Just as long as no introductions are exchanged. It isn’t etiquette to cut anyone you’ve been introduced to.
There were actually sites who said that the talking pretzel/M&M was indicative of…um, rape culture. Yes, they were being serious.
Rape’s a little strong, but…what happens to the Pretzel? Does it die? Does it live its life in silence and darkness inside of the M&M? :eek:
Well, if you think about it, presumably they’re both going to get eaten. I guess it’s like worrying about the veal calf before it gets slaughtered. I suppose one would hope that the pretzel was living a good life before it got eaten, but the end result isn’t to make life pleasant for him.
I hate those little talking Frosted Mini Wheat things. The little bastard takes all the credit for the human dude kicking ass in a staff meeting. Hey, you little prick: you haven’t even been eaten yet! You get NO credit! But your fate awaits you soon, never fear…
That might be the ghost of a mini wheat that he ate.
Speaking of anthropomorphizing, I hate commercials that try to lead me to believe that my household objects will feel rejection and loss when I replace them with a better product. Not that I’m actually concerned about the emotions of my glass cleaner but who thinks that a good marketing technique is “Hey, make your old bathroom cleanser despondent when you replace it for this”?
Current violators are the Swiffer and Mr. Clean commercials but there’s been others.
I hate the Target commercial with the 3 little girls who go to school in their uniforms then come out in colorful outfits. It’s the song that drives me nuts; it’s from the 70s or 80s–that insipid “free to be you and me” thing. YUCK!
Good thing with Target commercials, they are usually short-lived and not repeated for years and years…
As long as there’s an active odd things in commercials thread: what’s with that cloud pillow and the ten-pound weights? Does anyone get in bed, drop their head like it’s dead weight and hope to not crush the eggs under their pillow?
This is the most disturbing ad I’ve ever seen. It’s a child abuse PSA.
One that I’ve seen lately that I think is kind of disturbing is for some brand of nicotine gum. There’s a guy sitting on a pier jonesing for a cigarette when a great white shark jumps out the water onto the pier next to him and starts gnawing on his arm. Meanwhile he’s just sitting there muttering “cigarette… cigarette…” until he finally pops a piece of nicotine gum in his mouth THEN realizes there’s a shark chewing on his arm. WTF?
Well isn’t it just like screaming “we’re number one!” in a bar when an athlete in a sport of which you have never heard wins an Olympic Gold Medal under the US flag?
I love that commercial. It could be because I am British and drive a Challenger, though.
Found another creepy one on youtube. But then I guess it’s meant to be that way. It’s an anti child sex abuse one.
I also got the bully vibe and after reading this thread I saw the commercial and think I know why.
- The “friends” are slightly meanacing in their offer of a race.
- The look of fear in the kid’s eyes as he takes off.
- Ummm . . . where are they racing to? Whose house or are they all neighbors?
- The “we’re gonna pound you into mush when your mommy isn’t around.” sitting on the lawn as he takes off in the mini-van.
I too find the commercial to have a bully vibe, but part of that is that the other kids are so much bigger than the kid who gets into his mom’s minivan.
The only two things that make me think that they aren’t bullying him though is the tone of the race challenge. It doesn’t seem menacing. The second is how the kid, once in the minivan taunts them and one of them goes “No fair.” If I was running from bullies, I’d get in the minivan then lay down so they couldn’t see me. I definitely wouldn’t taunt them.
Here’s a new one I don’t understand, which plays on Hulu all the time: 5 Hour Energy drink. “Every get that 2:30 feeling?” Uh, no, I don’t. Who are these people that need a nap in the middle of the afternoon? Sure, maybe you have young kids or didn’t get enough sleep that night. But these ads make it seem like this is some sort of chronic epidemic, with people staggering around at their offices like the walking dead.
Morbo, I don’t get it either. I suspect it’s the caffeine/energy drink industry’s way of convincing us that we can’t possibly stay awake on our own.