# Are Advitisers Stupid, Or Is It Just Me? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 21, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044 "2002-11-21T23:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NameAlreadyTaken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@NameAlreadyTaken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NameAlreadyTaken)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/1 "2002-11-21T23:05:57Z")
Ok, I’ve never posted before, but I’ve been told this is the place for a rant so here goes… In the last year, I have seen several commercials that really make me wonder about the advertising industry. Let me give you a few examples… 1. A recent cruise line commercial used Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life as the background music. Tell me, is a song most recently associated with mainlining heroine really supposed to make me want to take a cruise? 2. Chilis recently had a commercial for ribs that used Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. Once again, is a song about going to hell thanks to alcohol and drugs suppossed to make me hungry? Addmittedly that “burning ring of fire” is a catchy riff… 3. Some jean’s company recently used CCR’s “Fortunate Son” but cut off the tune after “Some folks are born to wave the flag, Ooh, they’re red, white and blue.” All patriotic, right? But what about the next two lines: “And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”, Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord.” What’s the message? That you aren’t going to be a fortunate son if you wear the jeans? 4. A while back, MasterCard was doing a series of commercials where two guys travelled to all of the ballparks. The commercial showed two guys in a VW van driving accross country. The tune was “Everybody’s Talkin” from Midnight Cowboy. Once again, all I could think about was that if I used their credit card, I’d end up a male prostitute and have to live with either Dustin Hoffman or Jon Voight. Talk about turning me off of a product. So I ask, is it just me, or does anyone else see this as wrong? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/2 "2002-11-21T23:13:14Z")
Well these campaigns are rigorously tested by focus groups, which I’ll assume are composed of the same type of sheeple they are targeting their drivel at. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/3 "2002-11-21T23:14:16Z")
Opps forgot a “Welcome to the boards”. ---
**Author:** ![apotheosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@apotheosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apotheosis)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/4 "2002-11-21T23:19:11Z")
I thought the “burning ring of fire” was a nice tie-in to the gastronomic day-after side-effects of Chili’s food. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/5 "2002-11-21T23:22:34Z")
Stupid? Nay. They know their audience. 1 - You would have to string me out on heroin and threaten to cut off my stash to drag me on one of those retarded cruise ships. 2 - The only way I’d step foot in Chili’s for food, is if I was so hammered I couldn’t see. And I’m going to hell anyway. 3 - I wear jeans all the time. I am not the “fortunate one”. Why, my dad isn’t even a senator. 4 - Jon Voight was kind of cute in that movie. I’m not gay or nuthin’, but I’d blow him. So you see? They know prescisely what they’re doing. ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_s\_Company](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@Misery\_s\_Company](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_s_Company)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/6 "2002-11-21T23:47:58Z")
Hey NameAlreadyTaken! Welcome! My favorite is the Allergy medicene commercial with the music from The Who’s Tommy playing in the background. So, I am forced to wonder if taking the medicene will make me a Pinball Wizard, or deaf and dumb… Not much incentive either way. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/7 "2002-11-21T23:50:09Z")
So far everyone has been far too kind to point out that you make fun of “advitisers” for being stupid. I, however, am fond of subtle irony. :rolleyes: OED, baby. Look into it pre-rant. ---
**Author:** ![NameAlreadyTaken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@NameAlreadyTaken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NameAlreadyTaken)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/8 "2002-11-21T23:53:29Z")
Well, looking at it in preview mode only helps if you can actually catch your own speilling errors… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7cd45c/32.png) [@Misery\_Loves\_Co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misery_Loves_Co)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/9 "2002-11-21T23:59:58Z")
And the award for “cheap shot on the newbie” goes to… 😃 Thank you, **World Eater** for giving me my new favorite word: “sheeple” - it just sums up so much! (btw - welcome, **Name** - your first assignment is to look into the definition of “Gaudere’s Law”) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/10 "2002-11-22T00:08:41Z")
Ring of Fire is about the hell of drugs and alcohol? I never got that from the lyrics. [http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?sid=]�\*[���](http://www.leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?sid=%5D%EA%00*%5B%AF%8B%AA) I always took them in the literal sense of being about love. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I’ve never heard that interpretation myself. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/11 "2002-11-22T00:15:56Z")
Mine too **MLC**. Lighten up **Chast** , its a fucking typo, and occasionally humans make them. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/12 "2002-11-22T00:17:51Z")
See above. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/13 "2002-11-22T01:45:24Z")
Hey, if I was sitting around watching all those moronic commercials, my brain would probably be pretty fried too. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/14 "2002-11-22T01:49:48Z")
You carving a turkey or joining the crusades **Jin?** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/15 "2002-11-22T01:53:28Z")
I’m getting ready for a new photoshoot, deary. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/16 "2002-11-22T02:00:33Z")
Hehe gotcha, carry on. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/17 "2002-11-22T02:02:00Z")
[Boo.](http://www.jinwicked.com/images/journal/worldeater.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/18 "2002-11-22T02:05:06Z")
Great now I’m going to have nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![apotheosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@apotheosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apotheosis)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/19 "2002-11-22T02:06:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinwicked \* > \*\*[Boo.](http://www.jinwicked.com/images/journal/worldeater.jpg) \*\* I’m properly impressed. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044/20 "2002-11-22T02:09:55Z")
I’m ready to go skewer me some advitisers, baby. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-advitisers-stupid-or-is-it-just-me/138044.md?page=2)