# Advertising that has the reverse effect and actively discourages you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 12, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360 "2006-04-12T13:48:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/21 "2006-04-12T15:28:36Z")
> [@tiny ham](#): > > featherlou, I’m with him. > > I want to push that Zoom Zoom kid in front of a bus. I don’t really know why. I just hate him. Add my dad to the list of people who can’t stand that campaign. As for me, three words: [The Snuggle Bear.](http://www.tvacres.com/adanimals_snuggles.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/22 "2006-04-12T15:46:29Z")
There is one comercial that pisses me off beyond belief. It basicly goes like this: “Blah, blah structured settlement? J.G. Wentworth; cash now! Blah, blah, blah-blah, CASH NOW! Bla-bla-blah, blah blah, CASH NOW! So blah blah blah J.G. Wentworth; CASH NOW!” ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/23 "2006-04-12T16:01:29Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > [The Snuggle Bear.](http://www.tvacres.com/adanimals_snuggles.htm) Ah, yes, the snuggle bear. The second most feared creature on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/24 "2006-04-12T16:07:42Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > There was an ad, I think for Dodge where this husband and wife had just bought an SUV, or Minivan and the mom is cooing to their baby about all the safety features and the DVD player when the husband snaps at her that she’s making the boy a sissy and all the kid needs to know is that the aforementioned gas-guzzler has a Hemi in it. > > It is such a nasty little scene. It’s like the official car for people trapped in loveless marriages. > > The funny thing is here on Arab satellite TV they have that same commercial in Arabic with Arab actors. I don’t speak Arabic, but it is just as nasty. Ooh I hate that one. Not only is it nasty, but I think the FCC needs to enact a four-year moratorium on the use of the word “hemi” in tv ads. The Century 21 ad is the worst, though. Just before the agent jumps in on the speaker phone, the husband is coming up with an objection, and the wife says, “What!?” and gets her face right in front of his, and gives him this look that says, “What idiotic thing are you going to say now?” ---
**Author:** ![Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@Amazon\_Floozy\_Goddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazon_Floozy_Goddess)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/25 "2006-04-12T16:12:10Z")
I remember seeing an ad for Pepto-Bismol in a magazine once that showed a photo of a hamburger and fries that had been Photoshopped pink. I know they were supposed to be trying to emphasize the soothing effects of Pepto, but it only made Pepto seem more revolting to me (I hate the stuff to begin with). I saw another magazine ad for toilet paper - Charmin I believe - which showed a roll of toilet paper with the end hanging off. The end was morphing into a thick terrycloth towel. The thought of wiping my arse with something that supposedly felt like a soft towel was a major turn-off. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/26 "2006-04-12T16:15:57Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > Similarly, I enjoyed watching _XXX_ with my teenage son and would probably have gone with him to the sequel except for the advertising which I kept hearing. It featured Samuel L Jackson saying “The new triple X has to be deadlier, more dangerous, more attitude.” More attitude??? I have never seen it, not even on DVD. Certain movies that I might be intrigued by often put me off with saturation advertising. If I’ve been over-hyped on a movie I don’t see it for at least three years. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/27 "2006-04-12T16:23:28Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > My husband has sworn that he will never buy a Mazda on the basis of their “Zoom zoom” campaign. We just bought a Toyota Corolla last year, so take that, Mazda! Nearly every car commercial tries to make you think that the experience of driving their vehicle will feel like having sex with the deity of your choice. That’s why the Isuzu commercials used to stand out. They were the only ones who didn’t do this. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/28 "2006-04-12T16:25:16Z")
I also hate any of those cold medicine ads (most of them) where the husband is just a man-child completely incapable of caring for himself. The medicine is actually sold from the angle of “get better mom, before your husband accidently kills the entire family.” There was one such ad where the baby’s face morphed into the husband’s face. They were both equally helpless. ---
