[2][3][4] The commercial was created by Chas Bayfield and Jim Bolton at the UK advertising agency, HHCL + Partners and was directed by Colin Gregg at the production company Eclipse for the client David Atter at Britvic.

The advert won several major advertising awards in 1997, notably a Cannes Gold Lion and a Silver Pencil from D&AD in London.

Ray is joined by more staff who help him off with the rest of his clothes, revealing some bright purple boxing shorts under his trousers.

Ray and his entourage arrive seamlessly on the White Cliffs of Dover where a flag waving army of supporters have gathered to cheer on their leader.

On the edge of the cliffs is a boxing ring which Ray climbs into, before challenging Sebastian, France, Europe and the world to a fight.

[9] The original plan was to create a commercial that was only 30 seconds long and was intended to be an attack on Coca-Cola, who had dominated the soft drinks market.

The decision to make the advertisement longer came from both Tango's desire to surprise its customers and because the only soft drink brand that could afford to do such a long commercial was Coca-Cola.

Using a majority of the advertisement's budget on the production (rather than airtime) and only airing it 10 times was a risk that Tango believed was worth taking.

[11] During production of St George, Barth Hulley, who produced the advertisement, also duly shot and directed The Making of Blackcurrant Tango, a fifteen-minute "making-of" video.

Due to health and safety regulations, the crew were not allowed to use real Harrier jets on the day–the planes were computer generated afterwards by the digital visual effects company, Framestore CFC.

[20] Public relations firm Freud Communications worked with Britvic in publicising St George by making "a celebrity" out of the otherwise unknown Ray Gardner, arranging for him to be interviewed on television and in the newspapers.

Vizeum UK's joint managing director, Matt Andrews, considered Michaelides to be a worthy candidate for a legacy prize at the 2006 Channel 4 TV Planning Awards, citing his scheduling idea for the advertisement as a reason.

This version was released as a single on 4 October 1996 by Deconstruction Records on CD, cassette and purple-coloured seven-inch vinyl to coincide with the Tango Blackcurrant and St George launch.

[26] On 13 October, the campaign continued when customers who bought the Sunday Mail at branches of Esso Snack & Shop were each given a free can of Tango Blackcurrant.

Peter York of The Independent stated that "the launch of Blackcurrant Tango provides the opportunity for a fizzy drink to make a unique political statement - indeed an intervention.

"[27] He noted the advertisement's diversion from the norm, saying "Ray displays a patriotic body of a kind never normally seen in TV commercials: white, with a proudly cantilevered beer-belly and two pendulous crescent breastettes.

[28] Kate Bush, curator of the exhibition, said St George was used because it was "technically brilliant as well as self-knowing": "It starts off dull and builds to a wonderful cinematic climax.

"[3] Impressed with Gardner's performance in St George, the advertisement's producer Barth Hulley asked him to star in his short film Up and Running.

"[3] In March 1997, St George won HHCL Partners the British Creative Circle award for best advertisement of the year.

[29] The commercial, which was honoured in the platinum section, also won the gold award for best use of humour, as did its sister advert for Tango Apple.

In as early as May 1997, St George was named "ad of the decade" in a survey of readers of Sky Magazine, beating Levi's 1995 Planet advertisement.

[6] In 2008, advertising industry publication Campaign Live ranked St George at number 2 in their list of the "Top 10 Funniest TV Ads of All Time".

[32] In 2013, Ben Tollett and Emer Stamp, joint creative directors of Adam & Eve DDB, included the advert in his list of "3 Great Ads I Had Nothing to Do With", part of a series for Campaign Live.

[33] At the turn of the millennium, the original Hooj-produced "Hooj Mix" version of "Don't You Want Me", which features in St George in an early variation of its specially created "'96 Pugilist Mix", was included on several commercially successful, TV-advertised British various artists compilation albums of popular music featured in acclaimed television advertisements, including Virgin Records' The Best TV Ads...Ever!

[37] The advertisement, broadcast in March 1997 in the run up to the General Election, takes the form of a mock party political broadcast where a Tango Orange campaigner criticizes the Apple, Lemon and Blackcurrant variants of the drink individually; his remarks against the blackcurrant flavour see him walk to the roof of a building where the character of Ray Gardner (portrayed by an actor other than Gardner) is still shown expressing his anger against Sebastian, but is clearly exhausted, and ultimately falls into a puddle.