Traumafessions :: Reader -Double L- on a Twisted Tango Advert

Love the site. It's great reading about the freaky things people remember from their childhood, and I thought I would share one of my own.

There are a few traumatizing T.V. memories from my childhood, including the infamous BBC broadcast GHOSTWATCH (which is one of the main reasons for my current love of horror movies.) But one that stands out in my mind was this advert for soft drink Tango.

Now the Tango adverts had generated quite a bit of controversy here in the U.K. by that time, but when this advert popped out of nowhere, I was caught completely off guard.

A guy is at a football match when the crowd disappears and he is left all alone. Shocked, he sees a little girl skipping on the pitch, however she turns around to reveal it is actually an old woman (an apparent homage to cult classic DON'T LOOK NOW) who is brandishing a giant corkscrew. To the man's side appears a grim reaper-like figure. Both the woman and the reaper began shouting, "No" at the man in what is a very disturbing (and somewhat psychedelic moment.) The man, getting quite panicked takes a drink of his can of Tango, and is instantly 'decapitated' by a mysterious force. Suddenly, the pitch returns to normal, and the man is left traumatized and rubbing his throat in shock.

Although the advert is done in a quite humorous tone, it was quite shocking for young children and seemed to be pulled of the air quite quickly as I can only remember seeing it a few times.

-Double L-