Top 10 Cringiest Foreign TV Commercials

Top 10 Cringiest Foreign TV Commercials

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most awkward, offensive, and just plain bizarre TV ads from other countries.

#10: Leo in an Italian Meadow

This commercial seems like it’s trying way too hard to be deep. We see Leonardo DiCaprio relaxing in a beautiful meadow alongside an impressive variety of bugs. The lighting is soft; the music is serene; even the praying mantis looks chill. Suddenly, Leo is interrupted by an email on his PalmPilot. He checks the message, then tosses the device aside, annoyed. For those who don’t speak Italian, the ending text reads, “Technology is important, but so is the rest.” Weirdly, this is a commercial for a telecom company. That makes it extra strange that they’re implying that having good mobile service will irritate customers when they’re communing with nature.

#9: Ben Stiller Giving Less Than 100%

It’s pretty common for American celebrities to shoot commercials for overseas markets, where most of their fans at home will never see them. And you can hardly blame them for putting in less than their best effort at these gigs. That’s certainly the case with Ben Stiller in this Japanese commercial for a canned cocktail brand. Everything in this ad is high energy and frenetic – from the editing to the music to the very obviously dubbed voice – except Stiller. He’s just not on the same wavelength as everyone around him. The Ben Stiller we know always gives 110% in his acting roles, which is why it’s so weird to see him phoning it in here.

#8: Japan’s Wild West

We never thought we’d say this, but Ben Stiller could take a lesson from Arnold Schwarzenegger. These Japanese energy drink commercials might be incredibly bizarre, but the action hero is certainly giving it his all. The first features a liquid Schwarzenegger popping out of a woman’s head and screaming into the camera, and it’s set in the old west for some reason. In the second, the two are strapped to floating V’s – a reference to the drink’s name, Alinamin V, until they link up and … gain some kind of super power? We have to assume it makes at least a little more sense if you know what they’re saying. But at least Schwarzenegger gets to say his own lines.

#7: Man Turns Into Toothpaste

You know those commercials that are weird just for the sake of being weird? There’s plenty of them on American TV, and apparently they’re a thing in Thailand too. In this surreal ad, a man tries to do a good deed, but a little girl’s racist mother snatches her daughter away before he can complete it. He goes home, dejected, and we see that this has happened before. It seems like Thai kids just can’t hold onto their balloons. Then the man lays down on his bed, which is a toothbrush, and turns into toothpaste. In case you’re wondering why it’s brown, it’s because it’s an herbal brand. We’re wondering how the marketers possibly came up with this idea.

#6: Volkswagen’s Major Misfire

There’s a lot to unpack here. Volkswagen was founded by Nazis, so it’s on a short leash when it comes to PR failures. Although this is a German ad, it’s set in Argentina, which became a haven for Nazi war criminals after World War II. A white woman’s hand flicks a dark-skinned man away from a VW Golf. It pushes him into a restaurant called “Petit Colon,” which translates to “Little Colonist.” When the words “Der Neue Golf” fade in, the first letters that appear spell out a German slur for Black people. One of these things alone wouldn’t necessarily be suspicious, but put together, it’s hard to imagine Volkswagen didn’t see the problem. The company claimed audiences just misunderstood the ad.

#5: Nicolas Cage for SANKYO

Nic Cage and weird Japanese commercials go together like peanut butter and jelly – that’s probably why he made five of them. Here, he’s promoting SANKYO, a company that manufactures super-popular pachinko machines, which is sort of a cross between pinball and a slot machine. There’s no throughline across this ad series – he’s singing a song, talking to the media, driving through the desert, where, of course, he runs into aliens who look like pachinko balls. But in each of them, he’s 100% Nicolas Cage. And you might have noticed that his voice isn’t dubbed into Japanese. We have to assume that’s because there’s no other actor in the world that could handle the pressure of playing Nic Cage.

#4: Literal White-Washing

File this one under “What were they thinking?” In this Chinese detergent ad, a woman is doing laundry when her Black boyfriend comes in with paint on his face. She shoves a soap pod into his mouth and forces him into the washing machine … and when he emerges, he has miraculously become a light-skinned Chinese man. There’s an ugly history of ads in the U.S. – and probably other countries – that implied that dark skin is dirty and can be washed clean with soap. We can’t really fault Chinese marketers for not knowing about that. However, the fact that the pale Asian man is clearly framed as an improvement over the dark-skinned boyfriend is super racist.

#3: The Calbee Dog

These commercials are weird, but they’re also kind of hilarious, and you have to admit that jingle is catchy. This creepy dog-man tries all kinds of tricks to cheer up these depressed kids, but nothing works – until he gets them Calbee snacks. The brand makes crispy fries, potato chips, and other similar products. In the last commercial, the tables are turned. The little boy is broken-hearted, but he doesn’t need chips. He feels better after talking to a new girl. Now the dog-man needs Calbee chips to cheer up. The new flavor they’re advertising is consommé punch, though many English-speaking internet commentators have misinterpreted “panchi” as being the dog’s name. Believe it or not, you still haven’t seen the last of Japan on our list.

#2: Banana Man

You wouldn’t think that having bananas for body parts would be a good thing, but this guy is clearly winning at life. Kids love him, women want him, he’s crushing it at work, and he can even fly … sort of. The series starts with his origin story, where he sprouts bananas from his head while eating one in a restaurant. Then he gallivants around town, spreading joy and bananas everywhere he goes. Somehow, watching him shoot bananas out of his nose doesn’t make us crave them, but that tiny banana mustache is pretty snazzy.

#1: Chinese Food

This German commercial from 1988 is somehow an even more unhinged version of the Chinese laundry detergent ad. This family sits down to enjoy some delicious prepackaged Chinese food from the brand Maggi Fix, and it tastes so authentic that they turn Chinese. Instead of freaking out, like the Banana Man they just roll with it. In fact, they actually seem delighted. I don’t think we need to point out why this is so problematic. It doesn’t help that the man is sporting an especially stereotypical haircut and glasses. The microscopic cookbook that the spokesperson plugs at the end is the perfect surreal finishing touch.

Which of these foreign commercials did you think was too weird to be real? Let us know in the comments below.