# Commercials I Don't Understand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253 "2008-11-24T15:23:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/41 "2008-11-27T04:46:16Z")
> [@mobo85](#): > > I get the idea of the ads (the minivan is so great, people want to have babies just so they have an excuse for buying one), but the thing that disturbs me is the ad where she says something like “25,000 babies are born every day specifically for German engineering.” Taken the wrong way, that sentence gives off a creepy, Nazi-eugenics vibe. I love those commercials! My favorite parts are when the couples overhear what she’s saying. They give her the “Wtf are you talking about” look. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/42 "2008-11-27T05:39:50Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I love those commercials! My favorite parts are when the couples overhear what she’s saying. They give her the “Wtf are you talking about” look. It could be even better if one of the hugely pregnant women walked over and clocked Brooke. I bought a mini-van many years ago because I had 4 big dogs. No kids. I wasn’t aware there was some sort of rule that one must reproduce in order to buy a mini-van. Good thing I didn’t get caught. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/43 "2008-11-27T05:47:55Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I love those commercials! My favorite parts are when the couples overhear what she’s saying. They give her the “Wtf are you talking about” look. I love the one where she’s talking about reverse vasectomies and they guy is like, “Hey, I didn’t get anything reversed…” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/44 "2008-11-27T05:51:56Z")
Well, it’s sorta a rule made up by the Automotive industry. Look, (they have told us) no one would ever drive a mini-van unless you’re a Mom, you’d rather drive a SUV, riiiight?\* VW is trying to make fun of that a bit. And Brooke looks hot in that tight skirt.😉 - then they are even trying to sell SUV’s to Moms on the basis they are safer- but they are most definately NOT safer. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/45 "2008-11-27T06:10:20Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > There are three links that you can click on _Healthy Heart, Vindication_ and \*Satisfaction \*that each give different endings to the story. > > The third one, Satisfaction, shows why she wants a pawn shop. Am I the only one who thought the pawnshop option was for a cheap gun? The one that confuses me is this one for Korean Air. ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QWaafbESmjI/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/QWaafbESmjI?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque It looks like one of those cheesy perfume commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/46 "2008-11-27T06:21:18Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > I don’t get the Geico caveman commercials lately… And _why_ does he think he is beating Billie Jean King at tennis? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/47 "2008-11-27T06:35:21Z")
> [@Batsinma\_Belfry](#): > > Am I the only one who thought the pawnshop option was for a cheap gun? > > The one that confuses me is this one for Korean Air. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWaafbESmjI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWaafbESmjI) > > It looks like one of those cheesy perfume commercials. That’s what I thought it was for until the very end when they flashed the Korean Air logo. It reminded of [an old SNL parody commercial featuring a teenage boy and girl engaging in small talk about their plans for the evening before a plug for General Dynamics comes on at the end.](http://snltranscripts.jt.org/86/86adynamics.phtml) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@The\_Tof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tof)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/48 "2008-11-27T10:59:01Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > That’s gotta be it. Plus, built like that, he ain’t gettin’ laid. For what it’s worth, there also used to be a commerical where Whopper walks in on Whopper Jr. making out with a very normal teenage girl. And I believe the point their making is “Our Value Menu has Attitude”- much like a teenager. ---
**Author:** ![atomicbadgerrace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@atomicbadgerrace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/atomicbadgerrace)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/49 "2008-11-27T11:33:58Z")
I totally understand what they were going for, but some of the recent [Starbucks](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkC5qYH0ln0) Red ads make me want to smack their marketing team. Not this one–I can’t find the other I saw, where their other [tagline](http://red.starbucks.com/red/default.aspx) (top of page) is displayed. Starbucks, it’s bad form to use the tagline “'tis better to give and receive” when you’re talking about AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/50 "2008-11-27T11:45:04Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > That’s gotta be it. Plus, built like that, he ain’t gettin’ laid. And yet he encourages his kid to sell himself for dollar :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/51 "2008-11-27T15:55:20Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > It’s a take-off on the old teen-angst “I wish I’d never been born.” Because, you know, he’s not a teen, he’s a burger. Or am I not getting what you’re not getting? > > ETA: The burgers depicted are the Whopper and the Whopper Jr., hence the father-son theme. Trying to “get” any Burger King ad can cause migraines, heart palpitations and nausea. Much like their food. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/52 "2008-11-28T03:05:49Z")
> [@WilhelmGefallen](#): > > From your description of the ad, it sounds like Girl A and Boy A are dating as are B and B. > > It sounds like Boy A has Boy B’s computer thus is seeing Girl B (ie his brothers girlfriend) and vice versa, by switching computers they get their own girlfriends back. Except on the laptop screen is a single video window with both female twins waving. Presumably his brother is seeing the same image. So, unless they’re dating identical quadruplets (now _that_ would be interesting), both brothers are seeing their dame (+sister) no matter which laptop they’re holding. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/53 "2008-12-01T13:58:11Z")
Here’s one I don’t get. It’s for lotion or something to ease winter dry skin and other itchiness. It shows people distracted by having to stop and itch uncontrollably. The mom says, “I’ve had to revert to desperate measures” and it shows the dad and grandpa in those cone collars like you put on a dog. Um, how does that stop a human from itching themselves with their hands? It’s not like they had showed these people as so itchy they had to bite at themselves like a dog. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/54 "2008-12-03T09:55:19Z")
There’s something with weird, talking thumbs with faces on them that’s just sick and wrong. I think it’s for a cell phone plan. I also think the ad’s target audience can’t afford an actual phone, and the people who their targets will be begging for a phone will be creeped out by that ad, assuming they figure out what it’s for. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253/55 "2008-12-03T10:01:16Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > There’s something with weird, talking thumbs with faces on them that’s just sick and wrong. I think it’s for a cell phone plan. I also think the ad’s target audience can’t afford an actual phone, and the people who their targets will be begging for a phone will be creeped out by that ad, assuming they figure out what it’s for. The premise of the ad is that since the phone has a keypad, you can actually type out how you are amused by someone’s comments rather than just “LOL.” The thing that disturbs me about the ad is not so much the thumbs (which I assume represent someone’s personality coming out through typing longer phrases) but they way they express this, saying (or typing) things that a person would never say, like “If they bottled your humor, I’d buy it” or something like that. I’d actually prefer “LOL” to such bizarre statements. (Besides, don’t most people respond to something funny by laughing out loud, anyway?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-i-dont-understand/474253.md?page=2)