Top 10 Commercials Only 2000s Kids Remember

Hairstyles change and evolve through the years, and while today’s styles lean fairly natural, in the 2000s we were going for sky high volume. Fortunately, for those of us unskilled in the ways of teasing and who didn’t want to use half a can of hairspray every time we went out, there were Bumpits. These little pieces of plastic added the hair height we were searching for with minimal skill, effort or product. Sure, they’re not quite as easy to use effectively as the ad would have you believe, but it’s definitely not the worst as-seen-on-TV product you could purchase. And in case you were curious, yes Bumpits are still for sale at many major retailers.

This was a breakfast food that was kind of ahead of its time. Fruit Loop Cereal Straws were made of. Well, cereal, and allowed you to sip your milk through them. Considering the current environmental backlash against the use of standard plastic straws, we wouldn’t be surprised if this style of product ends up making a comeback. There’s even a Change.org petition to bring them back that has more than 80,000 signatures! Kellogg's NYC Café actually brought back a limited edition version for a week in 2019, but so far there’s no word on a more permanent product.

Apple has created a number of memorable ads in its decades in the tech industry, but one of their most unforgettable campaigns has to be “Get a Mac”, which ran from 2006 to 2009. Featuring John Hodgman in the role of “PC” and Justin Long as “Mac”, the commercials pitted the two operating systems against one another in a battle for supremacy… or at least coolness. The format was a success, and not long after the first ad kicked off, Apple reported a big increase of Macs sold. This campaign had dozens of ads, but the original is the one that most people will remember the most.

These ads, which began airing around 2004, prompted a whole lot of questions. What was Quiznos thinking? What ARE those things? Is this the best ad we’ve ever seen... or the worst? It turns out the creatures in this bizarre and unforgettable campaign are known as “spongmonkeys” and they’re the creation of British animator and humourist Joel Veitch. In retrospect, it seems like Quiznos was actually ahead on the trend of luring customers with absurdist humor. Do these commercials make you want to eat a sub? Probably not. But have they been haunting your nightmares for years? Very likely.

The virtual pet website Neopets was a fixture for late-‘90s and 2000s kids alike. Launched in 1999, it allowed users to use virtual currency to raise and build up their collection of pets. While the whole idea behind the site was to create a digital, interactive space, the company eventually expanded into selling toys to go along with the pets you knew and loved from your computer screen. The ads aired in the mid-aughts and were extremely tempting to any children who had used the site and wanted a tangible part of it.

Snuggie didn’t invent the concept of a sleeved blanket, but they sure did popularize it. Their commercials made viewers laugh out loud, largely because it was somewhat unclear whether the brand was taking itself seriously or not. The commercials showed families wearing matching Snuggies in increasingly ridiculous situations, and seemingly thinking they were awesome. In case you didn’t grow up during this time, there was a period where there was nothing more hilarious than getting someone a Snuggie as a gag gift...and then watching as they ended up actually enjoying it.

People love music, and people love sports, so what’s better than an ad that combines them? This campaign for Guitar Hero World tour featured four of the world’s most popular athletes reenacting an iconic scene from “Risky Business” while playing the game. Kobe Bryant appears alongside Alex Rodriguez, Michael Phelps and Tony Hawk in this fun-filled commercial from 2008. Unsurprisingly, it absolutely helped increase the brand’s clout and popularity. This ad is all the more beloved now that Kobe is no longer with us, and his co-star Alex Rodriguez spoke out after his death, as the two had become friends in the years since filming it.

For all you non-2000s kids out there, here’s the lowdown: the Kidz Pop album took the biggest pop hits of the time and re-recorded them to make them more family-friendly. The ads always featured kids singing and dancing along to the tunes that would be featured on the album. At the time, the concept of being a Kidz Bop kid seemed like the coolest thing imaginable! The first compilation came out in 2001, and in the years since they’ve managed to make it all the way to Kidz Bop 40, which was released in 2019. Fun fact: did you know that Zendaya actually featured on Kidz Bop 15?

This has got to be one of the most iconic ad campaigns of all time. The “silhouette”-style ads became synonymous with the iPod shortly after the first one aired, despite the fact that Steve Jobs actually wasn’t initially a fan of the commercial. The brightly colored backgrounds, dark figures, and bright white iPods were a perfect combination, and they were set to catchy songs that made it impossible not to dance along. Some of the most memorable featured The Ting Tings’ “Shut Up and Let Me Go” and Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Education Connection
How Was the Jingle So Catchy?

McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish
Give Me That Fish!

Fanta
Wanna Fanta, Don’t You Wanna?

Baby Bottle Pop
Somehow This Jingle Is Still in Our Heads

Go-Gurt
Equal Parts Cool and Disgusting

Coca Cola has long been associated with Christmas. And that continued in this memorable ad, where a family of polar bears looks on as a group of penguins parties to holiday music. When the baby bear slides down into the penguins’ midst, it’s a stressful moment. . . but no worries, because a young penguin comes up to the young bear and offers a Coke as a peace offering. Does it matter that there’s actually nowhere in the world where penguins and polar bears are actually found in the same place? No. We can suspend our disbelief and enjoy this moment of interspecies friendship.