**Author:** ![samm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@samm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/29 "2006-04-12T17:27:25Z")
How in the world has no one mentioned the Burger King yet?! I HATE him. I am also disturbed by the Chips Ahoy cookie commercials where the cookie is invited to a kid’s birthday party and then he asks, “What’s for dessert?” and all the creepy kids turn and leer at him. There was also a DQ commercial last summer that had a mother and father shrimp in the ocean enjoying the delicious new popcorn shrimp from DQ and then the mother shrimp goes, “Honey… where are the kids?!” and then they both shriek in horror. Is that supposed to make me want shrimp? Well, I’m vegetarian, so that’s beside the point. Finally, I hate the Axe body wash/spray commercials where women are plastering themselves to the men who use it. Or rubbing themselves on the drainage pipes that run through their apartment that drain from his shower, etc. Icky. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/30 "2006-04-12T17:40:42Z")
> [@samm](#): > > Finally, I hate the Axe body wash/spray commercials where women are plastering themselves to the men who use it. Or rubbing themselves on the drainage pipes that run through their apartment that drain from his shower, etc. Icky. Axe reminds me of the advertising campaign for a cologne called Hai Karate that was semi-popular when I was a kid. Each bottle came with karate instructions so you could fight off the women that would be jumping your bones when you wore the cologne. And that’s what the TV ads showed, some guy using karate to try to fight women off. Hey, as a 13 year old, I thought it was a great ad, and several of my 13-year-old friends bought a bottle. Must have been the demographic they intended. I think the same is true for Axe. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/31 "2006-04-12T17:47:45Z")
> [@Amazon Floozy Goddess](#): > > I remember seeing an ad for Pepto-Bismol in a magazine once that showed a photo of a hamburger and fries that had been Photoshopped pink. I know they were supposed to be trying to emphasize the soothing effects of Pepto, but it only made Pepto seem more revolting to me (I hate the stuff to begin with). The “new Cherry Pepto!” ads were hilariously bad. They put the symptoms that the stuff treated to a kind of conga beat. I’ll grant you that I remember what the ailments were, so it was somewhat effective, but “nausea/heartburn/indigestion/upset stomach/diarrhea!” is inherently unmusical. The ad became even worse when the people taking the stuff had to dance along with the beat while mime-ing the symptoms. There’s no good way to mime “diarrhea!” As I recall, it had the actor putting his hand near his ass, which is the last thing I want to do when I’ve got that problem. > [@yellowval](#): > > Those Quizno’s commercials from a couple of years ago with those ugly spongemonkeys definitely did not make me hungry. They looked like rats, and they had really bad teeth. Rats with bad teeth do not make me think, mmmm … Quizno’s! Ding ding ding. The baby ads are also terrible, but these ones are the reason I refuse to eat at Quiznos. They’re gross and really annoying. There’s some video game that has these annoying squiggly characters going on and on about _nothing_ in really cheesy Latin accents. I only know it’s a video game ad because they’re sitting in front of a GameBoy-looking thing. I have no idea what they’re trying to sell, I just know it bugs the shit out of me. It actually reminds me of that Quiznos ad, but without the element of revulsion. Last one for now: that “I’m a man” commercial for some kind of deodorant (I think). Stupid, stupid, stupid song. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/32 "2006-04-12T17:52:06Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > Oh, and that TV ad for some phone company. Imagine, against a red background, this 20something metrosexual guy in a tight t-shirt, with a slight lisp… I don’t mean the gay stereotype, I mean just the most obnoxious, self-absorbed young person you can imagine, going “Oh, I love to talk. I talk all day and all night, and it drives my parents NUTS, my dad CONSTANTLY has to throw me off the phone, and my sister has hired Columbian hitmen to come after me, just to get me off the phone, and every day they’re all like GET OFF THE GODDAMNED PHONE! but it doesn’t work of course, 10 minutes later I’m back on again and yakking away, in fact if you saw my phone bill…” That would be vodafone. Lispy boy is annoying, but the ad that makes me see red (and not just because it’s their corporate colour) is the one where there’s an ethnic (italian, greek? I’m not sure) girl talking about her phone bill: “Like, OMG I love my vodafone. I used to have a mobile phone with someone