''Never Say No to Panda'' ( arz, باندا مايتقاللهاش لأ , "Panda is not told no") is a series of television

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

produced in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

by Advantage Marketing for Arab Dairy, manufacturers of Panda Cheese. The commercials, which feature a

giant panda The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear (or simply the panda), is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its bold black-and-white coat and rotund body. The name "giant panda" is sometimes us ...

who terrorizes people for not wanting to try the cheese, became a viral Internet hit. The ads were created by the Elephant Cairo agency and written by Ali Ali and Maged Nassar.

Premise

In each commercial, a person is offered Panda cheese, and declines; this causes a

to suddenly appear in front of them while the

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer and songwriter who was a central and pioneering figure of mid-1950s rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texas ...

The Picks The Picks was an American vocal quartet that backed Buddy Holly and the Crickets' band on nine of the first twelve Crickets releases on Brunswick in 1957, as well as backing Buddy Holly solos for group sounds. The original members were John P ...

song "

True Love Ways "True Love Ways" is a song attributed to Norman Petty and Buddy Holly. Buddy Holly's original was recorded with the Dick Jacobs Orchestra in October 1958, four months before the singer's death. It was first released on the posthumous album '' Th ...

" plays in the background. The panda stares at the person for a few seconds before going into a silent but violent outburst, destroying objects around them, such as wrecking an office

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

, pushing a

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

onto the floor, or pouring marinara sauce over an unprepared

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

. One commercial shows a mother asking her husband if he got Panda cheese for the kids, but he said he didn't because they already had lots of food for the party. At that moment, the panda appears, slowly clapping and staring for a few seconds while the song starts to play in the background, before taking the

birthday cake A birthday cake is a cake eaten as part of a birthday celebration. Birthday cakes are often layer cakes with frosting served with small lit candles on top representing the celebrant's age. Variations include cupcakes, cake pops, pastries, and ...

and throwing it at the wall. The slogan “Kids not exempted!” as well as the Panda Cheese slogan, “Never Say No To Panda” (in Egyptian Arabic), show up. In a second variant of the commercial, a father is playing catch with his son at the park. When his son throws the ball again, it lands in the panda's hands, much to the father's wife and daughter's shock. The panda then proceeds to squish the ball with its bare hands, while the lyrics “Just you know why…Why…”, play and then stop for a brief moment. The song then resumes, while the panda grabs a spanner from the car and damages the windshield with it. Again, the two slogans show up (with “Never Say No To Panda” being displayed in English this time). Two similar commercials also appear. In the first commercial, a father and son are at the

grocery store A grocery store ( AE), grocery shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, a ...

. The son suggests they buy Panda cheese, but the father says their shopping cart is full. The panda appears and stares at the father before tipping over the

shopping cart A shopping cart (American English), trolley (British English, Australian English), or buggy (Southern American English, Appalachian English), also known by a variety of other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a shop or store, especially ...

and stomping on the spilled

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

. In the second commercial, the father and son return to the store, and the father is intimidated by the panda enough to buy two packages of Panda cheese before everyone walks away peacefully.

Awards

In 2010, the commercials won two grands prix at the Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival in May, a Silver Film Lion at the

Cannes International Advertising Festival The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

in June, and a Gold for Film at the

Epica Awards The Epica Awards are an annual series of communication awards, created in 1987 and based in Paris, France. Having originally focused on the Europe, Middle East and Africa region exclusively, the awards became global in 2012. 585 agencies in tota ...

References

External links

*{{YouTube, -ySPRStiDQw, ''Never Say No to Panda''
Arab Dairy's WebsiteAdvantage Advertising
2010s in Egyptian television Egyptian television commercials Viral videos Internet memes Internet memes introduced in 2010