# Commercials with unintended messages **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2017, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539 "2017-04-16T02:10:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/61 "2017-04-27T21:54:17Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > There’s a car ad where the potential buyer and a salesman are out on a test drive. He tells her about the turbo engine, she floors it. He tells her about the lane assist and she lets go of the steering wheel making the car drift into another lane before the correct stops it. Finally he tells her about the braking assist and she goes “You mean this car can stop itself?” and heads off, presumably right at a tree. > > These are safety features, not see how your car can save you features. But it is a _test_ drive. > [@DigitalC](#): > > The “can you hear me now?” guy switching from Verizon to Sprint just makes me think he’s a sellout, it doesn’t make me think Sprint is better. But shilling for Verizon in the first place doesn’t make him a sell out? I agree it doesn’t convince me Sprint is actually better, which convinced him to switch who he works for. He’s an actor, he gets paid by whomever will pay him. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > The thing about that ad that hits me - he says Sprint’s reliability is practically the same as Verizon, which is fine if you live somewhere that has Sprint coverage. But he doesn’t say anything about coverage - just reliability. What good is reliability if you can’t get a signal at your house? Agreed. I have the same complaint. > [@Superdude](#): > > There’s also a Milky Way commercial where a girl is eating a candy bar while tattooing someone, and misspells the word “regrets” so that it reads “regerts.” When the customer points that out, she responds with “sorry…I was eating a Milky Way.” And that gets you off the hook how? > [@guestchaz](#): > > as an aside, am I the only one that wants to punch Jimmy in the throat instead of buying a syphilis or whatever it is he’s shilling? Jimmy? > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As near as I can tell, Liberty Mutual insurance is looking for customers with no understanding of how insurance works, and Jack Link’s beef jerky is for people who are complete and total assholes. So you see Bigfoot somewhere, and your _first_ thought is to do something to piss him off? Not only are they assholes, they are idiots, too. > [@jz78817](#): > > I hated [this commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxAo8_JySkM) with the fire of a thousand suns. it basically says “you may suck at being a dad, so at least you can hand him down a VW later.” > > you know how many kids would love to have a dad who pays attention enough to do things like play catch with them, even if badly? Nope, VW thinks it’s better to give him a car which will be a used up, money pit piece of junk by the time he’s old enough to drive it. I think the message is that he won’t thank you for his athletic ability, not that dad is bad for playing catch and trying to teach his son. > [@tenacious\_j](#): > > It’s the “made with” that gets me, and probably **Donegal Dragon**. Burger King chicken fries advertise “made with white meat chicken” but leave out of the ad the starch, water, and whatever else, they toss in there. Not 100% white meat chicken at all. But 100% white meat chicken breaded with milk and flour is still “made with”. I think you’re being a bit over-interpretive. > [@](#): > > Along the same lines, one of the buttery spreads- maybe Country Crock?- uses “real ingredients.” No shit, everything in there is real? Doesn’t say anything about real _what_… Now this one I agree with. > [@igor\_frankensteen](#): > > This new AP called “Letgo” has rather nasty ads, too. > > They have yet to have had one where the person who actually OWNED the whatever, WANTED TO SELL IT. Someone else always sold it out from under them, without their permission. Bothers me, too. “I’m going off to college.” “Have fun! Great, now I can sell all his stuff behind is back and make a buck. When he comes home for the weekend, he won’t miss anything.” ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/62 "2017-04-27T22:26:08Z")
> [@Dan\_Ervin](#): > > Viagra used to have commercials with the tagline “For guys who know how to get things done.” The problem is the guy is usually alone. > > In one the guy is sailing a boat and some doohickey breaks, so he patches it with some other doohickey. (No, I don’t know how to sail why do you ask?) Anyway the SO is apparently back on dry land. > > In another, the guy gets his pickup stuck in the mud while towing a horse trailer, so he gets the horses out and hitches them up to pull out the truck. There is nobody around for miles but the horses… > > Cialis commercials where the 2 people are in separate bathtubs. HOW BIG IS IT GONNA GET? Whut? The ‘guy who knows how to get things done’ takes care of business, he does what needs to be done. He can’t get a boner? By golly, he goes to a doctor and gets a prescription for Viagra, no dilly-dallying around, because life is short, he is in a sexxy relationship, and there is no time to waste. What’s wrong with that? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/63 "2017-04-28T00:20:51Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > Well, there _ **is** _ that famous [Folgers Christmas commercial](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZnqBL6iYjA)… :eek: They are so gonna fuck. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/64 "2017-04-28T02:18:32Z")
