The owner of one local dealership made this point in a radio ad about a year back. She explained that other dealers would definitely accept your application, but that you wouldn’t necessarily be approved. She, on the other hand, is honest with potential buyers up front. (I’ve never bought a car from this dealership, so I have no idea if that’s true or just a marketing gimmick.)
Knowing the car business as I do (a good friend and an uncle worked in it for years) I’m sure that’s exactly what they meant!
I’ve always had the same objection to those “Jaywalking” spots on The Tonight Show. Jay asks what are presumed to be “easy” questions, and the audience laughs at the buffoons who don’t know the answers. I always think A) - How many people did they ask to get these five who didn’t know, and B) - If they asked the same questions of the audience members while they were walking in, would the overall results be any different? Probably not.
I’m utterly dumbfounded by the “water” commercials. If water has calories in it, is it still water? When does it become soda pop?
Propel fitness water, Fruit[sub]2[/sub]O, aren’t they just Koolaid?
Even better, protein water 
“A sweet snack vs a sweet snack that satisfies” What?
I’m quite satisfied by my Snickers. Diluted Jello instead? Sure. :dubious:
Remember “NBC News–Now, More than Ever” ?
I don’t think anyone ever figured that one out.
Erm, sounds like it’s a reference to the legendary Model T Ford description << You can have any colour you want as long as it’s black* >>
ie it’s a deliberate joke.
- which, according to Stephen Fry on QI is a UL anyway. It came in several colours, but black wasn’t one of them.
Have you seen the ads? There’s no evidence they’re making a joke.
Various loan offers:
“With your good credit, we’ll loan you up to $100,000 or more!”
I sigh each time I hear one of those. Sure, they have to give some figure or other to give us yokels something to think about, but at the same time, they don’t want to stupidly discourage anyone who’s really wants a $110,000 loan. Still.
Don’t even get me started on the whole bottled water “business.” How Middle America became convinced to start paying money for something they ALREADY pay to get in their own house is one of the greatest cons of our time. It’s so bad that anytime I go to someone’s house in a city and turn on the tap people look at me funny and ask why I would want to drink that water. I grab a bottle of the bottled stuff and show them where on the label it says “bottled from municipal sources in Worthington, Ohio.”
I think this is a classic example of words designed to evoke emotion without meaning. And it was used to pitch a news program. What better commentary on the state of American journalism could there be?
Since you ask, no. I live in the UK, and I don’t think they show it over here.
I can only judge based on what is quoted here, and it sounds like a deliberate reference to the old joke.
One that’s always bugged me is the Converse Ad starring Dwayne Wade. The tag line at the end says something similar to “I fall down seven times. Get up eight.” The implication is that he’s resilient or determined or whatever. The math just doesn’t add up though, if you fall down seven times and get up seven times you’re standing…yet you then get up one more time?
Dumb and annoying. I’m guessing that somewhere along the line the ad agency and/or Converse saw the flawed logic but still decided to run with it because they needed the sense that it’s one more. That makes it willful stupidity.
There is a radio ad being played here in LA now.
It is for copper re piping in your home.
the announcer says that he is the owner of the company and asks if you have low water pressure due to corroded galvanized pipes. He then goes on to say that if you re-pipe your house in copper you will have great water pressure.
nice try sparky, but corroded pipes cause a loss of volume, not pressure. I don’t think I would hire any company to re-pipe my house where the president does not know this.
Those drive me nuts, too. “Up to X or more/longer!” Which tells me absolutely fucking nothing!
And then there’s “apply directly to the forehead.” 
The one that boggles me is for Slim-Fast “hunger control” bars.
The ad says something about eating these and you’ll go longer without being hungry as if there is some magic appitite suppressing device in them.
I looked at my husband the first time we saw the commercial (which made a big deal about extending your hunger-free time) and said “isn’t that just …food?”
I thought this might be what they refer to. But you have to set aside TWICE as much time to take Boniva as you do the others. The others all say to remain upright for at least 30 minutes–with Boniva it’s at least one hour. I think half an hour–even though it’s more frequent–would be an easier block of time to schedule! Of course, they gloss over that little gem in the ads, don’t they? 
“At Healthy Choice, we’re adding flavor to taste.”
times infinity.
“I’m not a doctor, but I play one on T.V…” has always been a classic.
I didn’t fully appreciate what the hell was going on until I learned that real doctors are not allowed to do adverstisement for medications and other treatments.
So, what does the Ad agency do? They hire an actor and then reinforce the fact that this guy is not qualifed to make the recommmendation he is about to make!
I would normally agree. Maybe they’re just playing it really close to the vest.