Halloween ads have become a cultural phenomenon in their own right — with many brands using the holiday as an opportunity to dip into nostalgia, horror and humor. The holiday gives brands the chance to play with dark humor, indulge in pop culture and have fun with iconic characters — allowing them to present their brand and product in fresh ways that break through year-round ad blindness.
"Halloween gives brands permission to be strange, to be irreverent, to even be a little offensive."
In this post, I take a look at some of the best Halloween ads of 2026. From Fanta to Burger King, here’s some of the best in Halloween advertising this year.
Here’s a look into five of the best Halloween advertising campaigns of 2026.
Fanta’s ad opens with Fanta's signature orange and iconic logo. The ad then jumps to the Fanta production line, where we see the soda roars through pipes and tanks, filling up a can under bright orange lighting — giving the soda a supernatural feel. The following scene shows a Fanta truck driving through a fog-engulfed forest at night as a swirling black portal opens up in front of it.
We then meet Fanta’s four original monsters.
The first is a vampire who crushes Fanta Pineapple between his fangs. The werewolf from the Strawberry Fanta howls beneath a glowing orange moon as he plays the backing track at the decks. The next monster is a bionic Frankenstein’s monster, who carves the Fanta logo into his metallic hand. The final monster hides out in the woods, rising from the dirt — a jack-o’-lantern-headed scarecrow with a spookily lit orange carved face.
The monsters band together and storm the truck — the Frankenstein monster rides up beside the van as a motorcycle, the vampire swoops down from the sky, the jack-o’-lantern scarecrow jumps on top, and the werewolf scales the sides. Then the camera zeroes in on who’s at the wheel: Ghostface, enjoying a can of Ghostface punch. The ad ends with two jack-o’-lantern mascots fighting over a treasure chest of limited-edition Fanta cans before the “Wanta Fanta?” tagline stretches across the screen — joined by the Paramount+ and Scream logos.
Cinematic, spooky and punchy, this ad is equal parts cool, “scary” and fun — positioning Fanta as an exciting, perfectly seasonal way to celebrate Halloween.
As we explored in Fanta’s “Halloween Reveal” AdMiration piece, consumers loved this ad from Fanta, with. 35% of consumers saying they loved the ad, compared to the 27% U.S. norm. The ad also landed in the top quarter of U.S. ads for its ability to deliver on short-term sales and the top third for building brand equity over the long term (Sales Impact: 77; Brand Impact: 69).
The ad's high-octane energy, original characters and movie-esque soundtrack likely all contributed to the ad's distinctiveness (Ad Distinctiveness: 4.2 vs. 3.7 norm).
Moreover, Fanta’s consistent use of distinctive brand assets (DBAs) throughout the ad was likely a big reason why most consumers walked away knowing exactly who the brand was for (Unaided Brand Recall: 87% vs. 70% norm). Fanta wasn’t sidelined; it was a main character throughout the ad — from the Fanta production line at the very beginning of the ad to the Fanta truck roaring across scenes.
When it comes to the use of DBAs in the ad, Fanta went beyond the basic use of logos and taglines sandwiched between scenes, going so far as to use Fanta’s brand colors to direct the hue of the lighting throughout the ad. As one consumer says, in response to our team asking them which brand they recalled the ad being for, “Well, the color orange was predominantly featured not only in the images of the cans that the various characters were drinking from, but in the lettering of the brand, and the overall lighting of the commercial.”
We conducted research on the impact of DBAs in our latest State of Creative Effectiveness report, where we found that ads that include three or more DBAs are 1.3 times more likely to rank in the top 20% of all social video ads. Learn more by downloading the report.
Burger King and credit score company Serasa’s Brazilian ad is a stand-out for Halloween 2026. The ad opens with a man walking through a parking lot at night. He suddenly hears a rumble through the dark. He turns to see a cat jump down from a metallic dustbin, the lid spinning on the ground.
Suddenly, a ghoul swarms him from behind — hands up and wailing. The man nonchalantly stares into the face of the ghost. In frustration, the ghost swipes out a phone — lit with a pink screen and shows it to the man. He starts to panic.
From a witch on a broomstick to a Ring-eqsue girl smashing through a TV, monsters swarm the man — clutching glowing pink screens. The man runs across the parking lot, diving straight into his car. The monsters crowd the car, pressing their pink screens across the windows. A red-eyed monster with a dollar sign on its stomach presses the phone against the windshield, demanding, “Check your score." The man screams. The camera then jumps to a Burger King server looking perplexed and she stares at him from a drive-thru order counter.
