Commercials. From annoying to just plain weird.

The BBQ Pit
41

i have to say i love the joe boxer/kmart commercial, it has actually become known as “my” commercial, and i always laugh outloud at it when it comes on (but, i don’t watch that much tv).

also, a fav is the sears appliance sale commercial, where the man comes into the kitchen and starts drinking from the milk carton, and then spews it all over! the wife then says “the firdge is broke”. i love that! heehee :slight_smile:

most annoying and sure to get muted is the “one day at a time” cd commercial that comes on cnn early in the morning. the last thing i want in my head is that crap, and putting it there first thing in the morning, well, i’ll just have to watch cartoons with my morning coffee instead of the news from now on.

42

There’s this one commercial that I think really doesn’t have a place on tv.

Progressive:
Revenge-filled girlfriend is mad at her cheating boyfriend. She makes a voodoo doll, stabs him in the shoulder and the knee or something, and then cracks his balls with a pair of pliers.

Now I’m female and I think this commercial is sick. If my boyfriend cheated on me, yeah I’d be mad. And I know the commercial isn’t advocating cracking the guys nuts or anything, but still. Everytime I see the commercial, I just think what the fuck? If I were a guy I’d be scared shitless of someone who would be damn capable of that! (not that I’m saying he should be able to cheat without repercussions, just that those repercussions shouldn’t be so messed up).

My boyfriend was very gratified to know that I found that commerical sickening.

43

Weird. I’m a guy, and I find that Progressive commercial funny.

Every time I see that “Rugby Bunch” commercial, I can’t help but think to myself, “I wonder how many of those people have actually played Rugby.”

44

In the UK adverts are generally not too tacky. There are three exceptions to this rule of thumb:
[ul][li]Consolidation loan and car finance adverts. If in doubt, have unconvincing actors have an unconvincing conversation with their unconvincing actor friends about how Ocean Finance (or whoever) has the answer to all debt problems.[/li][li]Best-of-genre album adverts. Excuse me? Three CDs of ‘classic soft rock’ advertised by some jumped-up tart in a leotard attempting what appears to be a ‘modern interpretive dance’ with an electric guitar?[/li]Ambulance-chasing ‘personal accident and injury’ adverts. I suppose you don’t need subtlety to appeal to the people who think put-on whiplash entitles you to bury your snout in a big pile of cash, but the barely concealed greed is an insult. Suffered a trip or fall? Then get over it and get off my TV.[/ul]

45

Don’t forget that advert for those Strawberry and Cream sweets - the one with the really bad acting, where the cameraman goes up to some ‘ordinary members of the public’ who try the sweets and go into paroxysms of delight about how really real the creaminess is, and the strawberry flavour tastes just like they’re fresh. It doesn’t sound scripted at all…oh no.

What madman would accept sweets from strangers, even if they had a camera?

46

Oh, several of the many billions of reasons I celebrate the fact that our cable was cut off in May. Missing the few shows we watched has been MORE than made up for by no longer having The Evil Box tell us (or our kids) what music to listen to, what products to buy, or what services we can’t live without.

Also, I have a really bad habit of yelling at the TV when commercials come on. “You’re an ACTOR, you AUDITIONED, you couldn’t care LESS about this product…you’re an ACTOR…you are getting PAID…” Mostly for the benefit of my kids.

And yeah, they know the people on the shows and in the movies are actors too.

One of my proudest moments: My 7-year-old, when he was 6, looking at the TV quizzically and then saying “They don’t really care if our tummies hurt, do they.” I shook my head. “Then they’re lying, aren’t they.” “Yes, honey, they are.” “Huh.” And then he got up and started reading a book. :smiley:

47

Oh yes, we see the Sears A/C commercial a lot here.
See, kids, the husband has the job of buying things, and the wife has the job of telling him when to do it!
:stuck_out_tongue:

I hate the Goldfish commercial: until you bite their heads off…blah

48

Inspired: “Leotart.”

AFAIK, this is a brand-new word. It’s open-source, so use it in good health.

And Old Navy commercials are the #1 reason I’ll never purchase Old Navy products.

49

Yeah, those Goldfish commercials are downright creepy! The snack that smiles back?? Wha? Huh?

50

Have you seen the new “fridge is broken” commercial? Guy walks in to find empty food containers everywhere and finds his SO in the kitchen eating. He’s clearly thinking she’s having pregnancy-related cravings. :smiley:

I, too, hate the Toyota commercial that plays Mambo #5. I think the only sort of commercial that song should be used for is Chinese take-out. I used to listen to bitcasts of 3GG radio and they once had a great parody of Mambo #5 as Combo #5.

Back to the OP: I saw a Space Bags commercial over the weekend and they had some other smarmy pitchman. I guess Billy Mays can’t be everywhere.

