I’m with JessEnigma on this one. I hated it the very first time I saw it. I just have to mute my TV whenever this one comes on (thankfully not very often). The CC kicks in when I do this, and the dialogue consists of:
I can tolerate the Pepsi girl, the zoom-zoom boy, even the singing belly-buttons. Heck, bring back Dr. Ruth and her multi-orgasmic shampoo, if it will get these demented women off the airwaves.
I love the Jack in the Box ads (especially the one with the doctor taking off his glasses in every scene), and I even like almost any ad with Bob Dole in it - wasn’t there one where he was talking about his “little blue friend”, the can of Pepsi?
But I hate Carl’s Jr. (food, ads, and all), the dancing military deodorant girls, and any collect calling ad that doesn’t feature Mr. T.
Do radio commercials count? I change the station whenever the Medicare PSA comes on. (“Relax, Kathy. Medicare makes it EASY for me to learn about my options and benefits! I can even read about it ONLINE!” “Wow, Mom, I’m impressed.” “Ha ha, as you SHOULD BE!”)
What’s with Pillsbury’s vain attempt to pull heartstrings with their “My Heart to yours” campaign? That’s a surefire recipe for instant rage in my house. The real bummer is that there seem to be other food manufacturers who are jumping on the bandwagon, (though I can’t think of the specific spots at the moment.) With Kodak, I’ll stomach it. Pictures can sometimes evoke sentimentality, but anyone who gets misty over crescent rolls needs a fist in the crotch. Thanks for letting me share.
Any of those telephone long distance service ones with Carrot Top or that ex-football guy or anybody else for that matter. In writing this response, I tried to remember that number they advertise and couldn’t – probably because I reflexively change the channel whenever one of them comes on.
Any Old Navy commercial. A slight hijack – I’ve never been in one of their stores but I’ve often wondered: do they sell anything that doesn’t have the words “Old Navy” emblazoned on it?
“Happy happy joy of living…” (ad nauseum)
Would Picasso need jingles to sell his works? Mind you, not that I’m horribly offended by his “works of art”; I just don’t like the trash very much.
THEN, after I’ve decided to pass up buying this stuff, they buy enough slots and persist in using the same idiotic jingle. Well, this is SC and I guess business is good.
mods: Can’t we move this to the Pit?
Jamie Lee Curtis and the cellphone ad with the car. This is how I see it:
JLC is in her car in the middle of the desert when it breaks down. She speed dials her “Mechanic” (her car must have a lot of trouble) and simply says “Talk to me”. This is enough for him to psychically detect the car’s problem. Or, more likely, it fills him with rage. Why? Because his advice to JLC is to take your car in the middle of the desert, pop open the hood and then open the radiator cap with your bare hand. Then, stick your face over the hole and peer in. Amazingly, though, his plan backfires because this fixes the car! Doing nothing else, she closes the hood and prepares to drive away, inviting her mechanic to a party in the middle of freaking nowhere (since she’s driving through the God forsaken desert in a party dress for Heaven’s sake) as thanks for his sage advice. Sheesh…
I’ve never seen that, but it seems like the jingle was written by Stinky Wizzleteats.
The commercials for 1-800-whatever-it-is with Terry Bradshaw and Toby Kieth where there out “fixing fence”. Has anybody ever noticed they have no barbed wire, wire cutters, or other fence fixing materials?
The “Howie & Teri” Radio Shack commercials. Not because they’re really that bad, but because they’re confusing. They give the impression that they’re married.
The Lucky Brand, or whatever it is jeans commercials. It looks like an old commercial from the fifties until the marionette flips out and threatens people. Enough said.
the “nads” commercials. who thought to name a hair removal product nads? that’s weird. i mainly hate the old navy commercials because that blonde girl has no dancing ability whatsoever. they just saw her stupid tan thighs and said okay, dance like a moron in our commercial and everyone will buy the skirts. which i did.
There’s a commercial I’ve seen recently in the afternoons around here (NW U.S.) for Sparklett’s bottled water. Basically the whole ad touts how easy it is to call up and order a home delivery of a flat of bottled water to your doorstep. This is accomplished by singing the information to the tune of the theme song from Three’s Company. Normally, this would not be a problem–heck, the Three’s Company theme song is musical; it’s catchy. But the problem with this commercial is that it goes on forever. At least a minute, maybe more. It’s just verse after verse after verse. By the time you get to the phone number you’re supposed to call, you think “OK, that’s it.” Nope! There’s still another couple verses after that! It’s interminable! Shut up already, Sparkletts! PLEASE!
Just this morning I started hearing some PSA’s about trigger locks and I’m already sick of 'em! There’s at least three, each featuring some sickeningly sweet kid’s voice. In the first, two kids was bouncing on a bed, gun falls on floor, kid picks up gun and plays cowboy, second kid falls on floor and won’t “wake up”. Kid says, “I was just playing!”