> [@WildBlueYonder](#): > > Doubt the commercial I’m mentioning doesnt really match the topic but why is Danica Patrick (I think that was her) touting she quit school at 16, had some bad times but now…she is advertising fast cash joints? > > Yeah that’s a good one. Kiddies leave school at 16 and you eventually make it! Round these parts she’s shilling my hospital group. ER time at Elmhurst is thirteen minutes, at Edward it’s six minutes, but in Plainfield it’s only 1 minute. As if Edward at that location weren’t 30 minutes away and Plainfield over an hour. If she weren’t so hot I might complain. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/65 "2017-04-28T02:30:33Z")
Well, maybe they’re 30 minutes and an hour away the way _you_ drive. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/66 "2017-04-28T03:02:08Z")
Just saw a car commercial that used the whole “you can’t handle the truth” speech from _A Few Good Men_. Do they not know that Col. Jessup was a lying, amoral asshole? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/67 "2017-04-28T22:17:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As near as I can tell, Liberty Mutual insurance is looking for customers with no understanding of how insurance works … I can’t decide which of the Liberty Mutual commercials I hate more. There’s the one where the woman read her policy (only _after_ having an accident, mind you), and it said “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!” So, your company appeals to people who are too stupid to read and understand an insurance policy? Great. Then there’s the pissy lady who snipes, “What are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car?” No, dumbshit, did it ever occur to you that entire cars come at different price points? You don’t have to “drive around on three wheels.” This company truly does cater to idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/68 "2017-04-28T22:35:34Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I can’t decide which of the Liberty Mutual commercials I hate more. There’s the one where the woman read her policy (only _after_ having an accident, mind you), and it said “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!” So, your company appeals to people who are too stupid to read and understand an insurance policy? Great. > > Then there’s the pissy lady who snipes, “What are you supposed to do, drive three-quarters of a car?” No, dumbshit, did it ever occur to you that entire cars come at different price points? You don’t have to “drive around on three wheels.” > > This company truly does cater to idiots. My long-held theory is that car insurance companies genuinely do prefer low-IQ customers–such people are less likely to be able to figure out how to win against the insurance companies in court. And even if no incident get them to the point of having to go to court, they are less likely to understand how the company is routinely bilking them by charging them more for less. Liberty Mutual has certainly distinguished itself as the company going _hardest_ after that low-IQ customer–you have to give them that. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/69 "2017-04-29T00:04:10Z")
I’ve heard something similar about used car commercials. All these commercials have bad production values and some Larry Bud Melman-type guy telling you to rush on down for deals deals deals. The point is that Larry Bud is supposed to look like such a rube that people think they can get the better of him in a used car negotiation. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/70 "2017-04-29T00:17:06Z")
Don’t think this has been brought up yet, but a current ad for [Booking.com](http://Booking.com) shows a stressed out woman standing in a Kindergarten classroom (we assume she’s the teacher) with a bunch of kids in the background running amok. She states: “There’s nothing more important to me than my vacation.” Really? Well, it’s obvious that your chosen career to teach children in Kindergarten isn’t that important, since you’re doing such a lousy job of it. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/71 "2017-04-29T00:25:28Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > I don’t think that message was unintended. Yeah, that was intentional sexual innuendo and the ads were mentioned in a lawsuit as such. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/72 "2017-05-02T12:59:20Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Just saw a car commercial that used the whole “you can’t handle the truth” speech from _A Few Good Men_. Do they not know that Col. Jessup was a lying, amoral asshole? See also the [GE coal power ad that used “Sixteen Tons”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ueDHn2HTk) as background music, or the ultrapatriotic Wrangler jeans one with CCR’s “Fortunate Son” (which I can’t find on youtube, gee I wonder why?). For those of you youngsters who somehow don’t know the songs, they’re both radical protest songs against the very ideals they were used to advertise :smack:. Whatever spiritual descendant of Don Draper came up with those pairings was either incredibly clueless, or really pulled one over on the clients. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/73 "2017-05-02T14:56:22Z")
