Halloween ad roundup: Go funny, go scary, or go home

Here's our roundup of this year's Halloween ads from around the world. While some are good, most, we're sorry to say, are rather disappointing. 

While some brands get the idea of a good Halloween ad, too many are obviously trying to cash in on the costume-wearing, candy-scarfing spooky season and holding back on the creativity. We look forward to the Halloween ads each year, and we're not happy. What's the Halloween equivalent of "Bah, humbug"? 

Take this one by Verizon for example. How any ad could feature a dog dressed as Darth Vader (Hey, hasn't that been done before?) and still be dully sales-driven boggles the mind, but this ad achieves it:

 

And what happened to Snickers? Last year's pun-tastic ad has been followed by a series of boring  "content-driven" recipe videos. Now that's scary.

 

Even Hong Kong Halloween staple Ocean Park seems to just be phoning it in with its seasonal ad featuring ghouls making Thriller-style moves and, for some reason, opera. 

 

And the toothpaste ads, with their season-killing message about dentists and oral hygiene. Could this Darlie ad be any more "me too"? Sorry, but it leaves us feeling cold, and not because we got chills.

At least this "don't worry, brush your teeth with us and you'll be alright" ad by Crest involves cute costumed kids. However, they're miserable. And the vomit-shot may be taking things a bit too far.

 

Thankfully, not all the ads this year were disappointments. This BMW Mini ad gets everything right. Suspense, screams, bogeymen, a humourous twist—and tying it nicely back to the brand:

 

This mini film by Lux too shows an unexpected amount of humour for a rather staid beauty brand.

 

BBH Asia-Pacific hits a good note with this scream-filled Chupa Chups ad targeting desperate parents of 'monster kids'. 

 

Then there's this high-effort failure by Benjamin Moore. The brand and whomever it's working with tried their best. It's a haunted house, a dreadful prank to play and a nice video. Too bad they forgot to sell the paint. And the follow-up testimonial video is just...horrible. 

 

What about you? Seen any good or bad Halloween ads?