The voiceover jumps in and says, “Don’t be afraid to check your credit score. October 30th, show your Serasa score at a participating Burger King Drive and get a Rodeo Junior or BK Chicken Junior for free. Checking your score has never been this tasty,” as cheery music swirls. The scene flicks to a man wrapped in bandages, sipping on a Burger King soda, intently considering the message of the voiceover, as the creepy credit score mascot swaggers up behind him.
The camera then flicks back to the man in the car. The passenger beside him warmly hands him a phone as the man happily orders a burger from the counter, which is handed to him by the cashier in a branded brown paper Burger King bag. He checks his score on the Serasa website and smiles. The camera then pans to the woman beside him, her face switches up from a content smile to a ghoulish scream.
What makes the ad so effective? The ad playfully mocks and contrasts the imagined, underwhelming fear of classic fictional monsters with the real, anxiety-jolting fear that comes with checking your credit score. The ad is also the perfect balance between humor and jump-scare — combining consumers’ most-loved Halloween themes, monsters and pop culture with movie-style frights.
Just like Fanta’s ad, the commercial uses distinctive brand assets like Serasa pink, Burger King branding (like the soda cup and the bag) and the Serasa landing page, where the man checks his score. The mascot also acts as a physical representation of the brand, turning Serasa into a main character in the ad — while Burger King jumps in with their own side act, exchanging a burger for confirmation of the man’s credit score check.
The ad opens with two elderly consumers showing up on a porch, dressed in Halloween outfits — the woman, a fairy princess, and the man, dressed up in a yellow t-shirt, bowtie, propeller-topped hat and red suspenders.
As the couple step onto the porch, the voiceover asks, “Is Trick-or-Treating something you should outgrow?”
The homeowner looks quizzically at the couple as he grips a huge candy bowl of Reese’s bags. “Aren’t you a little old to be trick-or-treating?” he asks. The man replies, “I’m a young boy dressed as an old man, dressed as a big boy.” The voiceover jumps in, “Or…does free Reese’s never get old?” as the man and woman grab fistfuls of Reese’s bags from the candy bowl. “That’s enough,” the homeowner sheepishly says.
The voiceover concludes, “Everything happens for a Reese’s.” The same wording is repeated in the iconic Reese’s font and colors across the screen, as the couple enjoy Reese’s in the background. The ad closes with ‘Reese’s’ sprawled on screen, with a Reese’s piece bitten into so the audience can see the layers of chocolate and peanut butter inside.
The ad blends the obscure with the nostalgic, celebrating the whimsical, sentimental tradition of trick-or-treating in a funny, unexpected way. The ad also taps into a common feeling many adult consumers have during Halloween — a fondness and longing for the childhood experiences and traditions that made Halloween so much fun, with a wry joke about being too old for the childhood traditions of the holiday.
The ad reminds consumers the joy, candy and the unexpected are part of what makes Halloween what it is. Reese’s candy serves as an invitation to indulge in the more “childish” elements of Halloween — giving older consumers permission to indulge in the whimsy and fun of the holiday.
From the humor to the signature brand colors, the ad is also distinctively Reese’s. It includes several DBAs from its earliest scenes. The man is decked out in Reese’s orange, the fairy lights on the porch are Reese’s orange and the camera quickly zeros in on a bowl full of Reese’s, wrapped in the brand’s signature orange wrappers. These carefully curated choices immediately build strong brand linkage — solidifying the brand as Reese’s before the name is even mentioned.
Rivian’s “Ghostbusters” ad, featuring Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman, delivers a hit of nostalgia.
The ad opens with a large cloud of green smoke rising up from the front window of a house alongside the Rivian logo. We follow the camera inside, where we see Slimer raiding the fridge, shoveling food into his mouth.
An Ecto-R1, a Rivian R1S dressed up as the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1, drives through the fog — with sirens blaring. The car pulls up outside the house. The driver rolls the window down and we see Bill Murray, as Dr. Peter Venkman. Venkman yells, "I've got a Hawaiian pizza to deliver." Slimer growls and swarms the window.
Venkman hits the car’s touchscreen, and a ghost-catching device rises from the roof and zeroes in on the house. Venkman taps the ghost trap button on the touchscreen and the device smashes through the window and captures Slimer.
Cue the iconic Ghostbusters theme as the line, “Ghostbusters Halloween Mode. Only from Rivian,” appears across the screen. The camera then zooms in on the dashboard — showing off Rivian's Halloween Mode features. The camera then focuses back on Venkman, who slicks his hair back with a dab of leftover slime. The ad finishes with a final share of the Rivian logo.
