Computer Graphic (advertisement)

Computer Graphic

Agency	HHCL
Client	Golden Wonder
Language	English
Running time	40 seconds
Product	Pot Noodle
Release date(s)	February 1993
Directed by	Mischa Alexander
Music by	Motörhead ("Ace of Spades")
Starring	Phil Hartman
Country	United Kingdom

Computer Graphic is a 1993 British television advertisement for Golden Wonder's Pot Noodle snack product. It was the first commercial created for the product by the agency HHCL, who worked with the brand for over twelve years. It stars Saturday Night Live host Phil Hartman as a newscaster for the fictitious Pot TV, who, after deciding that eating the 'intense' snack requires a 'intense' film, is shown alongside a computer-generated, psychedelic assemblage of flashing images and visuals, inspired by rave culture and the 1989 film Eurotechno.

After the advertisement's debut in February 1993,^[1] the Independent Television Commission (ITC) received 29 complaints about its use of strobing visuals, and after three reports of epileptic fits being triggered by it, Computer Graphic was banned by the ITC until HHCL edited a less intense version for further transmission. The ban inspired the commission to implement guidelines on preventing seizures, drawn up with Professor Graham Harding.

Considered innovative, the advertisement inspired a popular wave of 'trippy' advertisements that appeared to reflect the effects of mind-altering drugs, as well as the experimental use of flash images in British advertising. The soundtrack music – Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" – was re-released as a single and peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number 23. Phil Hartman appeared in further 'Pot TV' adverts for Pot Noodle.