Second PSA: kid’s brother has a hole in his stomach because the kid found a gun in their garage and it went off.
The third one has to be the worst: kid says, “I made [baby sister] go away. I hate me.”
So far, I’ve only heard them on streaming audio, but they’re in every other commercial break!
Forgot to mention that the second also ends with the “I was just playin’” line.
I hate the anti-smoking ad where a boy with a skateboard actually says that,“All the pressures of being a kid go away when I’m catching some air.”
Who the hell thinks a kid would actually speak like that? I’ve never once in my entire life heard anyone use the phrase “the pressures of being a kid,” and I would be forced to snicker at any kids who seriously said it in reference to themselves.
Were the writers of this ad just too lazy to think of any pressures a kid might actually face? I would half-way buy a kid saying “When I’m catching some air, I don’t have to worry about whether or not I fit in with the cool kids.”
The kid ad reminds me of an episode of “Real Life Funnies” (slogan “All dialog guaranteed verbatim”) in which this dumpy old white guy ad writer was trying out the catch-line for his ad: “Look what’s goin’ down.”
Since my only exposure to TeeVee is at work (in the newsroom), I see a few ads with no sound. There’s a new one from some automaker that’s 1984-creepy. It pictures people gazing in slack-jawed drooling rapture at an aweseom number of jump-cut images – reminds me of the “ZigZag” ads from Max Headroom that caused your head to explode – that coalesce into a particular car model. One of the images is even pseduo-hip: a long (4 seconds, an eternity in this ad) shot of Peter Sellers grinning maniacially as Dr. Strangelove.
Mind, I haven’t heard the ad, but it looks friggin’ weird.
Missed the singing belly-buttons, thank god. If I saw that in my acid-dropping days, I don’t know what I would have done.
What’s especially bad is when someone finds a song that, out of four minutes or more, has maybe one or two lines that are at least remotely relevant to the product. Case in point, the cruise line which used Orinoco Flow. Since it apparently didn’t service any of the areas mentioned in the song, it was essentially “Sail away, sail away, sail away!”. And a bunch of music.
Ditto Break My Stride for National Car Rental.
Oh, and the product which used Celebrate was Celebrex. Yes, that’s the ONLY connection. The song is by Three Dog Night (which produced a number of better-known songs, including Black and White and An Old-fashioned Love Song). Running time is a shade over 3:10.
Here’s the song in its entirety (apologize for any mistakes; their pronounciation isn’t the greatest):
Slippin’ away, sittin’ on a pillow,
Waitin’ for night to fall.
Girl in a dream, sittin’ on a pillow;
This is the night to go the celebrity ball.
Satin and lace, here’s a little pity,
Didn’t find time to call.
Ready or not, gonna make it to the city;
This is the night to go the celebrity ball.
Dress up tonight. Why be lonely?
He’ll stay at home and you’ll be alone, so why be lonely?
Sittin’ alone, sittin’ on a pillow,
Waitin’ to climb the walls.
Baby tonight, where-ah your dream goes?
She won’t be around when she goes to the celebrity ball.
Dress up tonight. Why be lonely?
He’ll stay at home and you’ll be alone, so why be lonely?
…and so on, and so forth. This happens at the 1:22 mark, meaning that, in the originla song, there’s almost a full minute of “Celebrate! Celebrate!”.
What relevance an exhortation for a young couple to go out and have a good time could have to a product aimed at senior citizens is beyond me. Everybody Have Fun Tonight would have been a better choice.
There’s a series of radio ads running for - well, I forget, but I think it’s a car rental/sales company - where we get the voice, in an annoying and cliche’ “NY Jew” of some ad execs father calling with “clever” ad ideas. Of course the ad ideas suck - that’s where the humor is supposed to come - but what get’s me jabbing the channel button on my car radio is that voice. And from listening to the voice, and what it says, its no wonder the ad exec has his machine answer these calls.
My apologies for the “NY Jew” reference, but this distasteful ad screams with 1950’s TV comic stylings.
Bow-Flex. I hate that commercial. I hate that 42 year old guy that says he’s 42 and feels like he’s better than yada, yada… I switch channels every time that awful thing comes on.
I despise that ad, too. I hate commercials that go on and on and on.
Am I the only one? This commercial really creeps me out for some reason. I am not sure what to make of the concept of gendered oatmeal. What would happen if a man accidentally consumed some of this oatmeal? And what if he then accidentally used Secret deodorant?
The box is purple, it’s called Quaker Oatmeal’s Nutrition For Women. Formulated with calcium, soy protein, iron, folic acid, and vitamins A,B,D,E. THE box in front of me says golden brown sugar, natural, and artificial flavors.
And there is a link for a webpage as well, http://www.oatmeal for women.com
Too bad i made a plate of nachos for breakfast.