Generations will have a favourite or memorable TV ad they loved from childhood - but some stood out more than the rest.
Smash was marketed as the product to free millions of British housewives from the domestic drudgery of peeling, boiling and mashing spuds when it was launched in the mid-1960s. The brand of instant mashed potatoes, launched by Cadbury, was sold all over the UK.
Easy to prepare, customers would simply have to add boiling water to the potato flakes and stir and many from Merseyside will remember having it in their household. But the success of Smash soared years later in 1974 following a now-iconic robot advertising campaign.
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Devised by ad agency Boase Massimi Pollitt, many will remember the 30-second advert. In one of the adverts, uploaded to Youtube, we see seven Martians - one red and six blue - discussing humans around a table. The red Martian asks them if on their "last trip did they discover what the Earth people eat." One responds that they eat a great many of these - with the camera zooming in on a big potato.
Cackling in hysterics, humans are branded "a most primitive people" – who peel them with their metal knives, boil them and "smash them all to bits." The advert ends showing Cadbury's smash which is labelled as having 16 servings, with the jingle "for mash get Smash."
The Smash Martians quickly became cult icons and over the years, the famous advert has continued to be votes as one of the best or most memorable. But the Martians themselves also have a unique link to Merseyside.
Years ago, many copies of the manic Martians from the 1970s Smash instant mashed potato adverts were made entirely from components of the Ford Escort Popular, which was being manufactured at the Halewood car plant. At one point, models were sold in Merseyside pubs for £1 and were made from engine seals, clutch cables, trimming flash, window catches and nuts and screws.
It is thought dozens were made and press cuttings from March 1976 suggest that while bosses at the plant didn’t condone the pilfering of parts, they grudgingly admired the ingenuity of their production line staff. One management official previously said: "We have to admire the workmanship. We have a genius in our midst."
In 2010, the Liverpool ECHO reported how a Smash Martian auction was taking place, with one being sold by Bob Bennie, 83, who bought the figure from a Halewood worker for £1. At the time, Mr Bennie, from Padiham, near Burnley, told the ECHO: "I just liked the look of it. It was very clever and I’ve kept it ever since.
"For the last few years it's been tucked away in a cupboard and I just thought someone else might enjoy owning it like I did." In 2010, Silverwoods auctioneer Wilf Mould said: "The models are probably the best thing to come out of Halewood before the Land Rover."
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Over a decade ago, lofts and attics all over Merseyside were raided and little green, blue, red and yellow men turned up.
But others, like the statue belonging to Anne Cotton, from Whiston, were on display for decades. At the time, she told the ECHO: "He was my mum’s – she called him Mr Martian and always had him on display on a cabinet. An ex-boyfriend of mine who did some work at Halewood got him as a present for my mum because she used to like the Smash adverts.
"I remember being quite annoyed he did not get me one, because I liked the adverts too." Geraldine and Billy Rimmer, from Widnes, found two of three figures they bought for their children.
Geraldine said: "Billy bought them in The Sporting Ford pub, in Hough Green, in around 1975 or 1976. The kids liked the adverts."
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In July 2015, The Mirror reported how the 1970s advert featuring the group of chortling robotic martians had been named Britain’s favourite pre-internet ad - because it made an "emotional connection" with viewers.
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The brand itself later became owned by Hertfordshire-based Premier Foods, which revamped Smash in 2006 with a healthier recipe and different flavours, including cheddar and onion and buttery. You can spot it now with its Batchelors brand. A number of the Smash Martians later went on display in the Animation Gallery at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford
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