# Another Offensive Commercial **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 3, 2001, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795 "2001-08-03T16:29:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/41 "2001-08-06T17:43:44Z")
You know what ad I hate? The Soft & Dri one with the women sort of marching/dancing in tank tops, grey camoflauge pants, and aviator sunglasses, while they do a cadence about deodorant. They’re unsmiling, they’re not lipsynching well. I can’t quite nail why this drives me up the wall, but I think it has to do with the fact that (a) Years of Sine-Off commercials have ruined “cadence” ads for me; (b) none of the “dancers’” hearts really look into this dancing/marching/chanting crap; © aviators just don’t look cool to me anymore – Yo! Top Gun is now a TNT staple; (d) it’s fucking deodorant; and (e) the soft-yet-tough, oh-I’m-beautiful-BUT-I’m-in-the-military thing – quelle coincidence! is just not doing it for me. This makes me want to shoot out my television screen almost as much as those goddamn “I’m having an orgasm over my organic shampoo” ads. _almost_ ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/42 "2001-08-06T18:07:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pnuk Guy \* > \*\*What about the one where they say ‘Buy **Ripp Off** , it won’t make your life better, it won’t make you attractive, it won’t help you get laid, it costs an extortionate amount of money and it’s really pointless!’ > > I know I’d buy their product. :rolleyes:\*\* Actually, Sprite used this very tactic and IIRC experienced a massive surge (no pun intended) in sales in response to this ad campaign. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/43 "2001-08-06T18:42:47Z")
No problem, Diane, I figured as much. 🙂 Frighteningly, I didn’t have digital cable, I was still on the analog version and was paying so much for so little!! CrankyAsAnOldMan, I forgot about that commercial! I hate the bad job done on the lip sync too! I have to admit that the Organic Shampoo commerical in the courtroom still makes me laugh… Dr Ruth’s “I hope those boys come with the body wash!” just kills me! ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/44 "2001-08-07T02:50:02Z")
[marketing major hat **on**] Even irritating commercials (for example, the old Gilbert Godfreid (whose name I don’t care to know how to spell) McDonald’s ads) serve a purpose. Which is to get your attention. They KNOW it’s annoying. But it gets your notice, and that’s what they’re after. For small priced, non-major purposes, it works. You will notice though, that car ads try their best to be non-irritating. Large purchases in general try to make you happy. Sometimes they fail miserably - that’s the ad agency’s fault. But car companies want you to like them. McDonald’s doesn’t care if you like them or not - they just want you to notice them. And, when all is said and done, Jack in the Box has the best ad agency on the face of the earth. I wanna work there! [marketing major hat **off**] I have DirecTV. I love it. I get my baseball games. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/45 "2001-08-07T03:40:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jadailey \* > > You will notice though, that car ads try their best to be non-irritating. Large purchases in general try to make you happy. Um… OK, but how do you account for the vast number of horrid, idiotic, home-made ads by local car salesmen? Loud and flashy. Waaay irritating, IMO. I’m only happy to see the commercial over. Certainly not inspired to go to the dealership and run the risk of actually meeting those same, shrill, annoying salesmen. Bleh. Personal least favorite commercial: Britney Spears prancing around singing “ba, ba, ba” for Pepsi. She sounds like an overgrown Smurf. Not that I drink much Pepsi anyway, but if I did, this commercial annoys me enough to stop. rivulus ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/46 "2001-08-07T04:10:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rivulus \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by jadailey \* > > > > You will notice though, that car ads try their best to be non-irritating. Large purchases in general try to make you happy. > > Um… OK, but how do you account for the vast number of horrid, idiotic, home-made ads by local car salesmen? Loud and flashy. Waaay irritating, IMO. I’m only happy to see the commercial over. Certainly not inspired to go to the dealership and run the risk of actually meeting those same, shrill, annoying salesmen. Bleh.\*\* Easy. Car DEALERS don’t have the money to spend on analysis and competent advertising. Car MANUFACTURERS, on the other hand, do. You see a Chevy Impala commercial produced by General Motors: it’s beautiful, with shots of the car speeding along a wet, winding mountain road next to the ocean. You see a commercial from a Chevy dealer, and it’s nothing like. (Example chosen because that’s what I drive, so that’s what I notice.) You don’t really notice most car manufacturer ads until you’re actually in the market for a car. I can’t explain Isuzu or Mitsubishi. ---
**Author:** ![AwSnappity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@AwSnappity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AwSnappity)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/47 "2001-08-07T04:17:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CrankyAsAnOldMan \* > **You know what ad I hate? The Soft & Dri one with the women sort of marching/dancing in tank tops, grey camoflauge pants, and aviator sunglasses, while they do a cadence about deodorant. They’re unsmiling, they’re not lipsynching well.** There’s one move they do where they flex both of their biceps on their left side, then they swing both arms over and flex their biceps on the right. It looks like they’re a bunch of monkeys. \ I hate those 7UP commercials with Orlando Jones. I especially despise the one where they do blind taste tests with chum, bile, dishwashing soap, detergent, etc. Of course all of the people choose 7UP. The funny thing is that I would rather drink my brother’s urine than 7UP. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/48 "2001-08-07T05:08:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jadailey \* > Easy. Car DEALERS don’t have the money to spend on analysis and competent advertising. Car MANUFACTURERS, on the other hand, do. I don’t think that accounts for it entirely. Many of the local ads I’ve seen are so excessively tacky it must be deliberate. Really, you don’t need much money to do better than that. You don’t need an expensive analyst to tell you that screaming your sales pitch at top speed while flashing neon colored prices across the screen is tasteless. They must think it sells cars. Maybe it does. Just not to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/49 "2001-08-07T06:16:08Z")
> [@](#): > > I hate the Mitsubishi commercial where the couple is on a date and the girl walks to the wrong car and admires herself in the reflection, looking around like an airhead for her date who is at a different car. The advertisers are trying to paint the guy as a loser for not having a Mitsubishi. They succeed only in painting the girl as an idiot. The girl in that commercial is HOT! ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795/50 "2001-08-07T18:57:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnnyIsGood \* > \*\*There are ads here for a light orange juice brand at bus stops and such that basically just say, outright: “Drink _brand_ and your husband won’t leave you”. I can’t recall the line exactly (it’s in portuguese anyway) but it is that blunt. I just thought “what the fuck?!” > > \*\* HAHAHA, reminds me of an old Conan O’Brien “Weird Ads” skit where the supermarket flyer advertised mayo for whatever price, then in small print underneath it said “Men who don’t get mayo at home have been known to look for it outside the marriage.” The diamond ads are downright foul. There was a billboard near here recently with a big pair of earrings on it that said something like “Your wife told us to show you these” or something obnoxious like that. Like I spend all my time scheming and conniving to get pretty, pretty diamonds! PRETTY, PRETTY! SPARKLE PRETTY! DIAMOND = PRETTY PRETTY LOVE! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-offensive-commercial/74795.md?page=2)