Revisiting 2016 through 16 ads we still remember

Everyone's posting their 2016 photos right now. Ten-year throwbacks flooding the feed—old haircuts, forgotten friends, younger faces. It's sweet, really. Except I have nothing to post.

I was in seventh grade in 2016. No mobile phone, no camera roll, no digital proof that year even happened for me. While everyone else scrolls through their archives, I scroll through something different: memories of ads I watched on our living room television.

The big screen. No skip button. Just you, the show, and whatever came with it. This can't be 2026, but from 2016, a decade ago. Where you can recall jingles, taglines and memories of sitting on the floor, watching the big screen, absorbing everything.

I can still hear the IPL anthem, 'Ek India Happy Wala', blasting through every match. It was unskippable, but honestly, we didn't want to skip it. It was part of the excitement. Try sitting through a fifteen-second ad today without reaching for your phone. Nearly impossible.

Then there was Cadbury Gems. That jingle, those adults eating colourful chocolates, looking absolutely delighted. I wanted to be in that ad so badly, and wanted those Gems. The tune still plays perfectly in my head, a decade later.

And the tourism campaigns, Madhya Pradesh's 'MP Mein Dil Ho Bacche Sa' had us all singing along. Rajasthan's 'Jaane Kya Dikh Jaaye' made us recreate the wordplay with our own names, laughing at nonsensical combinations.

While social media revisits 2016 through filtered photos and throwback selfies, let's scroll through the ads that played on loop on our television screens a decade ago.

Ariel | #Sharetheload - Why is laundry only a mother's job?

Cadbury | Aliens

Channel 4 Entertainment | We're The Superhumans | Rio Paralympics 2016

Google | 2016 - A year in search

Samsung | The Anthem

Rajasthan Tourism | Jaane kya dikh jaaye

Paytm | Paytm Karo

Madhya Pradesh Tourism | MP mai dil hua bacche sa

Swach Bharat Abhiyan | #DontLetHerGo

Nike | Da Da Ding

Sulekha | Go #AntiJugaad

OLX | No More Dekhte Hai

Cadbury Gems | More Gems, More Masti

IPL 2016 | Ek India Happywala Anthem

Coca-Cola | Taste the feeling

Titan Raga | #Breakthebias