On Halloween night – the most horrifying night of the year – witches, warlocks, goblins and ghouls run amok, wreaking havoc in the dark.
They eat candy and settle into bed to embrace the thrills of things that go bump in the night; the creepy, unsettling and sinister become a fun pastime, revealing their darkest sides – and eliciting their deepest screams.
Halloween is a time to willingly embrace one’s deepest fears. But it’s not just blockbuster horror films that leave viewers with nightmares.
According to a study conducted by London-based ad tech company Daivid, Halloween ads have just as much power to strike terror in people’s hearts as gory, sinister and unsettling films.
In a survey of 2,765 people conducted from September through October, the platform paired survey responses with machine learning and facial coding to measure people’s fear while watching ads. It then ranked them based on the average percentage of viewers who felt intense feelings of fear, horror and anxiety while watching. Movie trailers were not included as part of the study.
Campaign US has compiled the resulting “10 scariest ads of all time.”
Viewer discretion is advised:
1. Uber Eats
2. Spotify
3. Thorpe Park
4. Autoway Tyres
5. Dirt Devil
6. Deep Silver
7. Burger King
8. Warner Bros./New Line
9. K-Fee
10. Little Baby's Ice Cream