120 free Commercial & Jingle trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This commercial trivia quiz covers the ads themselves: the mascots, the jingles, the catchphrases and the campaigns that people can still recite decades later. Cereal boxes (Tony, Snap, Crackle and Pop, the Trix rabbit, Cap'n Crunch), fast food (Ronald, the Hamburglar, the Taco Bell chihuahua, Where's the beef?), insurance (the Gecko, the Cavemen, Flo, Jake, Mayhem, the Aflac duck), beer (the frogs, Whassup, Spuds, the Clydesdales, Dilly Dilly), soda (Mean Joe Greene, Hilltop, the polar bears, the Pepsi Challenge) and the landmark spots like Apple's 1984, VW's Think Small and Old Spice's man on a horse. If it is slogans you are after, our advertising slogans quiz is the place; for game-day ads specifically, try the Super Bowl commercials quiz. The easy questions are the ones any TV watcher knows: which cereal Tony sells, which brand the drumming pink bunny belongs to, who says 'Oh, yeah!' through a wall. Then it gets harder: who voiced Tony for fifty years, which short film Whassup was based on, why the 1984 ad ran once in Idaho before the Super Bowl, what the first radio jingle sold in 1926, and which company owned the drumming bunny first. Every answer was checked against the encyclopaedia entry for the campaign or character before publishing, and the sentence that supports it is stored with each question.
30 of 120 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did the first radio commercial jingle, aired in December 1926, advertise?
Wheaties
Sales spiked in Minnesota, the only place it aired, and the cereal was saved from cancellation.
Q 02The first official paid TV commercial, in 1941, was for which brand?
Bulova
It ran before a Dodgers-Phillies game on WNBT and cost somewhere between $4 and $9.
Q 03The first TV ad in the UK, in 1955, was for what?
Toothpaste
Gibbs SR toothpaste, on the opening night of ITV.
Q 04Which cereal does Tony the Tiger sell?
Frosted Flakes
He debuted in 1952 and quickly saw off Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu.
Q 05Who provided Tony the Tiger's deep bass voice for five decades?
Thurl Ravenscroft
He is also the uncredited singer of 'You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch'.
Q 06Tony the Tiger was named after whom?
An ad man at Leo Burnett
Raymond Anthony Wells lent his middle name.
Q 07Who first played Ronald McDonald on TV in 1963?
Willard Scott
Scott had played Bozo on Washington's WRC-TV from 1959 to 1962.
Q 08Which McDonaldland character started out purple and evil, stealing shakes?
Grimace
He has since become a good guy, and got a birthday shake in 2023.
Q 09Who sued McDonald's in 1973 claiming McDonaldland copied their TV show?
Sid and Marty Krofft
They said Mayor McCheese infringed on H.R. Pufnstuf.
Q 10The Big Mac debuted in 1967 in which Pennsylvania town?
Uniontown
Franchisee Jim Delligatti sold it for 45 cents; earlier names were the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger.
Q 11McDonald's 'I'm lovin' it' campaign was created by an agency in which country?
Germany
Heye & Partner of Unterhaching launched it in Munich in 2003 as 'ich liebe es'.
Q 12Who sang the vocals on the original 2003 'I'm lovin' it' spots?
Justin Timberlake
It was McDonald's first global campaign, launched after its first-ever loss in 2002.
Q 13The Energizer Bunny began in 1988 as a parody of which rival's ad?
Duracell
Duracell's drumming bunny dated to 1973, but its trademark had lapsed.
The original 1973 drumming bunny is trademarked everywhere except which three places?
Q 21Mr. Clean's back-story says he was what before selling cleaner?
A US Navy sailor
From Pensacola, Florida; the earring and folded arms make people assume genie.
Q 22What is Mr. Clean's first name, chosen in a 1962 contest?
Veritably
He made his TV debut in 1958, played live by House Peters Jr.
Q 23The Jolly Green Giant's 'Ho, ho, ho' became his signature in which year?
1961
Leo Burnett had added the leafy suit, the smile and the word Jolly in 1935.
Q 24What is the name of the Jolly Giant's young apprentice, introduced in 1972?
Turkey, the US and Canada
Everywhere else, the pink drummer belongs to Duracell.
Q 15What does the Energizer Bunny wear on its feet?
Blue and black striped flip-flops
Plus sunglasses, and a bass drum with the logo.
Q 16What is the Pillsbury Doughboy's proper name?
Poppin' Fresh
He was created in 1965 by Leo Burnett copywriter Rudy Perz.
Q 17What does the Doughboy do when a finger pokes his belly?
Giggles
The poke ended almost every ad from 1965 to 2005.
Q 18Who was the first voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy, for 21 years?
Paul Frees
Winchell, Tigger's voice, auditioned but lost out.
Q 19What is the Michelin Man's official name?
Bibendum
It comes from Horace's line Nunc est bibendum, 'now is the time to drink'.
Q 20In which year was the Michelin Man introduced, making him one of the oldest trademarks in use?
1894
The Michelin brothers saw a stack of tyres at the Lyon Exhibition and pictured a man without arms.
Little Green Sprout
He represents the consumer.
Q 25How tall is the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, Minnesota?
55 feet
It was unveiled in 1978 beside US 169.
Q 26What does the Kool-Aid Man shout after bursting through a wall?
Oh, yeah!
He arrives when children shout 'Hey, Kool-Aid!'
Q 27What inspired the smiling pitcher face that became the Kool-Aid Man in 1954?
A child drawing on a frosted window
Art director Marvin Potts watched his son draw smiley faces on the glass.
Q 28How did an ad-agency art director come up with the Aflac Duck?
He said the company name aloud while walking
Muttering 'Aflac, Aflac' in Central Park, he realised it sounded like a quack.
Q 29The Aflac Duck first appeared in which year?
1999
Kaplan Thaler Group in New York created it and every duck ad since.
Q 30What were the three Budweiser Frogs named?
Bud, Weis, Er
They croaked in sequence to spell the brand name, starting at Super Bowl XXIX in 1995.