As we covered in our AdMiration “Ghostbusters” piece, the ad was a hit with consumers, landing in the top 25% of US ads for its ability to drive sales (Sales Impact: 76). In addition, the ad drove a strong purchase uplift (28% vs. 22% norm). Before watching the ad, only 9% of viewers would consider Rivian. After watching the ad, 37% of consumers said they'd consider the brand.
"Love spikes the moment viewers first see Bill Murray, then again at the end, as the Ghostbusters theme starts and he gels his hair with leftover slime, so the ad closes on a high."
The right celebrity can go a long way in improving creative effectiveness. And the nostalgic charm of seeing Murray as Dr. Venkman immediately endears consumers to the ad. The data backs this with consumers’ love for the ad spiked as soon as Murray entered the scene (Love: 35% vs. 27% norm).
Like a great Ghostbusters movie, the ad follows a strong emotional arc — using humor, surprise, excitement and suspense to hook viewers and maintain their attention and emotional engagement throughout the ad.
The ad opens by showing an exasperated Dracula in a sun hat, struggling to set up his Halloween yard display — an inflatable ghost brushes over his head as he fiddles with wires in an attempt to light up his lawn. Then a werewolf display piece pops up, causing a frustrated Dracula to bare his fangs. Dracula takes a seat on a lawn chair and snaps off a piece of his KitKat Count bar, taking; taking a deep sigh as he bites into the snack.
The ad does a great job of helping to launch KitKat’s limited-edition Count bars, using Dracula as a seasonal campaign character to introduce a product of the same name — strengthening brand linkage and product recall when consumers view products on the shelves.
The ad premise is immediately endearing and funny to viewers. An iconic horror villain is easily frustrated by one of the most relatable, human parts of Halloween — trying to perfect your Halloween yard display in time for the holiday.
Like the other ads on our list, the ad is strong when it comes to DBAs: a bag of KitKat Counts in the background as Dracula takes a seat, the signature “KitKat snap” as Dracula breaks off a piece of his bar and the red in Dracula’s cape that mirrors the red of a KitKat wrapper.
KitKat’s brand positioning as the go-to break also serves as a core part of the ad story, with a bite of the bar immediately melting away Dracula’s frustration and stress. This both reinforces KitKat’s positioning and gives the Count bar a clear role in furthering the narrative of the ad and resolving Dracula’s irritation and stress.
What do the best Halloween ads typically have in common?
The most effective Halloween ads have a smart blend of humor and horror. As is the case across every season, consumers love funny ads. 90% of consumers report that they're more likely to remember ads that are funny and 72% would choose a brand that made them laugh over the competition. As AdAge-featured Creativity Editor Tim Nudd notes, "Campaigns this year are not particularly interested in genuinely frightening you. They’re more interested in using the visual language of horror to deliver jokes."
Halloween gives brands the opportunity to play with dark jokes, bring a funny nostalgic twist to the best in Halloween traditions and drive sales of seasonal limited-edition products with humor-led positioning. Horror allows consumers to indulge in their favorite horror pop-culture characters and tropes. Humor also provides an emotional release after a horror-led, unnerving build up, like in Serasa and Burger King’s ad.
The best Halloween marketing also taps into and celebrates Halloween nostalgia and beloved traditions. 65% of adults say they watched their first horror movie before they turned 11, meaning many Americans' favorite Halloween movies were established in childhood.
Many younger consumers report a strong affinity and love for the holiday, 52% of 25-to 34-year-olds (older Gen Z and younger Millennials) say that Halloween is the new Christmas, with these consumers crowning the holiday as just as big as, or bigger than, Christmas in their lives.
Effective ads tap into consumers’ love for the holiday — spooky traditions, childhood movie classics and cult character favorites connect to consumers' joy and nostalgic whimsy during Halloween.
The most effective Halloween ads also make sure ad spend is never wasted by ensuring that consumers connect their creative to their brand — instead of their competitors’.
One approach to ensure the spot is linked back to their brand. This means intentionally using DBAs throughout the ad to strengthen brand linkage. DBAs can be used in subtle, thoughtful ways, like Fanta’s orange in the lighting choices of “Fanta’s Halloween Reveal.”.
Brands can also do this by giving their products a clear role, often treating them as the hero product in the ad story. Reese’s candy gave the elderly trick-or-treaters permission to enjoy candy like kids, KitKat gave the Count the opportunity to take a break from decorating stress and Fanta spurred the monsters’ van heist.
