# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**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, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/81 "2017-05-02T22:10:37Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > 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. so. . . yeah. . .on second watch of the commercial and then a quick surf on the nets. . . looks like the advertisers _are_ trying to imply that coal mining is not horror that Tennessee was singing about, but, as you say, that’s got nuthin to do with GE! even tho the commercial is on solid artistic footing, its not actually adverting the company whose logo is at the end. so it actually fits in well with the OP! sorry for jumping in, and missing the point completely! :o mc ---
**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:** [May 2, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/82 "2017-05-02T22:14:01Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > 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. Sounds about right. There is very little in modern advertising that is “providing information”–the vast majority of it is ‘playing on resentments’ and ‘appealing to unacknowledged bias’ and ‘promising competitive advantage [such as a chance to negotiate with supposedly ‘dimbulb’ used car salesmen] where there actually is none.’ And such-like manipulation. To succeed in advertising, you need to have a pretty cynical view of your fellow humans. ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/83 "2017-05-05T22:14:34Z")
> [@susan](#): > > There are many contemporary ads where the protagonist does something at the end of the commercial in a style that seems to suggest they’re affable yet inadequate schlubs. Their action or self-presentation, which is presented as a joke-at-their-expense punchline of a sort, usually undoes any confidence the ad has built about its product or service. It leaves me thinking, “You’re a loser and the ad works against selling me That Thing.” There seem to be countless commercials like that. What comes to mind first for me are the Sonic TV ads.:smack: We don’t watch TV much anymore, so I guess I am spared any new idiot hucksters. But I never understood why ad companies thought people would want to be associated with the morons in their ads. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/84 "2017-05-07T05:49:44Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > Most of the UK ads for laundry capsules include the line: ‘always keep away from children’. But it’s a bit ambiguous. Do they mean keep the capsules away from children? Or that I should keep myself away from children? I miss my family! That one always gets me when I see it on the Tide Pods package or the commercial’s small print. “Like any household detergent, keep away from children.” I imagine the CYA thought process was: They knew the fun-looking pod might attract kids, so they needed to put a warning. But they didn’t want pods to seem any more dangerous than any detergent, so they modified it. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/85 "2017-05-07T06:18:42Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > 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? I always assumed that the puppet owned the house, and the guy was sleeping on the couch. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/86 "2017-05-07T06:39:25Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > 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!” Incidentally: the woman who talks about naming a car ‘Brad’? She’s standing still and looking straight ahead. And the woman who talks about not reading a policy until after an accident? She’s standing still and looking straight ahead. And the woman who talks about getting three-quarters of a car? Standing still. Looking straight ahead. But right when _this_ woman is going on and on about conducting oh-so-much research, she’s pointedly – not looking where she’s going. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/87 "2017-05-07T17:59:49Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > 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!!! Yes! We say the same thing every time that ad runs. Stop driving into trees and then stop expecting your insurance policy to have a clause that covers you in case you, idk forget basic driving skills like avoiding trees. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/88 "2017-05-08T19:45:06Z")
The commercial advertising Wal-Marts latest charity seems quite heartwarming on the surface. I can’t help wondering if they’re aware that the next line in the lyrics is “I get high with a little help from my friends.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/89 "2017-05-09T14:45:04Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > The commercial advertising Wal-Marts latest charity seems quite heartwarming on the surface. I can’t help wondering if they’re aware that the next line in the lyrics is “I get high with a little help from my friends.” 😛 Similarly, a few years back some electronics company used the part of The Beatles’ _Getting Better_ in their ads that goes “I have to admit its getting better, a little better all the time.” Leaving the watcher to finish the lyric “It can’t get much worse” ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/90 "2017-05-09T15:24:50Z")
Seeing as we’ve drifted into “weird music in ads”, what’s with the John Denver “Take Me Home, Country Roads” in the latest Aliens movie ad? A movie that apparently addresses the as of yet unexplored territory of explorers stumbling across Alien eggs and then spending the rest of the movie nervously edging around atmospherically misty, dripping sets with guns while Aliens pick them off one by one. A bold move, and I’m anxious to see what they do with it. ---
**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 9, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/91 "2017-05-09T20:16:51Z")
No, that makes perfect sense. It says that these guys just want to go back to their uneventful homes, and gives a snapshot of characterization by showing what kind of music they like. Which contrasts, of course, with the Hell they find themselves in. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/92 "2017-05-09T20:38:20Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > I could never buy a Chevy Cruz after one of the ‘real people’ in their ad refers to the car as, essentially, a mulletmobile. Also, slightly NSFW [This one kills me!](https://www.facebook.com/drivetribe/videos/431918787188265/?pnref=story) ---
**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:** [May 10, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/93 "2017-05-10T01:52:05Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, maybe they’re 30 minutes and an hour away the way _you_ drive. The nearest is 1.5 miles from the sign. I drive a hot Buick wagon and know the shortcuts. Bobby Rahal and Freddie Lorenzon are locals. Danica isn’t. > [@mikecurtis](#): > > that might say more about you than the commercial! 😉 Didn’t watch it but dropdad was a Social Security appeals judge who specialized in Black Lung and no, it’s how it still goes. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/94 "2017-05-10T03:51:57Z")
> [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](#): > > 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. There’s obviously not much supervision in that classroom, if a little GIRL ( :eek: ) could find the time to write “BUTT” on the letter board in magnets. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/95 "2017-05-10T04:24:24Z")
Not exactly a commercial since it’s not selling anything, but does anyone else remember this [anti-domestic violence PSA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSe40tX-oTA) from the 90’s, where the kid at the top of the stairs watches his parents off-screen, the evil dad yelling “dinner ready is PIZZA?!” and then proceeding to beat the mother? How many of us saw that and thought, “what the heck is wrong with that guy? Pizza for dinner? Sweet!” ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/96 "2017-05-10T04:41:12Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Incidentally: the woman who talks about naming a car ‘Brad’? Anyone else think she seems a bit psycho? Naming your car, OK, NBD. It’s her overall tone and demeanor that would have me a bit edgy if I were in an elevator with her. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/97 "2017-05-10T04:44:34Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Similarly, a few years back some electronics company used the part of The Beatles’ _Getting Better_ in their ads that goes “I have to admit its getting better, a little better all the time.” > Leaving the watcher to finish the lyric “It can’t get much worse” That was Microsoft, which also used _Start Me Up_, with lines like “you make a grown man cry” and “I can’t compete”. They also used the portion of Mozart’s “Requiem” that talked about the souls of the damned. You’d think they’d start checking up on the music their ad department is using. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2017, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539/98 "2017-05-10T05:21:23Z")
> [@Arcite](#): > > Not exactly a commercial since it’s not selling anything, but does anyone else remember this [anti-domestic violence PSA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSe40tX-oTA) from the 90’s, where the kid at the top of the stairs watches his parents off-screen, the evil dad yelling “dinner ready is PIZZA?!” and then proceeding to beat the mother? How many of us saw that and thought, “what the heck is wrong with that guy? Pizza for dinner? Sweet!” Threadjack: I personally know 3 women who have said that if their husbands cook dinner and it’s not what she wants, she will take the food off the table and make something else, even if the kids are hungry and say they want it. :rolleyes: I’m mentioning it here because one of them has even bragged about throwing food in the garbage because she felt her husband hadn’t put enough effort into its preparation, and frozen pizzas were an excellent example of this. :mad: OTOH, if she makes frozen pizza, that’s OK, because it’s, well, OK. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-with-unintended-messages/784539.md?page=4)