WORLD: My Portfolio - Tom Routson.(advertising)

'I think comedy is a noble cause,' Tom Routson says. 'If you can make someone laugh in a commercial, you have given them something back other than just sell someone's product.'

And Routson sweats for his comic cause. The Cadbury's Fingers ad was particularly hard work. It featured a thumb wanting to be a chocolate finger, so it sunbathes on holiday to go brown. It's a lot of acting for one thumb, concedes Routson. 'By the third day, the poor guy's thumb was so exhausted it was shaking. I was under the table holding his hand steady.'

With the two-minute cinema ad 'rock star' for the Finnish insurance company Pohjola, Routson wrote his own gags. The ad explodes every rock 'n' roll cliche in the book, so the rock star hurts his back when he chucks a TVset out the window and rinses his mouth with vodka when brushing his teeth.

The soundtrack is Uriah Heep's Easy Livin'. Routson describes the filming as 'the most fun I've ever had in a day'.

His 'Got Milk?' spot takes a softer approach. It features a mother telling her two children to drink their milk. They moan and point ...