I’ve been seeing a bunch of TV ads for Austedo, a prescription drug that treats tardive dyskinesia (involuntary facial and body movements that are typically caused by certain medications, particularly antipsychotic agents).
Now, there’s nothing new or wrong about developing a drug to deal with side effects of another drug(s). For instance, people on chemotherapeutic agents may take meds for associated nausea or to boost depressed blood counts.
The Austedo ad however lists among potential side effects, Parkinson’s disease - another movement disorder. Now wouldn’t that be lovely?
Also, look at the in-use pic: the model’s walking nonchalantly down the waterfront… as a guy right behind him is pulling himself up over the railing, soaking wet, as is his suit and briefcase.
The commerical shows a family taking pictures of their house, but to show how outdated they are, they are using a 8x10 view camera and magnesium flashpowder (but they do have a light meter, oddly enough). Their helpful yet condescending neighbor tells them to embrace the future and use Opendoor, the modern way to sell, Apparently, photos are not needed in this glorious future. And sure enough, within 0.7 seconds they have an offer. The wife shows off the app with the listing and the offer.
Why, oh why do all mobile game app ads feature faithless men who physically and emotionally abuse women? This has absolutely nothing to do with the game (another infuriating mobile app ad constant-- show gameplay that has absolutely nothing to do with the game being advertised). The men constantly cheat on their women who, incidentally, just found out they were pregnant. The men slap children, abuse cute animals, toss women they’ve just kissed off of ships in the middle of the ocean, even drop kick their significant other off of mountains.
Then, in act two, the crying women, children and animals freeze to death because the player is too stupid to play the game correctly. And for what? The game puzzles they show ARE NOT PART OF THE GAME! It makes me want to download the one game that does not follow this format (Family Farm, I believe) even though I have no interest in playing a farming game. So many games do this that it must work-- but on who and how?
None of that rings a bell; I must not be seeing the same ads you are.
My own pet peeve in game ads are when they show a simple game being played by someone who is utterly hopeless at it. I think the idea is for the viewer to say to themselves “I can do better than that”. I see them and say “how dumb do they think we are?”
If they are the ads I’m thinking of, even Solitaire has them. Why is the mother forced to live in a drafty barn because her husband runs off with a cute young thang? And why are the women covered in 6 inches of flowing mud? Answer me that!
Or on the rare occasion that it isn’t that - it’s an ad of someone playing a game badly and losing, but the game being played isn’t the game being advertised.
What’s the value proposition here? What’s happening? How does this work? What’s going on?
I keep getting phone ads for some magic fat burning pill. So-and-so lost 70 lbs in 10 days! And the before-and-after pictures are so obviously not the same person. Again, how dumb do they think we are? (Plus, it’s been the “last day to buy” for three weeks now…)
The stupid bait and switch game ads are all over YouTube! I’ve recently seen an ad with a cartoon-y guy saying to click here for the REAL game. I’m talking about the “slide this and pour molten metal on the evil troll” game.
Which brings up a peeve of mine. Why would someone just decide to take a professionally posed “before” picture anyway? Do they know they are going to lose 76 1/2 pounds and get a commercial contract?
Another scam product commercial comes to mind. Plexaderm! Gets rid of bags under your eyes. They have before and after pics, too. I was sucked in, but googled reviews of this stuff before I bought any. Apparently, it works for about a minute, then your eyes droop again. It’s one of those “sign up for monthly payments” that you can’t get out of. Beware!
There’s an AARP commercial that seems to be running only with On Demand programming at the moment. On the surface, it’s touching – a woman becomes emotional while helping her elderly father with his socks. Unfortunately, the framing of the commercial, which quickly cuts from her messing with the dad actor’s socks to a close-up of her scrunched-up face, makes it look like she’s having a negative reaction to the guy’s foot odor.
I’m in kind of an annoying commercial hiatus right now. The ones I auto-mute have mostly gone away, and the ones I threw a shit fit about all have been changed or pulled.
Currently, the only specific one that bugs me is the fake Lily commercial by AT&T, but there seems to be a trend of angry-sounding black men commercials emerging, and I find that off-putting.
There’s an ad for some “hire people to take care of old people at home instead of sending them to places where they can get proper care” company where the kids are talking about how Dad told them to let their mom stay home. Screw you, Dad, you couldn’t have predicted what Mom’s needs might have been.
