The 8 Most Memorable Celebrity Ads of 2016

Jon San
·Producer, Yahoo Entertainment

Celebrities have been helping to sell products and services since the dawn of the advertising age — and 2016 was no exception. The year was full of stars shilling for car makers, fast-food chains, phones, and even museums. Join us as we count down the eight most memorable celebrity ads of 2016.

8. Hyundai

The pitch for this one must have been easy. Clone everyone’s favorite handsome joker Ryan Reynolds. Populate a town, Ryansville, with said clones. Have two women drive a Hyundai car through Ryansville. Ogle accordingly.

7. Apartments.com

The wackiness of these ads is off the charts. Existing in some bizarro dimension is Apartments.com pitchman Jeff Goldblum, rapper Lil Wayne, and … George Washington. It doesn’t make sense, but it’s pretty funny.

6. La Brea Tar Pits and Museum

The La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles somehow landed Will Ferrell to star in a 2016 awareness campaign, where he puts his trademark physical comedy to good use.

5. Burger King

Nostalgia always sells, so Burger King reunited Napoleon and Pedro from the 2004 cult classic Napoleon Dynamite to help sell a new line of cheesy tots.

4. Samsung

William H. Macy, Wesley Snipes, James Harden, and Lil Wayne (again) were brought together to show off the powers of the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

3. Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein released a series of moody, intimate shorts with stars like model Bella Hadid, singer Frank Ocean, and actress Margot Robbie. In Robbie’s ad, a voice off camera asks if she’s ever been in love. She nods. The voice asks how it was and Robbie replies, “Awfully painful.” But chin up! In real life, the Suicide Squad star just got hitched.

2. Amazon Echo

Missy Elliott, Alec Baldwin, and their creepy puppets combined powers to show off the calming voice of Amazon’s Alexa AI.

1. Apple Music

First, Taylor Swift adorably rapped to Drake’s hit song “Jumpman” while on the treadmill, before becoming distracted and taking a spill. Then Drake put his spin on Taylor’s song “Bad Blood” while pumping iron in the gym. He’s so into the music that he, too, has an unfortunate accident … while using the bench press. Oops?

For more from this year in celeb, check out the video below: