Hovis ad

At 122 seconds, it is one of the longest adverts ever shown.

Advertising the little brown Hovis loaf, which was first sold 122 years ago, it follows a 13-year-old boy through 12 decades of British history.

1. In the bread shop

• The baker says "here we go lad"
• bread wrapped in brown paper bag with string
• Boy about 13 years old, caucasian, blonde/brown hair
• boy wearing a cloth cap with old brown clothing with a jumper and a shirt underneath his coat -represents working class, late 1800s/early 1900s
• baker all in white (hat and coat) which is traditional
• old man in morning suit
  

2. The Cart

• sound of horse neighing - then you see the horse and carriage - also showing the time period: obviously before cars were invented (19th century)
• guy in the cart yells at him
• women looks shocked as he runs past her-wearing a white pinafore and a bonnet
• Man wearing a top hat - tells the time period - upper middle class
• Tracking shot
• boy running through the street of a city-city, working class
• runs through the gate with a chain on and loses his cap.
• his shirt and costume has changed slightly showing the change in time
• we then see a poster for the titanic and can assume it is early 20th century (1912)
  

3. Womens March

• Boy leans on wall and we see his costume has changed slightly again-his brown jacket now has lapels
• we can see a woman dressed in a long blue skirt with a hat on fighting with a gurd (or police officer). Another man is standing in a tall tpo hate and smart attire
• There are placards with 'Votes for Women' showing this is 'the Suffragettes'-this shows the time which is approximately 1913
• We can hear screams from the women
• man with moustache
• LOADS of women marching with banners and placards
• The boy runs through the people watching the march

4. Soldiers

• All together with guns and old fashioned uniforms-WW1
• Boy looks up at the soldier aspirationally and proudly
• Soldier looks young-sending out young people to war
• Young girls with hats on with ribbons'
• Boy sits on the wall-his costume has changed very little as the time period has not really changed
• He salutes the soldiers showing respect

5. Street with car

• Boy jumps off the wall
• runs past 3 people standing by a car
• The car appears to be slightly more modern-indicating the time has prodressed through to the 20s.
• We can also see this by the clothing-bowler hats and camel coats.
• Dog chases him.
• The boy runs down an alleyway and kicks a can down not knowing where it will go

6. War-bombs, plane etc...

• He follows the can out into the mayhem
• There are bombed buildings surrounding him and ikd furniture in the street-he looks very shocked and worried
• We see people evacuated from there housees carrying there worldly possessions-including portraits of family members
• Little boy looks sad.
• Clothing is simple and in dull colours as it is during the war; rationing.
• Speech of Winston Churchill through the radio 'We shallnever surrender'-encouraging and determined.
• Boy stands on top of a mountain of debris
• Plane passes by-shows it is the second world war as planes were used.

7. Street Party

• Everyone happy and cheery
• People wearing hats and paper crowns
• A boy wearing a pirate costume-shows how joyful everyone is. He waves at the other boy. This shows a great sense of the community coming together to celebrate the Queens coronation

8. Girls/Football players

• One girl is wearing a short yellow dress and red boots, and the other is wearing a white top and a brown mini-skirt - indicating that it is the 1960s. Also their hair is typical of the 1960s. The boy is wearing a brown leather jacket and a t-shirt underneath it, showing the fashion has moved on to the 1960s.
• The bread is still wrapped in brown paper.
• There is no dialogue between the boy and the girls, but he eyes them up in a cheeky way, suggesting he likes them.
• The boy runs past a car with British flags and you can hear men cheering "Champions!". This suggests that it is 1966 when England won the World Cup. The flags show their patriotism.
• The car is petrol blue and is a classic car of the 60s.
• The houses are fairly small and terraced, which suggests a working-class area, and one house has a massive flag of Great Britain hanging outside it's window.

9. Street with Asians and TV Shop

• The boy is now wearing an open-collared square-patterned shirt and a sweater-vest with diagonal orange, blue and green stripes. This shows he is now in the 70s.
• An Asian couple walks past showing England has started to become more multi-cultural. The woman is wearing a long floral-patterned dress, and the man is wearing a beige corduroy jacket, showing it is the 70s.
• They walk past a TV shop, indicating that technology is becoming more advanced and that the time has moved on.

10. Coal not Dole strike/protest

• Miners chanting "Coal not dole" because they don't want the mines to be shut down as they would then have to go on the dole.
• Police have riot-shields, suggesting it was 1984-5 as it was the miner's strike.
• The boy has run in-between the two sides, and one man says to him "Eh lad, is it past your bed-time?" which shows that the nights were a bit dangerous for young people
• The boy's jacket is now a brown bomber jacket, still indicating it is the 80s, and he is wearing a bright blue t-shirt.
• The boy runs across a field of wheat, connoting to the bread which he is delivering to his house.

11. Fireworks

• Now it is night-time and the millenium (fireworks).
• It is a tracking shot showing him running home past a river (perhaps the River Thames)
• He jumps over a bench that is in his way, suggesting that people were overcoming the obstacles of the 90s to reach the new millennium.

12. Home

• Suddenly it is day again, and there are two teenage boys leaning against a car with a football at their feet.
• The boy is now wearing a brown hoodie, showing fashion in the 2000s.
• The boy comes home through the back door and sits down at the kitchen table with the loaf of bread which is wrapped in a brown plastic bag saying "Hovis".
• His mum says "Is that you home love?". She has a slight northern accent, suggesting they live up north, and not in London.
• He says "yeah" and smiles to himself in a way that tells the audience he is thinking that his mum has no idea what it took to get Hovis bread home.
• The bread is then on a bread-board, some of it sliced, and a hand grabs a slice - presumably the boy's.
• The loaf is then shown on a pinkish white background with the tag-line "As good today as it's always been"

13. Sound throughout the sequence

• There is chattering when there are people in the scene, and you can hear footsteps from the boy running
• There is some dialogue, onscreen, offscreen and from the radio (Churchill giving encouragement)
• You can here the sound of a plane, cars, cheering, chanting, a horse neighing
• The music is quite quick-paced, and climaxes after dialogues ("Eh lad, is it past your bedtime?") when the boy is running.
• At the end, the music calms down, and finishes with gentle piano.
• The music is mostly in a major key, showing hopefulness.
• The music starts with just piano, then includes violins.

14. Narrative/Story development through whole advert

• The advert starts in 1886 and spans over 122 years - to 2008. The boy gets the bread from the baker, and runs home, through all the time that Hovis has been around. It shows what Hovis has survived through, and how it is the same quality as it's always been (tag line).