From Carpet Call to Rheem: Iconic Aussie jingles ranked from best to worst

While some are just as catchy decades later, others have the ability to set you on edge after years of over-playing. But love them or hate them, they’re a memorable part of growing up and now some of Australia’s most iconic jingles have been ranked in a hilarious list.

From Carpet Call’s well-known closing tune, ‘The experts in the trade’, to weird and wonderful adverts from the likes of Banana Boat sunscreen and Rheem, radio personality Bruno Bouchet teamed up with advertising copywriter Michael Beveridge to rank them all from best to worst.

While their favourites landed a spot in the top group – the ‘God tier’ – a few unlucky companies saw their classic jingles get dumped in the bottom ‘Would rather purchase a bucket of cat vomit tier’. Others ended up mid-way down the ladder, with tiers including ‘Royalty’, ‘Adam Sandler – take it or leave it’ and ‘Pleb’.

The 100% accurate TV jingle power rankings. Don’t bother commenting, this isn’t up for discussion. #TheListKing teamed up with @mickyb273 for this incredible and perfect list. 📺🎵🎶🤴 pic.twitter.com/s0EPi8Qh6V

— Bruno Bouchet (@brunobbouchet) October 24, 2019

Getting God-like status in the top tier was Carpet Call’s hit itself, still going strong all these years later. It was joined there by Cottees’ memorable advert, with many no doubt singing along to the words ‘My dad picks the fruit’, as well as Lube Mobile’s ‘That’s 13, 30, 32’. And the final jingle to be praised by the men was Reading Writing Hotline’s ‘One three double o, six triple five o six’.

Filming a video to announce their results, Bouchet and Beveridge described all four in the top tier as “the most beautiful encapsulations of the Australian advertising industry in the ’80s, ’90s and today”.

https://youtu.be/ibsVSoyHYS0

In the second tier down, named ‘Royalty’, Rheem got the first spot for its ‘Install a Rheem’ jingle. Of course, it no doubt helped that it came alongside several semi-naked shower scenes in the memorable advert. However, the pair voted their favourite in this category as Crown’s ‘There is nothing like a Crown, for picking things up and putting them down’.

Joining them with royalty status was Doors Plus with ‘Doors Plus no fuss’ and Pizza Hut with ‘Four-eight-one-double-one-double-one, Pizza Hut delivery’. No room for confusion there!

While they certainly didn’t fall into the bottom dumping ground, a few landed a spot in Adam Sandler’s ‘take it or leave it’ middle tier. They included a jingle most people round Australia will have heard and lovingly remember, Chicken Tonight’s ‘I feel like Chicken Tonight’. Also gaining a spot in this tier was Birds Eye Fish Fingers with ‘I’ll sing you a song, a song of the sea’, as well as Roses’ ‘Thank you very much’. The final jingle in the category was Toyota’s ‘Oh what a feeling’.

Sadly it was downhill from there, with ‘Plebs’ including Mortein: ‘More smart, more safe Mortein’, Decoré: ‘De de de Decoré’ and perhaps the most bizarre of its time, Aeroplane Jelly: ‘I like Aeroplane Jelly’.

However, while many families no doubt grew up loving them, there were a few very well-known jingles in the ‘cat vomit’ tier. Making the list was Banana Boat’s ‘Banana Boat – for sun protection’, Qantas’ ‘I still call Australia home’, Meadow Lea’s ‘You ought to be congratulated’ and finally Motor Finance Wizard’s ‘Motor Finance Wizard says yes’.

Commenting on Qantas’ effort, Beveridge said: “They spent a billion dollars on 1,000 kids singing for an ad to fly Qantas when it was literally the only airline at the time.” Meanwhile, slamming Meadow Lea’s, Bouchet added: “Meadow Lea – I have a huge problem with it. The vibe with ‘You ought to be congratulated’ is pretty much husbands telling their wives like “that was good [sandwich], you ought to be congratulated”, not for me.”