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Tango is a carbonated soft drink sold primarily in the United Kingdom. It was launched by the Beecham Group in 1958, and was bought by Britvic in 1986. Originally, Tango was the name of the orange flavour in a range of different flavoured drinks that each had their own name. In the 1990s, long after the other products in the range had passed into obscurity, the Tango brand was expanded into other flavours, including apple, lemon, cherry and blackcurrant. Advertisements for Tango feature various bizarre occurrences with the catchphrase "You know when you've been Tango'd" produced by the agency HHCL. These began in 1991 with an ad featuring a man being slapped around the face by an orange-clad person (Peter Geeves) immediately after drinking Tango. It received widespread condemnation after a craze for "Tangoing" people swept the nation's playgrounds, and there were reports of children receiving serious injuries or even being deafened by being slapped on the ears. Whether or not these accounts were true, subsequent advertisements have used less dangerous practices. However, the first advert was named the 3rd best television commercial of all time in a 2000 poll conducted by The Sunday Times and Channel 4. Other slogans used include "You need it because you're weak" and "Feed the Tango Inside".
The Tango "gene" The tango gene was one advertising campaign that warned viewers that if they didn't purchase Tango, the Tango gene would be inserted into other edible items, after which came an advert proclaiming "You know when you've had sprouts". Blackcurrant Tango For the launch of Blackcurrant Tango in 1996 HHCL produced the memorable 'St. George' television and cinema advert. In the advert a member of Tango's customer service staff, 'Ray Gardner,' provides a response to a letter of complaint about the flavour of Blackcurrant Tango he has received from a French exchange student. The letter prompts a jingoistic tirade during which Ray Gardner removes his suit to reveal a bright purple wrestling outfit. In one continuous take he runs out of Tango's offices and is joined by a flag waving crowd on the White Cliffs of Dover. Ray Gardner climbs into a boxing ring and as three Harrier Jump Jets roar across the sky towards France, he can be heard shouting, Come and have a go if you think you are hard enough. The advert was notable for the use of digital editing to seamlessly merge a number of tracking shots including the final transition from a sky camera to a helicopter shot. Controversy One advert showed a man in an orange suit, slapping people in the face. The advert was later pulled because of alleged incidents in playgrounds across Britain where young children had their ear drums damaged; however it has also been suggested that young children were too weak to cause such damage and that it was in fact students who had injured themselves, and this is why the advert was pulled. Sony Bravia Parody In early 2006 an advertising campaign for 'Tango Clear' was launched, parodying the Sony BRAVIA LCD TV adverts. The original Sony advert consisted of thousands of coloured balls as they bounce down the roads of San Francisco. The Tango advert was set in Swansea and featured fruit instead of coloured balls, using the same production style and the same music track. It also copies almost exactly the moment from the Bravia advert when a frog leaps out from a drainpipe. It parodies Sony's slogan 'Colour.like.no.other' with 'Refreshment like no other', finishing the advert with "It's clear when you've been Tango'd" A parody website was also set up alongside the advert, purporting to be the "Swansea North Residents Association". According to the website, the filming of the advert: left large amounts of fruit matter across the streets, caused damage to property, scared wildlife and residents, and was unacompanied by financial compensation. Visitors can sign a petition and view the original advert in a variety of formats. The whois information for the Swansea North Residents Association domain reveals it was registered in February 2006 by 'CHI advertising', which represents the marketing company behind Tango drinks. | ||||||||
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