Gods of advertising: why ads keep returning to ancient Greece

If you hoped that the era of spurious Ten Things Marketers Can Learn From.... listicles and thought leadership pieces was as dead as Icarus, then Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's epic poem will have come as a disappointment.

However as well as resuscitating this journalistic trope of the mid-2010s, the film of The Odyssey has also revived interest among the public in the tales of ancient Greek mythology. So swings and roundabouts.

For advertisers and agencies, interest in ancient Greece, and its pantheon of gods, has never really gone away: Zeus has sold cars; Antaeus has sold aftershave; Medusa has touted sunglasses. And entire brazaar of marble statues, Doric columns, olive groves and Mount Olympus.

It's as if every creative team at some point reaches the same conclusion: when you're trying to convey power, beauty, temptation, or ambition, why invent a new metaphor when the ancient Greeks have already done the hard work?

There's another reason mythology keeps finding its way into ad breaks. Advertising, after all, isn't so different from myth-making. Both rely on memorable characters, distinctive symbols, and stories that can be retold across generations. Brands spend millions trying to create iconic assets that become instantly recognisable; Greek mythology managed it just through the power of oratory.

So, with The Odyssey proving this summer's big screen hit, here's our own odyssey through a select few of the many TV commercials that prove the road to great advertising has often led via Mount Olympus.

British Telecom — Poseidon

The great Sir Peter Ustinov lends his gravitas - and comic timing — to this 1985 British Telecom spot. He plays Poseidon, the mighty Greek god of the sea, whose divine duties are interrupted by the ringing of a telephone. The joke is simple but effective: if even a god can't ignore an important call, then neither should you.

The spot is typical of BT's advertising canon of the mid-1980s, when the newly privatised company was investing heavily in memorable, character-led campaigns designed to persuade the public that the telephone was becoming an indispensable part of everyday life. Rather than focusing on technology, the ad uses Ustinov's warmth and comic timing to humanise the brand, while the classical setting and presence of this Greek god gives the commercial an epic and heroic scale.

BBC — Athens 2004 Olympics: Legends Will Be Rewritten

Inevitably ancient Greece makes regular appearances when anything to do with the Olympics is involved but this spot is better than most.

Ahead of the Athens Olympics, the BBC sent a modern athlete on a journey through ancient Greece, where he faces trials set by Hercules, Hermes, and Poseidon before earning his place in the stadium. Created by Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters, the campaign blurred the line between myth and modern sport, suggesting that every Olympic champion has to write their own legend.

Rather than simply borrowing Greek iconography, the film weaves mythology into the narrative and is a reminder that, when the Olympics returned to their birthplace, there was no richer source of storytelling than the gods who started it all.

Red Bull — Hermes Gets His Wings

Red Bull gave Greek mythology its signature irreverent treatment by imagining how Hermes, the fleet-footed messenger of the gods, acquired his famous wings — he was almost ordained for the brand. After downing a can of Red Bull, the deity sprouts the wings that will define him for the next few thousand years. Because, naturally, Red Bull gives you wings.

As well as being a logical creative association, it's a perfect example of the brand's long-running formula: take a familiar historical or mythological figure, give the story a playful twist and make Red Bull the punchline.

Chanel — Antaeus Pour Homme

Fragrance brands have long borrowed Greek mythology as a shorthand for their identity and to lend their products some mythical magic. This ad is typical of the genre.

Inspired by the giant Antaeus, whose strength came from his contact with mother earth, Chanel's commercial transforms the ancient legend into a vision of modern masculinity. Set against a stark, elemental landscape, the hero is presented less as a man than a myth: powerful, enigmatic and seemingly invincible.

Rather than retelling the story of Antaeus, Chanel borrows the character's symbolism to imbue the fragrance with strength, virility and timeless allure.

BMW iX — Zeus & Hera

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek swap Hollywood for Mount Olympus as Zeus and Hera in BMW's playful take on Greek mythology. Having retired from godly duties, Zeus struggles to adjust to suburban life until the all-electric BMW iX gives him the chance to unleash his trademark thunderbolt once more.

Rather than using mythology to evoke grandeur, BMW flips the script, turning the king of the gods into an exasperated retiree. It's a witty reminder, and counterpart to those pompous fragrance ads, that Greek myths remain endlessly adaptable, with even Zeus proving the perfect brand ambassador for the electric car age.

Weetabix — Trojan Horse

Similarly tongue in cheek is this 1990 spot for Weetabix, which gives one of history's most famous military deceptions a breakfast-time twist.

The ad reimagines the tale of the Trojan Horse with a blend of humour and irreverence. The epic siege may come straight from ancient legend, but the ad suggests that even the Greeks and Trojans could have benefited from starting the day with a decent breakfast.

The use of the Trojan Horse is probably the most popular story cribbed from The Odyssey by adland with many other brands such as Kraft Heinz, Doritos, DHL, Sony, Liberty Mutual, and many more.

Müllerlight Greek Style — Centaurs

As easy shorthand for provenance, Greek mythology is obviously perfect material for Greek-themed brands.

Müllerlight's launch campaign for its Greek Style range put a playful spin on mythology by revealing two women chatting on a sun-drenched Greek island to be centaurs — half human, half horse.

The twist underlined the campaign's line, "Delicious and fat free. It's not a myth," using one mythical creature to debunk another: the idea that Greek-style yoghurt couldn't be indulgent and fat free.

Amazon — Medusa Makes Friends

Amazon gave one of Greek mythology's most feared figures a makeover, imagining Medusa as a lonely young woman whose hair of snakes makes friendship difficult.

Thanks to Amazon's fast delivery, she finds a pair of mirrored sunglasses that let others look her in the eye without being turned to stone. She then manages to hit the bar with some friends, therefore transforming a tragic myth into a story about connection (although her magic power still proves useful when seeing off an unwanted suitor).

Budweiser — Greek Gods

Gassy weak American lager brand Budweiser also made a trip to Mount Olympus to gain strength from the gods, seeing them gods swap divine business for a cold beer.

Zeus and his fellow deities are portrayed less as all-powerful immortals than as a group of larger-than-life characters enjoying a well-earned drink, giving the ancient pantheon an unmistakably American sense of humour. Imagine what they could have achieved if they'd found a nicer brew?

Australian Lamb — The Gods

Whilst not quite as long as Nolan's near three-hour film, this spot for Australian Lamb is epic in its own right.

It sees a gathering of an all-star cast of deities, including Zeus and a host of gods from cultures around the world, for an epic dinner party where divine rivalries are put aside over a shared roast lamb. With an Aussie light touch, the campaign celebrates lamb as the ultimate meal for bringing people together, no matter their beliefs or their immortality.

It's a classic example of mythology being used for comic effect rather than reverence. Zeus may preside over Mount Olympus, but here he's just another dinner guest, proving that even the gods can agree on what's for lunch

Epilogue

If there's a lesson from advertising's enduring fascination with ancient Greece, it's that the classics have never really gone out of fashion. For an industry obsessed with novelty, advertisers have shown remarkable consistency in returning to stories that are more millennia old.

Partly, that's because mythology offers creatives a ready-made cast of characters and stories. You don't need to explain them - they arrive preloaded with meaning.

But perhaps the bigger takeaway is that Greek mythology was the original shared universe. Long before Marvel assembled the Avengers or Hollywood became obsessed with cinematic franchises, Homer and Hesiod had already created an interconnected world of heroes, villains, gods, and monsters that audiences instinctively understood.

It's hardly surprising then that brands continue to raid this world for ideas, which isn't a bad legacy for an ancient civilisation that relied on oral tradition rather than the written word.