Commericals that bother you for silly reasons.

[lisacurl]

Not even muting the television helps that goddamn* Jack-in-the-Box "marrying bacon" commercial.


*I will consent to the existence of a merciful god if I'm promised that everyone involved in the creation of this commercial will burn in a lake of hellfire for all eternity.

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by Anamorphic

That woman can pop up in the back of my car anytime she wants.

Agreed.

WITHAG comes through with identifying her as Morgan Smith Goodwin.

[Rich Mann]

Originally Posted by Biggirl

P.S. People in Nevada don't have lines or don't talk?

What people? You obviously haven't been there. They have the longest stretch of paved highway with absolutely no services in the US--most of the width of the state. Hwy. 50, "The loneliest road in the world", according to the signs.


On topic:
In general I don't mind ads for legal firms trying to drum up clients for class-action suits, but I hate it when they try to sound sympathetic. You're a bunch of money grubbers and everyone knows it. You're not fooling anyone!

And someone help them pick one pronunciation for 'mesothelioma'.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

I don't know many commercials that bother me for silly reasons, but I sure do know plenty that bother me for good reasons. I'll just mention one product: breakfast cereal! My suspension of disbelief is monkey-wrenched out of all ability to function by any commercial where people are shown ordering cold cereal in restaurants, or evincing utterly orgasmic surfeits of pleasure on eating it. For that matter, the cartoon bee used in some of the Honey Nut Cheerios commercials looks downright psychotic, or at the very least hopped up on some sort of stimulant drug. And, like the Nasonex bee, he too seems to be male notwithstanding the high squeaky voice.

Oh, OK, I'll mention one other product--toilet paper, or as the marketing euphemism puts it, "bath tissue". The Charmin bears are nauseating; is it really a problem for some kids that fragments of TP are left "behind"? Also, when not using sentient talking cartoon bears, why does so much marketing for TP--whether commercials or product packaging--use babies? Babies are among the minority of people who don't use toilet paper, at least in TP-using economies. And here, too, nearly all the babies seem to be boys, to the extent one can make an estimate.

[Blank Slate]

Silly reason? Commercials for Viagra and Cialis. You know, I'm just minding my business, probably watching a baseball game and suddenly everything is about boners. I don't want to think about other guys boners. Now I'm thinking about them running around with raging boners, possibly for four hours or more. It's unsettling.

[Lynn Bodoni]

Oh, OK, I'll mention one other product--toilet paper, or as the marketing euphemism puts it, "bath tissue". The Charmin bears are nauseating; is it really a problem for some kids that fragments of TP are left "behind"?

Some cheap toilet paper does shred during use. Cheapass (yes, that's intentional) TP comes in two varieties, the kind that will shred if you look at it, and the John Wayne version (it's rough, tough, and doesn't take any shit from anybody). Neither kind works well as toilet paper. But yeah, the Charmin bears, especially the cubs, are less than charming. The original idea behind the commercial, to play on the old "does a bear shit in the woods?" meme, was sort of clever. Now, it's just cloyingly cute.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by bouv

As to #3, take a good look at other food commercials. They never eat what they're advertising. It's mainly because the food has been sitting around all damn day for umpteen different takes, and on top of that they usually do "stuff" to the food, like coat them with varnish and shit to make them not look like ass under the lighting and shit.

Most of it is unedible props, actually. IIRC, ice cream is often plaster.


Rebranding campaigns. I begin by not understanding the need to change logos and so forth when you actually have a high recognizability, but the ones where they pronounce the name of the product or brand in a way people in the target market doesn't. They sound both clueless (dude, people will have problems recognizing what is it you're talking about) and condescending (no, no, you're doing it wrong...).

I do correct Anglos who turn the ch in my lastname into a k, but there are a lot of English words where ch is pronounced "as in chocolate" - and my "mispronounced" lastname isn't a brand with wide recognition. If it happened to be, I'd shut up and smile.

[Chanteuse]

I hate this one for Honey Nut Cheerios, for a number of reasons:

1) Adults should never use the word "yummy" when speaking to anyone except a very young child.

2) The cereal is all the same, it's stupid to pretend the waitress had it mixed up.

3) The server's "I got that wrong, didn't I?" just grates on my nerves!

[Quasimodem]

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

Some cheap toilet paper does shred during use. Cheapass (yes, that's intentional) TP comes in two varieties, the kind that will shred if you look at it, and the John Wayne version (it's rough, tough, and doesn't take any shit from anybody). Neither kind works well as toilet paper. But yeah, the Charmin bears, especially the cubs, are less than charming. The original idea behind the commercial, to play on the old "does a bear shit in the woods?" meme, was sort of clever. Now, it's just cloyingly cute.

Well, at least they've not yet gotten to the point where they show the finger popping through "cheap-ass" toilet paper. Could be just a matter of time, though.