else, and my brother would like totally get my phone bill and go through highlighting all the numbers he didn’t know. One day he found my boyfriend’s phone number and called him up going ‘Who is this, what are you doing with my sister’ and totally went off and scared him away _laughs_ But now with vodafone I don’t get any phone bills and he can’t do this any more. Hah. Isn’t it funny. Isn’t it? Guys?” For some reason that ad just made me want to kill someone. Maybe that girl for being so stupid as to let her neanderthal of a brother control her life to the degree that he’s stalking her phone bill and harassing/scaring off anyone who dares talk to her… ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/33 "2006-04-12T17:54:59Z")
There is a commercial for some brand of car (my brain has mercifully blanked it out) in which the “plot” goes something like this: the showman is displaying one shiny car to a customer after another, saying “this one won X award, and that one won Y award …” and then the showman turns around and is faced with the guy delivering the bottled water to the auto showroom. There is an awkward pause and this guy says “I won a bowling championship once” or something to that effect. I suppose the alleged “humour” of this is that the cars are such winners, and the poor slob delivering the water is just a poor working stiff, and thus obviously a loser. 😕 Can’t see how that commercial is intended to be anything _other_ than offensive. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/34 "2006-04-12T17:56:20Z")
This one’s definitely regional, but the Warriors NBA team has a series of ads telling people that they should get on “Warriors time,” which apparently means finishing things before the shot clock expires. The ads feature people doing normal jobs (the three I’ve seen have been a barber shaving a guy with a straight razor, some window washers on a scaffold washing skyscraper windows, and some movers) in an incredibly fast and slipshod way (for example, the movers shove a piano out of their truck and let it crash to the street, toss boxes of breakables into the yard, etc., while the barber is literally cutting his customer because he’s working so fast). Not that I like basketball in the first place, but this campaign is a serious turnoff. They’ve got a similar one for baseball now too (I forget which team–I actively avoid baseball whenever possible) where people fling things at high speed into windows, mirrors, etc, and one for the San Jose Sharks where people are frightened of a guy wearing a Sharks jersey (who has no idea why people are reacting to him in this way). This one doesn’t bother me quite so much–maybe because I play hockey and actually follow the Sharks, or maybe because it doesn’t have any actual stupid violent stuff in it, just the anticipation of it. I guess I’m not the right demographic, but the Warriors and baseball ones are some of the few commercials I will actually change the channel to avoid. Oh–and while I’m on the subject–there’s also a commercial for some digestive remedy that features puppets representing various body parts…including, at the beginning of the commercial, a digestive system on a stick. Eww. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/35 "2006-04-12T17:58:47Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > There’s a rash of Radio Shack commercials which feature a person, sitting in a chair talking to the camera about whatever Radio Shack product they want. There’s this one with this extremely annoying woman going on and on about this mobile phone. Apparently, she wants her significant other to buy the device for her. She actually says something along the lines of if he wants their relationship to remain exclusive, he’d do well to buy her the telephone. I’ve only seen it once, but the impression I got was her saying, “You want some of this?” (while guesturing to her body) “You gotta get me this!” As if she’s willing to trade sex for a cell phone or whatever it was. I was only paying attention halfway, and I did a “WTF?” spit-take kind of thing, so maybe I heard it wrong. Maybe she’s just offering exclusivity. Ditto on the Century 21 ad. It was bad enough in the beginning with the husband and wife arguing, but then when the realtor speaks, and you realize they were arguing like that with her on speaker phone, it’s a big turn-off. Also the Quizno ads with those dead rat things. Yeah, I know they Spongmonkeys or whatever, but using things that look like dead stuffed rats with creepy voices to sell food doesn’t cut it. Ditto the sexist Dodge hemi ad that **madmonk28** mentioned. It ranks right up there with the old JC Penney “Where is your mother?” ads. The ones with the clueless dad ‘babysitting’ the kids (who are running roughshod all over the house) while mom is out running through the bank account like nobody’s business at JC Penney’s. But it’s a SALE! The worst one was the dad sitting there with the crying baby in the highchair, not knowing what to do. The Pepto-Bismal ads where everyone is doing some kind of weird Intestinal Distress Line Dance. “Diarrhea, Heartburn, Nausea, Indigestion…” with little hand motions and butt wiggles. