Never Say No to Panda


Never Say No to Panda is a 2010 series of television commercials produced in Egypt by Advantage Marketing for Arab Dairy, manufacturers of Panda Cheese. The commercials, which feature a giant panda who terrorizes people for not wanting to try the cheese, became a viral Internet hit.
The ads were created by the Elephant Cairo agency and written by Ali Ali and Maged Nassar.

Premise

In each commercial, a person is offered Panda cheese, and declines. This causes a giant panda to suddenly appear in front of them while the Buddy Holly & The Picks song "True Love Ways" plays in the background. The panda stares at the person for a few seconds before going into a silent but violent outburst, destroying objects around them, such as wrecking an office computer or pouring marinara sauce over an unprepared pizza. One example is a pair of commercials featuring a father and son at the grocery store. The son suggests they buy Panda cheese, but the father says their shopping cart is full. The panda appears and stares at the father before tipping over the shopping cart and stomping on the spilled merchandise. On the second commercial where the father and son return to the store, the father is intimidated by the panda enough to buy two packages of Panda cheese before everyone walks away peacefully.

Awards

In 2010, the commercials won two grands prix at the Dubai Lynx International Advertising Festival in May, a Silver Film Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in June, and a Gold for Film at the Epica Awards.