Screams to Screens: Horror Legends in TV Commercials

Fanta Halloween 2025 - Chucky, Grabber, Freddy Fazbear and Megan
Fantas may have ditched thier recent budgtes on AI SLOP for thier halloween commercials, but back in 2025, they did they deed correctly and hired four relevant horror stars to ping the ring pulls and chug back some screams. Chucky (Child's Play), The Grabber (The Balck Phone) , Freddy Fazbear (Five Nights at Freddies) and Megan (M3gan) all star in this awesome celebration of horror and fizzy pop.
Angry Orchard - Ghostface
Fantas may have ditched thier recent budgtes on AI SLOP for thier halloween commercials, but back in 2025, they did they deed correctly and hired four relevant horror stars to ping the ring pulls and chug back some screams. Chucky (Child's Play), The Grabber (The Balck Phone) , Freddy Fazbear (Five Nights at Freddies) and Megan (M3gan) all star in this awesome celebration of horror and fizzy pop.
Radio Shack- Jason and Chucky
"If you can't poke fun at yourself, who can you poke fun at?" RadioShack took this lesson and ran with it at full speed for their 2014 Super Bowl commercial, leaning into the joke that their stores felt like trapped-in-time capsules. Here to remedy that is a revolving door of 80s icons, including Jason Voorhees and Chucky, who join a wild retro mob to strip out an entire store. Yes... the 80s called, and they want their store back.
Call of Duty - Ghost Face
Ghostface dropped in to market the limited-time Scream Operator Bundle in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Warzone. Released in October 2021 for the spooky crossover event "The Haunting," the trailer parodies the iconic opening scene of the Scream movies and applies it directly to the Warzone battle royale meta. Turns out Ghostface is right in the core gamer demographic.
Nike - Whatever Your Game (Spoof) - Leatherface
Leatherface doesn't get much airtime. Maybe it's something about wearing people's skin that puts companies off from wanting him as a spokesperson. However, director Chris Capel aimed to fix this with a beautifully unhinged parody commercial: "Whatever Your Game." This Nike spoof might be fan-made AI SLOP, but it’s executed like a real commercial, using careful direction, sharp editing, and sound design that perfectly delivers the short's killer punchline, Leatherface doing what he does best, while wearing a pair of Nikes.
USA Up All Night - Pinhead
In 1996, the Hell Priest Pinhead crossed paths with legendary comedian Gilbert Gottfried for a series of wild television promos. To hype the TV premiere of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth on USA Network’s cult late-night block, USA Up All Night, Doug Bradley donned the full Pinhead prosthetics to trade insults with Gottfried. Pairing the Prince of Horror with Gottfried was a risky, bizarre, and strangely brilliant move that paid off immensely. Just don't get anywhere near Pinhead with a magnet—he gets a bit irritable.
Pepsi Gotta Have It - Xenomorph
In 1992, Pepsi built up hype ahead of the theatrical release of Alien³ with a commercial featuring a thirsty Xenomorph. While Pepsi couldn't land product placement inside the film itself; the studio had already paired with Coca-Cola, highlighted in a prominent scene where a prisoner holds a Diet Coke, the rival soda giant decided to steal the spotlight anyway. They launched a massive campaign anchored by this hilarious ad, which sees an Alien hunting down the ultimate thirst quencher. Om nom...
Oatmeal Crisp - Norman Bates
Anthony Perkins reprised his iconic role as Norman Bates for a television commercial pitching Oatmeal Crisp cereal. The premise? While Norman always obeys his mother's instructions, he draws the line at standard oatmeal... until Oatmeal Crisp came along, of course. Airing around the 1990 release of Psycho IV: The Beginning, the ad features Perkins flawlessly spoofing his most famous role, delivering a family-friendly spot that remains a wonderfully bizarre artifact of 90s advertising.
DirectTV- Annie Wilkes
Another fun 90's corssover here with Academy Award winner Kathy Bates reprises her role as psychopathic fan Annie Wilkes for this DirecTV campaign. Parodying the infamous hobbling scene from Misery, Annie pauses right before swinging the sledgehammer at Paul Sheldon's ankles. She turns to the camera and explains that her original punishment was to cancel her DirecTV subscription, but she stopped herself because losing high-definition sports and entertainment would be too painful to inflict, even on her captive! While this tongue-in-cheek ad feels a little like a misstep rather than a home run, it remains a notable entry in horror commercial hybrids.
DirectTV- Annie Wilkes
The 1992 Coca-Cola Dracula commercial was the brainchild of legendary movie producer Ray Stark as a slick parody of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Directed by Joel Schumacher, this bloodthirsty spot featured actor and model John Enos III as a striking William Baldwin lookalike. Proving that even the undead can shift thousands of pounds worth of Coke, Dracula isn't just the Prince of Darkness, he's the prince of product placement, too.
Dr Pepper - Werewolf
While David Naughton famously starred as the dancing pitchman in Dr Pepper's "Be a Pepper" campaign; which actually directly led to John Landis casting him in An American Werewolf in London, it's another furry fella we're looking at here.
Coca Cola - Pit Stop - Flavors- Wolfgirl
Another wolf-themed commercial here, this time starring a compelling she-wolf. The Coca-Cola commercial titled "Pit Stop: Flavors" (also known as "Shewolf") features a young werewolf woman and a convenience store clerk with goat legs, a satyr, casual chatting about mixed-flavor sodas. It's a fun concept, perfectly realized in a commercial dripping in style and tailored directly for horror hounds.
GEICO - Dracula Volunteering at a Blood Drive
GEICO’s classic campaign produced some legendary bits, and having Count Dracula gleefully volunteering at a blood drive is peak dark comedy. While the tagline "Happier than Dracula volunteering at a blood drive" is a bit wordy, it's perfectly visualized here. The ad compares the absolute joy of saving money on car insurance to the unbridled glee of the Count surrounded by endless donations. Bloody marvelous...
Audi - The Invisible Man
Fantas may have ditched thier recent budgtes on AI SLOP for thier halloween commercials, but back in 2025, they did they deed correctly and hired four relevant horror stars to ping the ring pulls and chug back some screams. Chucky (Child's Play), The Grabber (The Balck Phone) , Freddy Fazbear (Five Nights at Freddies) and Megan (M3gan) all star in this awesome celebration of horror and fizzy pop.
Xfinity - Frankenstein's Monster
Fantas may have ditched thier recent budgtes on AI SLOP for thier halloween commercials, but back in 2025, they did they deed correctly and hired four relevant horror stars to ping the ring pulls and chug back some screams. Chucky (Child's Play), The Grabber (The Balck Phone) , Freddy Fazbear (Five Nights at Freddies) and Megan (M3gan) all star in this awesome celebration of horror and fizzy pop.

Hey Horror Fans - I don't watch too much TV, but when I do it's the night-scarely news. Talk about a good broad-ghast... these commercials really quench my THIRST for BLOOD! Did you spot any other horror icons in bold but brillaint commercials? Give us a scream in the comments below.
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"Morti" The Mortician
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