From the best in spooky limited-edition packaging to 2026’s most effective social-led campaigns, here are some additional Halloween marketing ideas brands can take away from this year’s campaigns.
From Reese’s to Pringles, many brands help consumers celebrate Halloween and drive FOMO by launching limited-edition products and packaging especially for the holiday. The best in seasonal packaging goes beyond basic color and imagery switch-ups — building seasonal lines around high-end elements and collectible features, like artist-designed sketches on boxes, glow-in-the-dark wrappers, and quirky or elaborate materials.
The best limited-edition products and packaging are highly brand-aligned, with brands using seasonal products and packaging to spotlight brand values, identity, and heritage.
Pringles delivered a dark-humored twist on its "Once You Drop" tagline with a Halloween sweepstakes that saw one grand-prize winner receive a custom precious-metal cremation urn modeled after a classic Pringles can. The can came with a custom lid and personalized engraving — celebrating the iconic packaging and tagline in a darkly witty way.
Source: ADWEEK.
Alongside the urn, the unidentified winner won more $28,080 in cash — equivalent to a 200-year "afterlifetime" supply of one Pringles can per week, which they could legally pass down to their heirs. To win the prize, competitors agreed to digitally sign a "will and taste-ament,", pledging to agree to their ashes being laid to rest inside the Pringles can.
The campaign was brilliantly brand aligned. Fredric J. Baur, the organic chemist and food storage scientist who designed the original Pringles can in 1966, requested his ashes be kept in a Pringles can following his death. His final wishes were fulfilled after he died, at age 89, in 2008, when his children bought an Original flavor can of Pringles to house a portion of his cremated remains at his grave in Cincinnati, Ohio.
This October, Queen of Halloween Heidi Klum brought a limited-edition Butterfinger pizza to her co-owned NYC restaurant chain. The savory-sweet dish was made available across Crazy Pizza locations in New York. In addition, samples were also served up at the NYC Village Halloween Parade. For the third year in a row, Butterfinger was also the Title Sponsor of Heidi Klum's legendary Halloween party, helping Klum celebrate its 25th anniversary.
Going beyond a basic influencer partnership, Butterfinger decided to renew its partnership with thea Halloween cultural icon. Klum has repeatedly gone viral for her high-dedication Halloween costumes, including Fiona from Shrek, Medusa from Greek mythology and a worm.
By partnering with Klum for another year, Butterfinger successfully tapped into some of the internet’s most-loved Halloween lore — connecting with Halloween-loving consumers and improving brand visibility with Klum’s inherent Halloween virality. The successful partnership reminds brands to follow consumers’ to the people they already love when it comes to choosing their Halloween collaborations.
Heinz opted for a social-media-led campaign for their seasonal "Tomato Blood" Ketchup campaign.
The legendary promo saw Heinz ketchup reimagined as “Tomato Blood.” The brand enlisted Wieden+Kennedy New York and TikTok influencer E.J. Marcus for their help to create "Toby," a 280-year-old vegetarian vampire who chose to swap out human blood for Heinz Tomato Blood Ketchup. Toby announced the switch in a Public Service Announcement (PSA), aired online during the premiere of AMC's "Interview with the Vampire," in which Toby claimed, “Humans are people too.”
Toby took over Heinz's Instagram and TikTok accounts during nighttime hours in October, sharing lifestyle vlogs like “Get Ready With Me” videos and “What I Eat in a Day” posts (heavily featuring Heinz Tomato Blood).
The strongest Halloween campaigns directly align with consumer trends. The ad acutely reflects younger consumers' current social media and eating habits. Over half of younger consumers (24-39) say they predominantly eat a flexitarian diet, actively reducing their meat and dairy consumption. By aligning with younger consumers’ eating habits, and targeting them across socials with an ironic, playful take on their favorite digital content, Heinz’s campaign serves as a fun inside joke with a spooky seasonal twist.
The first step to making your Halloween advertising more effective is to understand your audiences. The best campaigns know who they’re targeting and how to influence them with targeted ad ideas, pop-culture callbacks and the best in Halloween horror tropes.
From Pringles’ metal urn to Fanta’s orange-coded ad, the best seasonal campaigns combine seasonal creativity with brand recognition. Product and brand are at the center of each campaign. Spooky storytelling, dark humor and twisted nostalgia are used to help present the product and brand in a more interesting, creative light — helping consumers experience them in a new way.
That’s why it’s essential to test ideas and creative before you launch. Early-stage testing allows you to find the perfect balance between the dark and the funny, test your celeb’s appeal and test the strength of your DBAs with real consumers.