Q

[bouv]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

WITHAG comes through with identifying her as Morgan Smith Goodwin.

Annnnnnnnd, bookmarked.

Originally Posted by Nava

Most of it is unedible props, actually. IIRC, ice cream is often plaster.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that if you're advertising a food, than you have to actually use the real product, though you're allowed to do shit to it to make it look nicer.

Ahh, yes, here we go:

"In general, Federal Trade Commission laws require the main product for sale is what's featured in the ad, not a styrofoam mockup or different product altogether. But the other foods featured don't have to be real at all. An ad selling ice cream cones must feature the actual ice cream cone, but the "ice cream" can be made of clay with plastic sprinkles and dyed corn syrup 'hot fudge'"

[Nava]

Ah, those are FTC rules. They only apply in, you guessed it, the USA, and I suspect that for ads recorded abroad there may not be someone from the FTC checking that the ice cream is indeed ice cream.

Also, your own cite says that the cone has to be real but the ice cream can be fake. IOW, if the product would end up being a horrible goop within minutes of being under the lights, you can fake it.

[Nunzio Tavulari]

Originally Posted by Nobody

If a strange girl popped up from my back seat I'd be more like, "Who the hell are you and how did you get in my car?"

I'm with Anamorphic. If that girl popped up in my back seat I would definitely be asking her something more impure.

People in commercials do seem overly accommodating to folks who pop up in their kitchen or behind their shoulder though.

[Pai325]

Originally Posted by panache45

I don't even remember what the commercial's about, but a guy says "potato, potahto," and the gal says "no, it's tomato, tomahto." In the context of the song they're quoting, this makes no sense at all. He should have said "potato, tomato," and she should have said, "no, it's potahto, tomahto."

I always think of the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off", but I don't know what it has to do with the situation, so I agree it's annoying.

[freckafree]

That arthritis drug commercial where the woman is playing the piano that starts crumbling under her fingers bothers me in the sense that it creeps me out! I'm not sure why I find that imagery so disturbing. The one where the bike falls apart does not affect me the same way. But that piano...::shudder::

[Pai325]

Originally Posted by panache45

I thought of another one. The stupid State Farm ad where the customer and agent say some lines from "Anyway You Want It" and then talk about having a Journey moment. I love the song, but those two saying the lines makes me cringe.

Then the customer mentions going to a concert in '83 that was crawling with chicks, sees his wife looking at him funny, and says he has to go. What, his wife will be upset that he was into hot chicks in 83? I guess she'll be downright pissed that he's still into them now.

I figured they were at the concert together, or married at the time. Two guys having a Journey moment isn't something I want to think about.

[Biggirl]

Originally Posted by Rich Mann

On topic:
In general I don't mind ads for legal firms trying to drum up clients for class-action suits, but I hate it when they try to sound sympathetic. You're a bunch of money grubbers and everyone knows it. You're not fooling anyone!

And someone help them pick one pronunciation for 'mesothelioma'.

I also snigger when the voice-over guy says, "If you have been exposed to asbestos and are injured or killed, please call us at. . ."

[Quasimodem]

In keeping with this post, is it Ambilify that has the "fatal reactions have occurred" warning?

Well, how in the world did that drug ever get on the market then? Just my humble O, but if somebody died from taking that drug, I'm sure as hell not going to ask for scrip!

I mean, damn!

Quasi

[Barking Dog]

Originally Posted by Lord Il Palazzo

I hate the one where the two teenagers are standing around staring into the freezer and then call their mother's cell phone to tell her that they're dying. She calmly tells them that they're only hungry and should make some crappy frozen pizza snacks. They respond that they don't have any, in spite of the fact that they're staring into a freezer in which the pizza snacks are one of only four or five objects. The mother responds by directing them to the snacks ("In front of you and to the left" or something like that) and they high five as a voiceover says "Great job, Mom!"

Yeah. Great job raising not one but two idiots too stupid to tell the difference between hunger and death and who can't find anything to eat while staring into a freezer that contains almost nothing but ice cream and junk food. Yeah, great job, Mom!

I hate that one too. What gets me even more than that is that the mom somehow knows her blind and/or retarded children are staring into the freezer while on the phone with her and the put down the phone in freezer! Is it too late for the mom to have an abortion?

[D_Odds]

There is a new Verizon commercial for the Droid Razr with a mother and daughter crying and soaking incoherently. That phone could tie my shoes and slice my bread, but after that commercial I will never buy it. Whoever write it has serious Mommy issues and should get counseling instead of write commercials.

[Quasimodem]

Have y'all seen the public service ads with the people who've been severely "damaged" due to smoking? The first series shows folks with tracheostomies and electronic voice boxes. They all tell what not to do when you get a trach, such as not facing the shower head being careful when shaving, etc.

