.

  22. Glad to see the Coca Cola truck advert made the list. You know it’s Christmas when the Holidays Are Coming ad appears on the TV!

  23. every goddamn year of my life i have to see that kisses commercial and that m&ms commercial. it isnt christmas season til i see them. i’m younger than both of them.
    it’s nice to see them appreciated though bc usually they make me groan due to their ubiquity.

  24. disembodiedvoiceofreason

    So am I going to get credit for suggesting this?(joking, I’m sure you had this planned months ago)

  25. disembodiedvoiceofreason

    Ugh, that Frankenstein’s monster commercial is horrendous. Everything about it is awkward and uncomfortable

  26. To explain, the Frankenstein-Christmas commercial is symbolic — taking something we associate with Halloween and horror, Frankenstein’s monster, an abomination to mankind, and then juxtaposing it next to Christmas, the holiday we associate with charity and goodwill, to share a message that despite a person’s outward appearance (or even inward, really), we should all be willing to spread kindness and compassion in the spirit of Christmas (which we should really do all-year-round). It also represents a message that we shouldn’t judge a person based upon how they look for it’s their heart and character that defines them.

  27. Nice to see you go back over ads you already did.

  28. 12 – Oh, it was a parody.
    11 – Never seen it!
    10 – I knew that about KFC and Japan.
    9 – Glad to have never seen that one before.
    8 – Pity you’re not into the show.
    7 – No one likes clowns anymore.
    6 – You’ve made enough fun of it already.
    5 – You used that clip before.
    4 – They didn’t invent the modern Santa Claus, though.
    3 – Probably the one I’m most familiar with.
    2 – It’s their anniversary this year!
    1 – Reality’s great.

  29. Oh, Doug, when you said the “profits all went to the Royal British Legion,” I totally thought you meant “prophets” at first.

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