• November 6, 2002

Elmo's shilling for Toys 'R' Us topped the Intermedia Advertising Group's listing of the Top 10 new commercials released during the weeks of Oct. 14-27. The spot, which featured a chicken dance and a giraffe at a press conference, had the highest percentage of TV viewers who could recall within 24 hours the brand of the ad they were exposed to during the normal course of TV viewing. A Tic Tac commercial featuring a woman checking her breath before a business meeting claimed the second spot. The remaining seven were: 3: Vicks Breathe Right Spray and strips with a couple making fun of each other's snoring; 4: Uno, family plays games and spits cards out; 5: Sears Days, woman asks husband if coat and shoes match; 6: Sprint PCS "Get a Monkey" vs. "Get a Movie." 7: Red Bull, cartoon skydiver's chute won't open; 8: JCPenney Great Shopping Spree, mother and daughter go shopping; 9: Olay Total Effects Night Firming Cream with a woman in blue satin pajamas. 10: McDonald's Big N' Tasty with Cedric the Entertainer with Grimace and Hamburgler. None of these ads appeared in the likeability index chart, which measures how popular the ads are by monitoring which ads most frequently scored the highest among IAG panelists. These scores are then indexed against the mean score for all ads during the time period. Mattel's "Disney Wonderful World of Music" ad topped the chart, with Campbell's in both second and eighth place with the "Fun Favorites" and "Chunky: Jerome Bettis and mom." Remaining ads on the list included ads for Wrigley's, Starburst, Air Wick, Victoria's Secret, Mars Inc. and Pampers .