# Again with the annoying commercials! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [June 28, 2017, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089 "2017-06-28T22:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 269
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5366 "2024-05-15T22:16:39Z")
I continue to be irritated by Priceline’s “Go to your happy price” campaign. _My_ happy price is **$0** , thanks. And your ads keep reminding me of that. (I get that they are riffing off of a combination of "_go to your happy place" mentally_, plus _go to some actual place using our travel services and get low prices_—but it still makes no sense, because free will always be ‘happier’ than any other price.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2024, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5367 "2024-05-15T22:24:17Z")
Heh. I thought the exact same thing. Seems like me and you will be going to the same _happy place_! At least it’s $0 ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5368 "2024-05-16T00:36:55Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > _My_ happy price is **$0** , thanks. And your ads keep reminding me of that. I’m reminded of a time, years ago, when my wife and I were buying a used car and had reached the negotiating on the price stage. The dealer was going over all the payment options, trying to get us to tell him how much we could afford to pay every month so he’d know which loan package to give us, and at one point said, “What can I do to make you drive out of here with this vehicle?” With a perfectly straight face I replied, “You could give it to us for free.” ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5369 "2024-05-16T16:04:59Z")
Don’t leave us hanging! Did he? ☺ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5370 "2024-05-16T16:09:07Z")
He did! It’s like sov cits, but for car dealers. if you know the secret words to use, you get cars for free, The One Secret THEY don’t want you to know! Or, maybe not… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5371 "2024-05-16T18:02:43Z")
A commercial for a cosmetic product just played. It said the product would ‘return [your skin, or something] to normalcy.’ I think the word they were looking for is _normality_. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5372 "2024-05-16T19:27:56Z")
Unfortunately, no. The look on his face was priceless, though (unlike the car). He was also not happy that I called him on all the additional fees he tried to add on after we’d finally agreed on a price. Like the ADP fee. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5373 "2024-05-16T19:44:58Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Like the ADP fee. If I googled right, that’a Additional Dealer Profit. So the ADP fee is a fee ‘just because we can charge it.’ ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5374 "2024-05-16T19:49:50Z")
Dictionary says they mean exactly the same thing. But it does sound weird. At least they didn’t say, “will make you _youthful looking_ again” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5375 "2024-05-16T19:50:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > A commercial for a cosmetic product just played. It said the product would ‘return [your skin, or something] to normalcy.’ I think the word they were looking for is _normality_. The only thing I hate worse than ridiculous claims about products is the word “normalcy”. Also, shouldn’t it be ‘normal’? Also also, what the heck does skin in “normalcy” look like? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5376 "2024-05-16T19:50:53Z")
Usual. IOW it does nothing at all. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5377 "2024-05-16T19:51:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > If I googled right, that’a Additional Dealer Profit. So the ADP fee is a fee ‘just because we can charge it.’ Yep, that’s the one. They bury it on the list along with anti-rust treatments, prep charges, and bunches of other “mandatory” charges which are actually optional. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5378 "2024-05-16T19:52:29Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Dictionary says they mean exactly the same thing. > But it does sound weird. Huh. I’ve only heard it in this commercial. > [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > Also, shouldn’t it be ‘normal’? ‘Normal’ is an adjective. ‘Normality’ is a noun. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5379 "2024-05-16T19:55:42Z")
Sentence I saw in the dictionary: “After a year of tension, he was relieved to be back in a state of normalcy in his life” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5380 "2024-05-16T23:08:54Z")
Newish ad- a dude being “interviewed” by some woman, with a fake news streaming banner and all, like it is a real News interview- but the whole thing is just a lawyer ad. ecch. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5381 "2024-05-17T00:55:00Z")
My memory is that Warren G. Harding used “normalcy” in a speech back in the 20s (?), and it stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5382 "2024-05-17T01:05:45Z")
You remember the 20s? How old _are_ you? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5383 "2024-05-17T01:07:24Z")
Really old. But I do read. And sometimes I actually remember what I read! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5384 "2024-05-17T01:38:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > It said the product would ‘return [your skin, or something] to normalcy.’ I think the word they were looking for is _normality_. “Normalcy” is an Americanism, popularized by Warren G. Harding with his 1920 campaign slogan, “Return to normalcy.” At the time critics called it a malopropism. Since then it’s become a normal part of U.S. English. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089/5385 "2024-05-17T03:40:20Z")
I’m not doubting that WGH said / popularized it back in the day, but I don’t recall hearing it for most of my life. In my mind, I associate it with some catastrophe -9/11 maybe?- where the news media suddenly started using it _a lot._ Though I’m not sure which event caused it to be resurrected, I clearly recall it hitting my ear wrong, as it continues to do to this day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089.md?page=268) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/again-with-the-annoying-commercials/790089.md?page=270)