Tea-Sipping Monkey Channels Plush Socks in New PG Tips Ads

Fans of the long-running PG Tips chimp ads will be happy to know the simian is back. (As a sock puppet, sure, but CAPS may call this innovation.)

Founder Duncan Richardson of JDI Integrated Advertising told us that the PG Tips chimps are among the most beloved ad icons in the UK, with campaigns running 20 years deep, give or take a little.

Now the monkey's got an up-to-date left-field wit, a broader sense of drama, and a strange kind of innocence that can only be conjured by braided cotton and beaded eyes -- all of which you can see in The Return.

Monkey (or triangle teabag?) fans can hit PG Tips' Monkey Store to buy shirts, or monkeys wearing shirts, with stuff like "Mr. Shifter?," "3% invisible" and "Monkeh!" printed on them -- none of which we understand, but that only makes it funnier. (And we're not even high!)

We are leaning toward the flirty pink "Back to mine for a cuppa?" That monkey is raunchy.

Some Ads Just Don't Age Well. We Blame the Music

We realize how old this DHL ad is, but we're going to review it anyway because it saddens us that over the past few years we have paid DHL's efforts no mind whatsoever, and now it does next to nothing ad-wise. (Unless you count this, but we sure don't.)

Point of fact: If every DHL delivery actually did come with a passel of ass-shaking Miami Dolphins cheerleaders, the First World may actually use the service. It could be like a sassy singing telegram.

Second point: Disclosure is important. But sometimes, it can be sad. (See comments section.)

One more: Any ad that tries making serious use of an MC Hammer track is just begging to be associated with 1990. And not too much happened there. (Unless you count Manuel Noriega's surrender and the first McD's to open in Moscow, but we sure don't.)