They say the value of the pound has plummeted. Not if this lot of ads is anything to go by.
Six of the top 10 are for super-markets, and all of them tell us just how far the pound in our pocket will stretch, or crunch, or bust, or freeze or roll back. At least, all but one of them do.
The ad for Tesco is telling us about Clubcard and how it could help us buy a trip in a hot-air balloon, among hundreds of other rewards, now that its vouchers are worth up to four times their normal value.
By Tesco's high standards, there's something less than convincing about this ad. Somehow the offer doesn't seem as recession-tuned as the offers of its rivals, and ‘up to four times' sounds weaselly, assuming that you happen to hear it. I suspect you won't because there are only two focal points to the action: Fay Ripley and a sodding great big hot-air balloon.
The main problem with this is that a balloon is neither little nor helpful. Thus, the ‘Every little helps' pay-off feels incidental, not integral.
Another reason why this spot is unlikely to find a place in the Tesco family album is that it is missing another customary ingredient of the company's advertising - the sense of retail immediacy that allows it to snap up £1 in every £7 spent in the UK retail sector.
My first boss, Hugh Burkitt, used to tell me that good retail advertising needs, metaphorically, to evoke the smell of ‘fresh bread baking'. Despite the fact that at one point in the commercial we see a crumpet being toasted, my olfactory senses remain largely unmoved.
If Tesco needed any advice (which is unlikely given the landmark £1bn-a-week-busting results it reported in April), I'd say watch out for Asda on price and Sainsbury's on quality. It was ever thus, but in a recession it will be more so, and, at the moment, both seem to be outdoing Tesco on their chosen communication fronts.
The other thing you need to do in a recession is sweat your assets. Clubcard is undoubtedly one of Tesco's strongest equities, so it's a good subject for the commercial.
However, the message on this occasion just doesn't quite deliver the brand's biggest asset of all. The ‘Every little helps' strapline could have been custom-built for the times, but this ad doesn't land it, preferring a bag of hot air instead.