Breaking the fourth wall: Juan Leguizamón talks funniest campaigns
Juan Leguizamón, Executive Experience Director at Havas Germany shares his take on the ad campaigns that break the mold, why these ads stand out in a crowded market, and how they challenge the status quo of traditional marketing, all while keeping us entertained and engaged.
In a world oversaturated with ads, some campaigns stand out by doing the opposite of what you'd expect: they mock the very art of advertising itself. Juan Leguizamón, Executive Experience Director at Havas Germany shares his take on the ad campaigns that break the mold, why these ads stand out in a crowded market, and how they challenge the status quo of traditional marketing, all while keeping us entertained and engaged.
Which 5 advertising campaigns (across any medium—print, video, OOH, social, etc.) would you consider your favorites?
My favorite ad campaigns tend to change over time, but if I had to narrow it down to a top five, I'd choose a collection of the most cleverly self-deprecating campaigns—the ones that don’t beg for attention but instead mock the very idea of trying. These aren’t ads forcefully injected into people’s minds; they’re planted like triggers for a bigger punchline, as if The Joker and Andy Kaufman teamed up in a marketing department to remind us that we, the creatives and the audience, are all willing participants in the joke.
1. Starting with Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical, this is the ultimate example of advertising mocking itself in a multi-sensory format where the audience becomes the punchline. It brilliantly blurs the line between performance and promotion.
2. Taking it overseas to Thailand, Five Star Chicken – The Movies That Made (From) Us cleverly brings together two contrasting target audiences in a wildly nonsensical story. Ironically, this chaotic narrative unites them through a shared love of fried chicken.
3. One of my all-time favorite and most underrated ads is Oatly: Meta Ad, a brilliantly self-aware piece that becomes the ad of an ad within an ad—telling the story of the ad itself, all wrapped into one clever video.
4. I often highlight the brutal simplicity of RxBar’s No B.S. Marketing Campaign as a reminder not to overthink brand messaging. It’s a perfect example of how sometimes you just need to say it as it is—without cramming in every possible brand attribute.
5. And finally, an oldie but a goldie: It’s a Tide Ad. This campaign isn’t just a standout in the self-deprecating genre; it’s a masterclass in dynamic storytelling. It pushed a traditionally conservative brand like P&G to break its own boundaries by blending brand multiverses, all in the name of creating an ad that brilliantly pokes fun at advertising itself.
Tide It's a Tide Ad
What elements or creative strategies from these top 5 campaigns do you believe set them apart from others in the industry?
While most ads focus on selling products in memorable ways, these five examples go a step further by cleverly commenting on advertising culture itself in a postmodern way — effectively capturing the attention of today’s audiences who typically ignore traditional ads.
What truly sets them apart is their unapologetically quirky and offbeat style, boldly challenging industry norms and perceptions on how we consume commercialized media.
Five Star Chicken The Movies That Made (From) Us
Have they influenced your own work? If so, how?
These types of campaigns haven’t just influenced my work — they’re the very reason I chose a career in advertising. While some of my projects have reached that level of humor and self-deprecation, I’ll admit it’s incredibly challenging to pull off work where the brand or the audience becomes the punchline. At the end of the day, it can all backfire and even get canceled if the balance between risk and humor isn’t carefully managed.
Oatly Meta
If you had to choose one campaign from your top 5 that you wish you had been part of, which would it be and why? What do you think made it so successful in resonating with audiences?
The Skittles Musical stands out to me as a bold and brave campaign that satirizes advertising while still functioning as one—something I find truly brilliant. In contrast to the typical Super Bowl ads that follow the same attention-seeking formulas, Skittles dared to take their message off the field and onto Broadway, delivering a live show that humorously critiqued the world of ads, and yet it felt like a celebration of advertising in a very ironic way.
Skittles The Broadway Musical
This campaign perfectly captures why I love advertising — with all its flaws and brilliance. I often use it to remind my colleagues not to take advertising too seriously, especially in a generation flooded with cynicism and negativity. In a world where audiences are easily polarized and overwhelmed by distracting content—often skipping ads or trying to escape marketing altogether—we need to remember that we’re not just marketers; we’re entertainers too.
RXBAR No B.S.