THE JUICE GUY? Apparently it takes just one to Tango.

Take a TV ad for, let’s say, an American-made car or truck. (Cue big black pick-up barreling down a dusty road to testosterone rock with "Savings! Savings! Savings!" blasting across the screen.) Then take a British TV ad for, let’s say, Johnnie Walker, in which a school of humans swimming like fish leap and dive in and out of the ocean porpoise-like until they reach a desert island and the voiceover says, "Keep walking." In the US, commercials give you time to grab another beer; in Britain, they’re often of higher quality than the shows they interrupt.

What’s apparent from the sampling here is that ads across the pond are naughtier and flaunt that coy and clever British wit. In an outrageous commercial for condoms, teams engage in the Trojan Games, sex Olympics, if you will: a woman, naked from the waist down, sprints toward the vaulting horse, launches, and lands atop her teammate to win the gold. One for Lynx cologne shows women’s nipples rising underneath their shirts from the power of the scent. Beyond being risqué, these commercials excel at humor and sophisticated graphics. Look for the ads for directory assistance, Virgin Mobile, a gushing drink called Tango, anything for Xlibri, and an anti-smoking spot more convincing than anything seen stateside. (85 minutes)