The newest is the lady who had a stroke attributed due to her smoking, making her completely bedridden. It shows her son bathing her and he looks like he's only about 16/17 year old.

Sorry for the hijack, but this is an example of the other kind of commercial: the one that stays with you.

Q

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by Chanteuse

I hate this one for Honey Nut Cheerios, for a number of reasons:

1) Adults should never use the word "yummy" when speaking to anyone except a very young child.

2) The cereal is all the same, it's stupid to pretend the waitress had it mixed up.

3) The server's "I got that wrong, didn't I?" just grates on my nerves!

I'm with you on this one. I mean, I know it's just a joke, but it's a bad, stupid, and annoying joke in my opinion.

[Biggirl]

Originally Posted by D_Odds

There is a new Verizon commercial for the Droid Razr with a mother and daughter crying and soaking incoherently. That phone could tie my shoes and slice my bread, but after that commercial I will never buy it. Whoever write it has serious Mommy issues and should get counseling instead of write commercials.

I like that commercial.

[Peanuthead]

Originally Posted by california jobcase

There was a commercial with women in it talking about how good something was. One woman said it was "dating a masseuse good". Funny, she didn't look lesbian- There's one on now where a male is giving a massage and is called a masseuse.

Masseuses are women, massaging men are masseurs.

It's simple:
Masseurs have a penis. Masseuses have a vagina.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by Biggirl

Yeup, right in the middle of the big red blotch.

P.S. People in Nevada don't have lines or don't talk?

That poll had ~10,000 respondents. It's likely there weren't any replies from that area of Nevada.

Originally Posted by Lynn Bodoni

Some cheap toilet paper does shred during use. Cheapass (yes, that's intentional) TP comes in two varieties, the kind that will shred if you look at it, and the John Wayne version (it's rough, tough, and doesn't take any shit from anybody).

[Push You Down]

Originally Posted by lisacurl

Not even muting the television helps that goddamn* Jack-in-the-Box "marrying bacon" commercial.

Those commercials bother me because they feel like a dig at the gay marriage issue.

[Quasimodem]

That rhyming commercial for Discover cards.

Q

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Originally Posted by Quasimodem

Have y'all seen the public service ads with the people who've been severely "damaged" due to smoking? The first series shows folks with tracheostomies and electronic voice boxes. They all tell what not to do when you get a trach, such as not facing the shower head being careful when shaving, etc.

The newest is the lady who had a stroke attributed due to her smoking, making her completely bedridden. It shows her son bathing her and he looks like he's only about 16/17 year old.

Sorry for the hijack, but this is an example of the other kind of commercial: the one that stays with you.

Q

I hate those. Call me selfish, but I don't use tobacco, and I don't need to be watching my TV and have those commercials flash on my screen without warning.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Originally Posted by Chanteuse

I hate this one for Honey Nut Cheerios, for a number of reasons:

1) Adults should never use the word "yummy" when speaking to anyone except a very young child.

2) The cereal is all the same, it's stupid to pretend the waitress had it mixed up.

3) The server's "I got that wrong, didn't I?" just grates on my nerves!

4) That irritating rhythm guitar riff that stops for a couple beats every time the server tries to rectify the error.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Push You Down

Those commercials bother me because they feel like a dig at the gay marriage issue.

In case this helps, it's a play on the schoolyard taunt, "If you love x so much, why don't you marry [him/her/it]?"

Not that this excuses how stupid the entire marketing campaign was.

[Quasimodem]

I also hate back to back commercials about the same product. That goofy looking guy on 21st Century Automobile Insurance, for instance.

Of course, even irritating commercials have value, don't they? I had no trouble just now remembering the product.

Quasi

[Odesio]

Originally Posted by Nava

Ah, those are FTC rules. They only apply in, you guessed it, the USA, and I suspect that for ads recorded abroad there may not be someone from the FTC checking that the ice cream is indeed ice cream.

Any idea how many ads for U.S. markets are filmed abroad?

Also, your own cite says that the cone has to be real but the ice cream can be fake. IOW, if the product would end up being a horrible goop within minutes of being under the lights, you can fake it.

The only reason the ice cream can be fake in that example is because the advertisement is for the cone. If it was an ad for the ice cream the advertisers would have to use the ice cream being sold.

[Steve MB]

Originally Posted by Lord Il Palazzo

I think what really gets me is the "Great job, Mom!" and the fact that this conversation has apparently happened many times before. Those two brain donors have apparently called their mother with "emergencies" like this often enough that the idea that her children are in actual danger no longer enters her mind as she matter-of-factly tells them they're hungry. I just imagine all the previous calls:

"Mom, the house is underwater!"
"No, it's just raining."

"Mom, there's a burglar downstairs!"
"No, your father just got home from work."

"Mom, the house is on fire!"
"No, you're just standing over the heat duct."

