Marmite has been overcomplicating things in recent years – with confusing faux documentaries and campaigns investigating genetic predilections for the black stuff seeing it push the ‘love it or hate it’ idea into tiresome territory.

So this funky reset is welcome. ‘Tips for First-Timers’, aimed at young adults, sees two puppets giving a slice of Marmite on toast a try. A pulsing electro soundtrack provides directions: “Twist that. Spread that. Bite that” and so on, with a repeating visual effect lending the ad a distinctive quality. The song even warns against applying too much Marmite, with a gruesomely overloaded slice prompting a moment’s retching from one of our stars.

There’s a nod to the spread’s divisive nature in the closing ‘Love it. Hate it. Get it on’ slogan – but, like the perfect slice of M on T, it’s not laid on too thickly. 

Topics