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/36 "2006-04-12T17:59:36Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > There’s a creepy commercial for a real estate agency (century 21?) where a wife is brow beating the husband into buying a house he’s not sure about, during this pretty nasty argument, a woman real estate agent who is on speaker phone jumps in on the wife’s side too. Slate recently had a column on this ad. > > Every time I saw it I thought, don’t buy the house, leave that shrew and her b\*tch of an agent and move to Vegas you poor henpecked SOB. Okay, I hate the wife, but man…the guy has no vision! He has to be told that even though the kids are little they’re eventually going to go to the good school that attracted the wife? If you ask me, they deserve each other. Their future: crumpled beer cans all over the place and blinds that are drawn crooked. And lots of cheap toys strewn across the floor. Poetic justice. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/37 "2006-04-12T18:04:12Z")
1. In general, the type of commercial that uses as its selling point “You need our product to save you from yourself because you, as a mid-30’s white guy with a wife and kids, are a total moron.” 2. Specifically: Gatorade! It turns your sweat fluorescent green, like anti-freeze! Is it in you? I don’t think it will be, actually… ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/38 "2006-04-12T18:04:57Z")
Every McDonald’s ad campaign they’ve ever had. They just get more and more annoying. I haven’t visited a McDonald’s or a Wal-Mart in many years, largely because of their horrendous advertising. Although, come to think of it, I haven’t seen any really obnoxious Wal-Mart ads in a while. You know the ones I mean - where some Middle American with an odd, vague accent tells us about how much better their life is now that Wal-Mart has fulfilled their every need. I have seen ads lately where W-M tells us what wonderful people they are by supporting the community and charities and all that crap. Applebees used to have a horrible campaign like that too, where they tried to pretend that each store was dedicated to their neighborhood - a laughable idea at best from a national chain. I remember one particularly egregious example where they let in the local Tyke Baseball Team after closing time because they’d just lost a game and gosh-darned it if the manager’s heart didn’t just MELT at the sight of their pouty little faces. Sniff. There was also one where they all spontaneously applauded a fireman or something, but I don’t remember that very well. Also, I work nights, so I see a lot of daytime TV - it’s usually on in the background while I eat and dress. If I see one more ad for sleazy lawyers or unaccredited colleges, I may shoot my TV. The colleges have taken lately to pretending that they’re running telethon type things. “We’re back during this break from the Tony Danza show to tell you more about our crappy worthless degree programs! Call now! Operators are standing by!” ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/39 "2006-04-12T18:26:36Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I haven’t visited a McDonald’s or a Wal-Mart in many years, largely because of their horrendous advertising. Although, come to think of it, I haven’t seen any really obnoxious Wal-Mart ads in a while. You know the ones I mean - where some Middle American with an odd, vague accent tells us about how much better their life is now that Wal-Mart has fulfilled their every need. I have seen ads lately where W-M tells us what wonderful people they are by supporting the community and charities and all that crap. Yeah, generally if a company has to _advertise_ all the good things they’re doing for people, there’s something fishy going on. I also love those Philip Morris ads that encourage people to visit their website to learn how to quit smoking. Riiiiight. Philip Morris totally wants me to quit smoking! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360/40 "2006-04-12T18:35:58Z")
I will never, EVER make use of Orbitz. I would hate to reward the company for its merciless onslaught of pop-up ads. Barely a day goes by that my Internet experience isn’t interrupted by one of those goddamn pop-up ads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertising-that-has-the-reverse-effect-and-actively-discourages-you/352360.md?page=3)