why is tea good?

chimpanzees wearing clothes and doing human stuff and drinking tea is the best way to sell tea

Johnny Vegas isn't

also, pg tips is the best english breakfast blend

whenever I drink a cup or two of coffee, I HAVE to take a shit so I always have to think long-term before I drink it. I do love coffee though. Tea, on the other hand causes no such dilemma and I drink about 2-3 cups of chai a day.

  tauboo said:

 

also, pg tips is the best english breakfast blend

As stated in my last post, I agree. PG Tips is brilliant. I'm drinking a mug of it now.

But let's talk for a moment about tea advertising, shall we? My mum always said that the PG Tips chimpanzee adverts were cruel and exploitative, so I think that's a big part of the reason we never had PG in the house growing up. I think it's interesting that they've used London/Southeastern accents for the chimps, as tea is generally associated with Yorkshire, or at least the North.

Let's take a look at PG's more contemporary advertising, featuring (as Tauboo said) overweight Northern comedian, Johnny Vegas.

There have been quite a few of these, and I happen to think that this is the best of the bunch - it's basically just a homage to this classic and very famous piece of physical sketch comedy by Morcambe and Wise:

If you don't find this funny you're heartless. I think it's interesting that PG have used the fairly familiar technique of evoking nostalgia for the past like brands such as Tetley and Hovis (who make bread) do, but instead of doing it directly and sentimentally, they're tackling it in a slightly abstracted way. Morcambe and Wise are seen as traditional and very British - much the way tea drinkers see tea. Frankly this is a lot less crass than the other "Al and Monkey" adverts, which never appealed much to me either. What I will say for this campaign, though, is that it seems to have had some success with promotional gifts: I've seen a lot of people with stuffed "Monkey" toys in their cars and whathaveyou, and these are attained by buying PG Tips!

Let's have a look at a Tetley advert, this is a classic one from the 90s:

Here's an example of the Tetley teafolk I was talking about earlier. This advert actually had quite a significant impact on me; I can remember it clearly. It taps into the common tea-drinker's assertion that everything feels better after a cup of tea; that a cuppa will always go some way, however slight, to improving your situation - especially if it is administered by a kindly friend. This is the social aspect of tea, which I will come to later!

Getting stoned and responding to this topic has become a wonderful new hobby

I drink and enjoy both. Sometimes I drink both in the same day. Tea is good because it will not make you jittery, and it's less acidic. Coffee is awesome when I need to "wake up" after a night of three hours of sleep. I drink them both with and without sugar and honey. I even put Coffee Mate in coffee sometimes. I usually get my tea from Teavana, but I also do Twinings (drinking Irish Breakfast now), and I'm a Folgers man on the joe.

this is far more helpful then i could have imagined. thanks so much folks. lain, your insight is amazing. thanks!

my goal is not going to be steer people away from coffee at all but from tea brand A to tea brand 1. i love that idea of personalizing the coffee drinker and the tea drinker but this isnt coffee vs. tea, its tea vs tea. i have that idea of the jittery coffee guy written in my idea book though now anyway, you never know. thanks! you guys are awesome.

  jefferoo said:

Mariage Frères, Marco Polo Tea.

I drink the same tea ! . From now on you're my tea brother.

I JUST TEABAGGED MY MATES IPHONE

ZOMGWTFLOLS.

  Babar said:

  jefferoo said:

Mariage Frères, Marco Polo Tea.

 

I drink the same tea ! . From now on you're my tea brother.

<- tea mugs

  Iain C said:

If you don't find this funny you're heartless. I think it's interesting that PG have used the fairly familiar technique of evoking nostalgia for the past like brands such as Tetley and Hovis (who make bread) do, but instead of doing it directly and sentimentally, they're tackling it in a slightly abstracted way. Morcambe and Wise are seen as traditional and very British - much the way tea drinkers see tea. Frankly this is a lot less crass than the other "Al and Monkey" adverts, which never appealed much to me either. What I will say for this campaign, though, is that it seems to have had some success with promotional gifts: I've seen a lot of people with stuffed "Monkey" toys in their cars and whathaveyou, and these are attained by buying PG Tips!

after posting i noticed the pg tips chimp is sitting on my desk (with a clay fish in its mouth for some reason) and it has CHimp (like the pg tips logo) on his t-shirt

hmm

well done iain! please continue musing whenever it's convenient

Iced Tea with Ice

Iced Tea with ICE!

.

Oh I drink Darjeeling Tea only for the past 5 years. Around 3 cups a day, Twinings.. One coffee cup to wake me up.

  A/D said:

well done iain! please continue musing whenever it's convenient

I'm glad you're enjoying my directionless rambling about tea! I will continue a bit later this afternoon after I clean my bedroom.

Because golfers would sound funny saying "joe-time."

  OneToThirtySix said:

Because golfers would sound funny saying "joe-time."

  nene multiple assgasms said:

Did I mention I like puns?