Ever thought, “The dishwasher in the commercial can’t have cleaned like that?” Well, Publicis London and AEG have upped the ante on showing that claim. They’ve shot their commercial through the glass of a lasagne dish, that only moments before had been used to cook a lasagna, was then washed in an AEG N.E.W. Favorit dishwasher and rigged to the front of the camera.
Every frame of the campaign (including the stills) was shot through the same used, then washed lasagna dish. A show of confidence and proof of cleaning prowess technique that has been coined the “Lasagna Lens”.
The film’s eerie, restrained atmosphere, rarely seen in appliance advertising, reflects the campaign’s central idea – once you experience a higher standard, you can never return to what came before.
Supporting the hero film is a suite of social assets, spotlighting the craft behind the idea. 45-, 15- and 6-second spots show the practical and creative challenge of shooting through a real glass lasagne dish.
The campaign launched across Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with further European markets rolling out throughout 2026.
You Can’t Go Back runs across TV and social and is AEG’s first large‑scale dishwasher campaign in a decade. Production was handled by Publicis Production, with media planning and buying handled by Zenith International.
Noël Bunting, chief creative officer at Publicis London, commented, “I love taking a well-known stress test (caked-on-lasagne) and kicking it up a notch to showcase the cleaning capabilities of the AEG Iris dishwasher. Shooting a film through the lasagne lens was a simple idea, but it makes the proof unmistakable and requires another layer of craft, which not many brands would go for.”
Tom Astin, AEG brand director, added, “The N.E.W. Favorit range sets the gold standard for cleaning performance and addresses a key consumer pain point – that dishes don’t always come out spotless after a wash. We wanted to demonstrate the capacity of AEG innovation and amplify that with the confidence, style and aesthetics that befits our brand. We are driven to ‘Challenge the Expected’. Shooting the film through a lasagne dish certainly delivers, but it’s the honest expression of the performance that matters most. It shows, very clearly, that once you experience this level of clean, your expectations change.”
Credits:
Client: AEG / Electrolux
Advertising Agency: Publicis London
CCO: Noel Bunting
Creative Director: Matthew Comras
Senior Creative: Flora Zeman
Senior Art Director: Nian He & Tiago Beltrame
Designer: Dave Stansfield
Project Manager: Kike Adetunji
Head of Strategy: Katie Hibbard
Strategy Director: Adam Mcglashan
Brand Strategist: Guillermo Ibeas
Business Lead: Josh Norris
Account Director: Marta Esteban
Agency Producers: Daisy Bambridge & Joseph Tomlinson
Media Planning & Buying Agency: Zenith International
Production Company: Publicis Production
Director: James Hawes
Editor: Ben Corfield, Stitch
Producers: Rebecca Shawyer, Executive Producer, Sarah Tognazzi, Producer
Post-Production & Audio Post-Production: Harbor
Photographer: Carl Lemon
Sounds Design And Mix: James Benn
Audio Producer: Phoebe Baltazar
Flame: Leah Ayinde, Gus Ribeiro
After Effects: Diogo Gill, Jared Tomkins
Colourist: Mara Ciorba
VFX Producers: Abi Klimaszewska, Dan Love
