If Internet “commercials” count, how about the obvious spam poster that says things like “my friend’s sister-in-law makes $76/hour on the laptop. She has been without work for 6 months but last month her pay check was blah blah blah learn more from this website!”
Why on Earth does the random connection make this seem more legitimate? “Well I don’t know who you are, but if your friends sister-in-law does this, wow!”
Ultimately, the Tobacco companies paid for those ads, so I guess it only seems fair.
“To get this amazing offer, you must call in the next ten minutes…or the ten minutes after that…or the ten after that…, hell, any time this year we’ll be happy to sell you the crap.”
I’ve been seeing commercials for the Clear TV digital TV antenna. The thing is, it’s no better than something you can pick up at Target or Wal-Mart that will cost you less, too.
The grabber? They show footage of a TV on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico picking up a picture using the Clear TV antenna. Right below is a caption that says “TV image simulated.”
A lot of Internet print ads use the phrase “weird trick” (or “weird tip”). There must be some market research somewhere that says that people like the idea of getting away with something (well, that’s a given). More interestingly, apparently the market research reveals that if the trick or tip is called “weird,” then some sort of folk authenticity is attributed to it by the slow-witted.
(I’ve never, ever clicked on one of these, so I don’t think they are being shown to me especially; I think they really are fairly numerous. They’re always for products or services that would appeal to the less-well-educated, such as cut-rate no-name auto insurance.)
A close cousin of the “one weird trick” ads is the “local mom makes $1200 a month working from home” type of ads.
Top means number one. Search Number one and see what you get.
The commercials that offer a “buy one get one free” so long as you pay the separate processing fee for the “free” item. My son wants a stuffed toy that can be heated or frozen (serves as a heating or cooling pad). The toy itself is $15 (of course they market $14.95) and the shipping/handling is another $8. But wait — there’s more! They’ll include a second corn-kernel stuffed cheap ass synthetic fabric poorly constructed animal for FREE! You just pay an extra $8 handling fee! I hate how they market these things to appeal to young kids. My son wants everything he sees – slushee maker (bought it, doesn’t work, cools beverage the same way a frozen mug does), Stompees, DREAMLITE, pillow pet, chillow. And on. And on.
There used to be a radio commercial I heard just about every day…it included something like “If your last name stars with A through M, call immediately! Everyone else can call starting tomorrow.”
Yeah, there are a lot of pretty shameless ads on the Internet. In many cases the old telephone and surface mail scams have simply been posted on the web without any changes. (I guess these qualify for this thread’s “think you’re an idiot” theme.)
Another type of Internet ad I’ve seen seems to assume that fans of Barack Obama will believe that he has Proclaimed that Mortgage Aid will be given to all–Just Click Here! (If he got a dime for every time his name or photo is used to fleece people, he’d be…pretty rich.) These are translations of the “official-looking envelope” mail scams, basically. *The Government needs you to do this!–*is the appeal to the dim.
I’m surprised we don’t see any Nigerian Prince Needs Your Help Internet ads; maybe they are considered to be just a bridge too far.
Turn off the TV.
Or suggest he get a job.
I love the “Doctors/Dentists/Florists/etc hate this Townsville mom for learning this one crazy secret!” ads. Always makes me think of a cabal of optometrists handing Francois the Shadow a briefcase full of money to “eliminate” Mrs. Dipswitz and her crazy secret.
Nitpick… Keeenyahn prince.
that part I could understand; I doubt they’d have the budget/equipment to shoot in such conditions and not have the image on the TV washed out by the ambient light.
what I take away from that commercial is how they’ve taken the way people watched TV for decades and presented it like some hot new secret thing. Yay, they’re hawking a directional UHF antenna.
I expect that people who believe in a conspiracy surrounding a particular birth on 4 August 1961, are not coincidentally among those most reliably responsive to the commercials and ads discussed in this thread.
These commercials don’t think I’m an idiot as I’m not in the target audience:
Education Connection where the young lass is “dancing” in her boxer shorts while a song is exhorting the benefits of online education. Usually they give you a web address like www.dumbass.com/education/47
Then there’s the one with people who are bent out of shape because their 486’s are running amazingly slow… until, that is, they go to www.fastpc.com (name changed to protect the stupid.) I assume that they have programmed their viruses to kill all the other viruses on your computer before hijacking your data. 
This one certainly thinks women are idiots, anyway.
“OMG this site makes it okay for lil women like us to shop without a man along!”
Seriously, every time it comes on I want to brain someone.
The drunk driving commercials that only have white males in them. Women of any race and men of any other race never drive drunk.
How dare you besmirch that young lady’s reputation! She’s in boxer shorts and a ridiculously tight and low-cut tank top while doing homework.
She looks like a fine student and God forbid I should ever besmirch any young lady who dresses in proper study attire. I guess I was jealous because the girls never studied that way when I was in school… at least around me, they didn’t. 
Or… 