"Mom, I've gone blind!"
"No, you have your eyes closed."

The only "great job" the mom's done is resisting the urge to smother her idiot sons with a pillow to put them out of her misery.

Especially since she wouldn't actually have to press a pillow over their faces -- just flipping them face down in bed and ignoring their muffled cries of "Mm! I cnf breef!" would do the trick.

[Steve MB]

Originally Posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus

For that matter, the cartoon bee used in some of the Honey Nut Cheerios commercials looks downright psychotic, or at the very least hopped up on some sort of stimulant drug.

Hit him again, Frank!

[Nunzio Tavulari]

Originally Posted by california jobcase

There was a commercial with women in it talking about how good something was. One woman said it was "dating a masseuse good". Funny, she didn't look lesbian-

Probably entirely coincidental, but that actress (Leisha Hailey) is a lesbian. During that commercial's run, she had a role in the Showtime series about lesbians The L Word. She had done other Yoplait commercials before getting the role.

[Tess]

[quote=Chanteuse;15009012]
1) Adults should never use the word "yummy" when speaking to anyone except a very young child.
<Snip>

THANK YOU!!!! I become irrationally aggravated every time I hear that word in a food commercial.

My other silly reason for hating a commercial is when credit card users swipe their cards with the magnetic strip on the outside. I know it's to show off the card but it bugs me.

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by Nunzio Tavulari

Probably entirely coincidental, but that actress (Leisha Hailey) is a lesbian. During that commercial's run, she had a role in the Showtime series about lesbians The L Word. She had done other Yoplait commercials before getting the role.

All I ever hear for someone who gives a massage is masseuse. So it's probably a widespread error that will eventually become common usage. At least in America.

[Inner Stickler]

I don't understand what audience Maxwell House was aiming at.

The whole commercial just shrieks 1990s at me. When I see it on actual TV, a part of me is shocked when whatever modern show I'm watching comes back on and not Mad About You or Full House.

And what's his deal with plungers?

[Odesio]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

And what's his deal with plungers?

He's alluding to toilet plungers.

[Inner Stickler]

Yeah, but it's a stupid allusion.

[Biggirl]

Originally Posted by Inner Stickler

I don't understand what audience Maxwell House was aiming at.

The whole commercial just shrieks 1990s at me. When I see it on actual TV, a part of me is shocked when whatever modern show I'm watching comes back on and not Mad About You or Full House.

And what's his deal with plungers?

I believe the French press type coffee makers use a plunger. I have never used a French press coffee maker so I could be wrong.

[Inner Stickler]

I know how french press coffee is made. What confuses me is why Maxwell House thinks a guy who doesn't understand the difference between a coffee press plunger and a toilet plunger is an appropriate spokesman for their coffee.

[Mr Downtown]

Ellen DeGeneres bemoaning .99 prices (for JCPenney) by journeying back to Merry Olde England, where a Victorian sales clerk insists that a hat is five pounds, ninety-nine cents. No it wasn't; before 1971 it was five-nineteen-and-eleven!

[cruel butterfly]

I guess I just can't get behind the notion that the guy making minimum wage delivering pizzas is really that pissed off that someone had the audacity to buy microwaveable pepperoni bread sticks.

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by Mr Downtown

Ellen DeGeneres bemoaning .99 prices (for JCPenney) by journeying back to Merry Olde England, where a Victorian sales clerk insists that a hat is five pounds, ninety-nine cents. No it wasn't; before 1971 it was five-nineteen-and-eleven!

That's not common American knowledge and it's an American commercial.

[CindyH]

I absolutely hate that Honda Pilot roadtrip commercial. A huge family of white folks with a token black kid all humming, banging, etc. to an Ozzy song? It annoys me every time to the point I never want to even SEE a Honda pilot.

[etv78]

I don't hate the Directv "slippery slope" commericals universally, but some are just dumb.

[Nobody]

Originally Posted by CindyH

I absolutely hate that Honda Pilot roadtrip commercial. A huge family of white folks with a token black kid all humming, banging, etc. to an Ozzy song? It annoys me every time to the point I never want to even SEE a Honda pilot.

I hate those ads too, but I don't think it's silly to do so.

[Quasimodem]

Lord, I'm so glad they're not showing that one anymore! It made me wanna find the guy who wrote/directed and slap him silly.

Now I think the same guy's shilling for Sears, still with the same attitude.

Q

[EmilyG]

Don't know how "silly" this reason is, but - I keep getting this Crest ad before Youtube videos. It annoys me because it depicts something I hate and that's illegal here - someone using a cell phone while driving.

[Quasimodem]

Originally Posted by etv78

I don't hate the Directv "slippery slope" commericals universally, but some are just dumb.

Can you really sell your hair to a wig shop in Vegas? Holy Shit! Talk about hitting the bottom of the barrel!

Q