Good lord, I thought that they would just use an instrumental there, or maybe just a brief excerpt. But no, they used the lyrics, and enough of them to make the message abundantly clear that the coal companies are evil. That even beats out Reagan’s use of Springsteen, where at least he only played the title line. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/74 "2017-05-02T15:02:16Z")
That Lending Tree commercial where the muppet shows that man how he shops for a mortgage in his underwear. OK, so if it’s so freaking easy for that muppet to get a mortgage, why is he still living with that man? Or can he shop for a mortgage but just never closes on one and moves out? Does that mean that Lending Tree is great for getting you quotes on mortgages that you never use? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/75 "2017-05-02T15:13:42Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > I believe the claim is that the burgers ARE 100% beef. From their site, the Quarter Pounder pattie is: “Ingredients: 100% Pure USDA Inspected Beef; No Fillers, No Extenders.Prepared with Grill Seasoning (Salt, Black Pepper). \*Based On The Weight Before Cooking 4.25 oz.” Then the end product isn’t 100% pure beef, because it has salt and pepper in it. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/76 "2017-05-02T15:26:17Z")
> [@Gunslinger](#): > > See also the [GE coal power ad that used “Sixteen Tons”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ueDHn2HTk) as background music, or the ultrapatriotic Wrangler jeans one with CCR’s “Fortunate Son” (which I can’t find on youtube, gee I wonder why?). For those of you youngsters who somehow don’t know the songs, they’re both radical protest songs against the very ideals they were used to advertise :smack:. Whatever spiritual descendant of Don Draper came up with those pairings was either incredibly clueless, or really pulled one over on the clients. [QUOTE=Chronos] Good lord, I thought that they would just use an instrumental there, or maybe just a brief excerpt. But no, they used the lyrics, and enough of them to make the message abundantly clear that the coal companies are evil. That even beats out Reagan’s use of Springsteen, where at least he only played the title line. [/QUOTE] i think you’ve both missed the point of that commercial. its the juxtaposition of the old song with the new young hip models that they’re going for. something along the lines of “this isn’t your father’s old coal mining tech”. . . or maybe i’m giving them too much credit. . . mc ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/77 "2017-05-02T15:38:55Z")
To continue the pile-on for Liberty Mutual - the idiot woman who goes on and on about how much research you do before buying your car, then you drive it into a tree. She complains about how her rate is raised or some such, finishing with “Maybe you should have done more research on the insurance company.” (not the exact quote, but it’s close.) My immediate response is “Maybe you should learn how to drive without running into a tree!” Oh, how I hate LM and their entire ad campaign!!! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/78 "2017-05-02T19:44:48Z")
**mikecurtis** , that may have been the intent of the commercial, but it utterly fails. The fact that the coal miners they show are all young and sexy was not lost on me. But the id-level reaction it triggers in me is not “I want more coal mining, because that’s where the sexy women are”. It’s “I want to be the Knight in Shining Armor and rescue those poor women from those horrible working conditions, and they’ll be so grateful to me”. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/79 "2017-05-02T19:55:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **mikecurtis** , that may have been the intent of the commercial, but it utterly fails. The fact that the coal miners they show are all young and sexy was not lost on me. But the id-level reaction it triggers in me is not “I want more coal mining, because that’s where the sexy women are”. It’s “I want to be the Knight in Shining Armor and rescue those poor women from those horrible working conditions, and they’ll be so grateful to me”. that might say more about you than the commercial! 😉 mc ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/80 "2017-05-02T21:46:51Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Then the end product isn’t 100% pure beef, because it has salt and pepper in it. Yeah, technically, but that’s hardly the same as saying it is made of tofu, mushrooms, and sawdust, which is the implication most people seem to be making. > [@mikecurtis](#): > > i think you’ve both missed the point of that commercial. its the juxtaposition of the old song with the new young hip models that they’re going for. something along the lines of “this isn’t your father’s old coal mining tech”. . . or maybe i’m giving them too much credit. . . I get that’s the juxtaposition, except it isn’t mining technology they have improved, it’s emissions control, i.e. burning it in power plants. Coal mining does use huge machinery including super dumptrucks and drilling machines, but it is still filthy, backbreaking work, and transporting and handling coal between the mines and the burners is also dirty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539.md?page=5)