''Never Say No to Panda'' ( , "You don't say no to Panda") is a series of television

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

produced in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

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 panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white animal coat, coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. ...

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, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

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 written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty. 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 '' The B ...

" 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 Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

, pushing a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

onto the floor, unplugging a hospital patient's IV, or pouring

marinara sauce Marinara sauce is a tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions. Variations include capers, olives, spices, and a dash of wine. Widely used in Italian-American cuisine, it is known as ''alla marinara'' ('sailor's style' ...

over an unprepared

pizza Pizza is an Italian cuisine, Italian, specifically Neapolitan cuisine, Neapolitan, dish typically consisting of a flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high t ...

. 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 birthday celebrations. While there is no standard for birthday cakes, they are typically highly decorated layer cakes covered in frosting, often featuring birthday wishes ("Happy birthday") followed b ...

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 or grocer's shop ( BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday US usage, however, "grocery store" is a synon ...

. 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 #Name, other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a Retail#Types of ret ...

and stomping on the spilled

merchandise Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

. 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 tot ...

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 introduced in 2010 Giant pandas in popular culture