"The Hungry Llama"

9 April 2025

70s

Rama Llama Ding Dong.

Adland loves a good llama, doesn't it? The likes of TK Maxx, Bosch, and Uber Eats have all caught the camelid bug over the years, with the latest being ING Direct. There are two llamas in this commercial, to be precise—one is a Peruvian hostelry called the Hungry Llama, and the other is a woolly-ass troublemaker that steals the protagonist's debit card.

He's relieved to get it back, even if it's covered in llama spit, as he can now unfreeze the card on the ING Direct app (note how banks love to use that frosted screen look). Speaking of frozen, director duo BLOK (Paul Casey and Richard Jobson) have plenty of fun with a frozen-in-time shot that squeezes every ounce from the setting.

There are plenty of incidental details to pick out, but our favourite is the landlord's right eye that looks away while the left one's locked in place. When everything goes back to normal, the protagonist is left to pay a mountainous bar bill that reminds us never to ring a bell abroad ("Ring the bell, pay the bill").

Italy

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