First live advert in UK shown on British TV

May 29, 2008 The first ever live advert to be shown on British television was Broadcast today on Channel 4 at 19:10 UTC. The advert, created by car manufacturer Honda, showed people jumping from the sky and forming the individual letters of the word HONDA as a group while falling. The image on the left shows the letter 'O' being formed in this way.

The sales director at Channel Four commented on the advert: "This concept breaks the boundaries of the 'perceived' confines of TV advertising, which is something Channel 4 is striving to do."

Before being shown, the advert was promoted on Channel 4. Directly before it, an announcer explained the event, saying why Channel 4 believed it to be a groundbreaking innovation.

Honda aimed to link the new advert with its new slogan, "If it's difficult it's worth doing."

The advert was broadcast from Spain, where it was 21:10 at the time of filming.