51

Sivalensis, glad to know I’m not the only one who hates that commercial. In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Progressive hasn’t had a single commercial that was good.

Also, the Staples commercial with the kids dressed up to go to the waterpark, but then they find out they’re going to school because of various school supplies on the flood. HA HA! YES, IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE THE KIDS THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO THE WATER PARK, BUT ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO SCHOOL! ISN’T THAT JUST FUCKING HILARIOUS! Yes, lying to your kids is funny. And to think Staples used to have funny commercials.

Speaking of back to school, I could also do without the cheerful father prancing around with his kids trailing behind. Then the father gets in his kids faces by playing with the various supplies. If my dad ever did that to me, I would kick him in the nuts. Luckily, my dad does not have the extensive brain damage required for one to prance around in a office supplies store. I don’t know what store this commercial is for, which is just as well since the store isn’t worthy of having its name repeated here.

52

“HA HA! YES, IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE THE KIDS THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO THE WATER PARK, BUT ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO SCHOOL! ISN’T THAT JUST FUCKING HILARIOUS!”

I haven’t seen this ad y’all are talking about, but I can’t imagine a bunch of kids being cluelessly stupid enough to realize that, yes, it’s time for the first day of school. If nothing else, they’d’ve spent the previous few days quietly bitching.

53

You’re not missing much. Parents sure seem mean-spirited, though.

54

Everytime I hear the Clash’s London Calling being used to sell Jaguars I want to cry.

55

I meant “…cluelessly stupid enough to NOT realize…”

And I didn’t hit the “WAIT, NOOOOOOOOOOO!” button so I didn’t have a chance to correct.

We, the management of Hamadryad’s brain, apologize for this error and this resultant corrective post, and remind you that we are working pro bono. Thank you.

56

I can’t stand the Herbal Essences commercials with the women going into orgasmic fits over their shampoo. It just makes me uncomfortable. I like shampoo as much as the next lady, but… well, maybe not as much as these ladies. The latest one, with the woman talking to her shampoo in the shower, while her significant other listens in dismay makes me sad.
I hope he’s cheating on her.

Also - ** Revtim **, LOL at your maxi commercial. You should make a career out of it.

57

OMG!

I am a bit suprised…

Has NO ONE mentioned the new Virgin Mobile phone commericals? Talk about weird!!

Well,actullay there was a thread in Cafe Society about it,but it was short lived. But after reading that thread and seeing the “Cheese Sandwhich” and “Hot Lava” commericals about 6 times now,I’m convincd when they wrote them,they MUST have had mushrooms (yes,the ones from cow poo) or some other mind altering drug.

In case you haven’t seen them,there’s descriptions (albeit not very good ones. I don’t remember them word for word)

Cheese Sandwich: Woman walks into a “mobile home.” This guy in spandex shorts gives her a cheese sandwhich from a vending machine with a sign saying “Cheese Sandwhich = $20” The woman takes a bite,swpews it out of her motuh,and then in a language language I can’t place (mabye Russian,but all of the folling speech is subtitiled in english) She exclaims “I’m not paying for this!” The guy in spandex yells “You must pay for the sandwhich!” She says “Your a horse! I don’t want it, it has fur!” The guy says “You must pay!”, and point’s to the Cheese Sandwich sign,which now has " + one bite + spitting =56.67" sribbled down on it. Another guy says “This is the best thing going!” She yells “Look! An Eagle!” and runs out.

She then goes to the “Virgin Mobile” When she enters,there’s a young guy in a red suit smiling and standing next to a table. On the screen in big letters, it says “Pancakes-pay by the bite. Hug Everyone!” So the woman sits down to eat the pancakes with CHOPSTICKS,and the guy starts singing in either the same language as before or a different one while holing on to a cell phone.

As weird as the commerical is,I love to watch it,everytime it comes on.

Then there’s another one.

An art Teacher,an older europein looking man yells at his students (in a language I don’t know) to quiet down,and instructs them that today they will describe their feelings about their cell phones.

So he walks around and observes his students paintings. One is of a man holding a rabbit ovr a swimming pool (I think the teacher says “depressed) another one is of a guy kissing another guy,and the teacher says confused!” Then,he goes over to a young womans painting of a man with long hair sitting on a unicorn.The teacher begins yelling (what sounds like) “HOT LAVA!!” “HOT LAVA!!” “HOT LAVA!!” Suddenly, the Man and the Unicorn “magically” pop out of the picture. She gets on the horse,and the teacher and other students appalud as they go flying off into another dimension.

Both commericals are SO frickin strange,but there cool to look at too

58

Has anyone else seen the Verizon one where this guy sticks his tongue out at this animal which might be a weael; the weasel bites the guys tongue, doesn’t let go, the guys calls?

59

YES! [sub]are you saying that one’s annoying? i liked it[/sub]

60

not annoying-just plain weird…:eek: