Burger King ads had that effect on me when I was a kid, too. I don’t even remember exactly what the ad message was-- just that it was something that made them out to be the absolute unambiguous best, and I thought that was pretentious of them, because after all, “best” is subjective (I don’t know how I missed all of the other products whose ads said the same thing). Though I didn’t mind ads that just said “Most consumers prefer our product”, or “Here’s a side-by-side of something cleaned with our product vs. the competitor”, or whatever, because those were facts.
There was also an ad from Ore-Ida that I remember that said “Ever notice how everyone always eats the potatoes first?” Well, it was hardly practical for me to stop eating potatoes (especially since I wasn’t even in control of the family’s menu), but I was still contrarian enough that, for years afterwards, I would always make sure to eat the potato part of any meal last.
I don’t even recall exactly what the ad was about, but maybe 30 years ago Molson had an ad that featured a woman with an immigrant accent cleaning a john with mop and bucket that I found truly revolting. Until that point, Molson’s Blue had been my standard beer and I have not had one since that ad. Moosehead is my go to beer now.
They always say that they can save you up to 15% on car insurance. I’ve found myself wondering if they could save you up to 20%, or even 25%, if they didn’t buy so much advertising.
If it’s the one hawking the two Whoppers for five dollars deal, yeah, that’s obnoxious in numerous ways. The actors are portrayed as regular drive-through patrons, but who just happen to have two cameras locked down on their cars, and when they get their bag-o-crap, they act completely amazed that there are two sandwiches in it. Which, if they were actual customers, they would have had to order specifically to begin with. Sheesh.
I’ve heard that both of them are terrible to deal with, and Farmers is even worse.
This British commercial was rapidly pulled because so many parents contacted the company and said their kids were imitating it. Years ago, there was an American commercial for a carpet cleaner that didn’t last very long for the same reason; it depicted toddlers in their high chair, with a food dish shaped like an airplane or a car, and let’s just say the kids put the wheels to use.
It’s worth noting that 95% of spam has no direct affiliation with the company they are spamming for. Companies create referral programs that are open to anyone to use, much like Amazon’s affiliate links, and they intend them to be used by franchisees and various search/social media sites. They basically put up a website where any partner can sign up, they get an affiliate link, and for every sale that can be tied back to that partner’s referral they pay a few cents to the subscriber. Unfortunately that open approach can be abused. This is why you’ll often get the exact same message, at least in the same format and structure, many times in a series promoting different unaffiliated products. Every company with this type of program gets feed into the spambot network.
not only that but if you send me 14 emails a week, every week, that today is the only day I can get free shipping or the 20% discount - you’re not really inspiring me to ‘buy now’.
I think it’s funny that the guy with the white beard is Daym Drops, a You Tuber who got his start criticizing fast food. When you hire your critic “you control information” (with a Neuman accent). I do like him, though.
Even the New York Times does this (though not quite as frequent). I made a screen shot of my Gmail inbox filtered by all the emails I got from them which all said “Ends today: Subscribe now for $1”. Well, there was clearly a series of emails on various days counting down to when the offer expired in which that was the last one. Anyway, it’s been going on long enough that they clearly don’t inspire me to act soon. (I gave them my email address once to do crosswords on their website I think.)
