# Commercials you don't 'get' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 29, 2011, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646 "2011-05-29T07:27:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Azeotrope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Azeotrope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azeotrope)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/21 "2011-05-30T15:18:24Z")
For me it’s the Stanley Steemer commercials where the guy gushes on and on ecstatically about the yuck he’s had to clean out of carpets during his career. The newest one has Carpet Boy laying facedown on the floor spreadeagled in the middle of a floorgasm while his partner and the homeowner look on in confusion. Yeah, makes me want to hire a carpet cleaning technician who’s gonna have to stop and clean up his own emissions out of my carpet (man that looks a lot filthier typed out than it did in my head) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/22 "2011-05-30T15:35:56Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > The new Microsoft commercials. “This person doesn’t think they need a new PC. So… we built a PC store in their house!”. You… wait, you what? You converted their house into a… PC store? Really? She didn’t think that she needed a new PC because she thought her computer could do everything a new PC could do. So they put all these new computers in her house so they could show her everything a new PC could do. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/23 "2011-05-30T15:49:17Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > Please enlighten me. What are the other purposes? Corporate ego. Most very large corporations have entrenched marketing departments with entrenched marketing budgets. They will be producing ads whether it’s necessary or not to move the product. This kind of marketing, from the CEOs’ point of view, is really directed to shareholders, as a means of bolstering confidence in the company. They like to see the name of the company they’re invested in on their TV screens. And you have to wonder: How much would sales of, let’s say, Coca-Cola, suffer if they suddenly stopped advertising? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/24 "2011-05-30T15:52:47Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > And you have to wonder: How much would sales of, let’s say, Coca-Cola, suffer if they suddenly stopped advertising? Good question to ask _today_. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/25 "2011-05-30T16:11:34Z")
For me, its the Jimmy Dean pork sausage commercial-those fat guys dressed as planets. Somehow, JD sausage contibutes to a smoothly-running solar system. I don’t get it.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/26 "2011-05-30T16:18:19Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > For me, its the Jimmy Dean pork sausage commercial-those fat guys dressed as planets. > Somehow, JD sausage contibutes to a smoothly-running solar system. > I don’t get it.:mad: All those planets are having a bad morning because they didn’t have a good breakfast. They could’ve used regular old office workers, but instead they did the planets as workers. It’s a joke. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/27 "2011-05-30T16:21:44Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Corporate ego. Most very large corporations have entrenched marketing departments with entrenched marketing budgets. They will be producing ads whether it’s necessary or not to move the product. This kind of marketing, from the CEOs’ point of view, is really directed to shareholders, as a means of bolstering confidence in the company. They like to see the name of the company they’re invested in on their TV screens. I’m not in advertising but as a commercial illustrator I’ve worked for quite a few advertising firms. My experience contradicts your post. > [@](#): > > And you have to wonder: How much would sales of, let’s say, Coca-Cola, suffer if they suddenly stopped advertising? More than you think. Coke actually let Pepsi get a leg up on them at one point. It was (by Coke’s own admission) due to poor marketing. They only got back on top by changing marketing strategies. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/28 "2011-05-30T16:53:45Z")
> [@Anamorphic](#): > > The new Microsoft commercials. “This person doesn’t think they need a new PC. So… we built a PC store in their house!”. You… wait, you what? You converted their house into a… PC store? Really? That was the BEST way you could think to convince someone they needed a new computer? Is that really supposed to be entertaining and/or convincing to the rest of us? It seems so random and odd to me. I don’t understand who this is supposed to be appealing to. I get the commercial well enough, but it’s still a lot more fun to imagine the woman going apeshit crazy when she sees the impromptu redecorating job and attacking all of the salespeople with a pair of scissors. ---
**Author:** ![surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/surrounded_by_literalists)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/29 "2011-05-30T19:19:24Z")
[This Kia car commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miC1VZ9UVCQ)makes my head hurt. To me, its so…I don’t know, I’m at a loss to explain my level of WTF ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/30 "2011-05-30T19:27:13Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Never seen that one but yeah, don’t get it. [How about this version?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDhqDaTz0vo&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/31 "2011-05-30T19:54:16Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > This [Volvo C70 commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYKSQrwlSLc) where two women parked in identical cars switch clothes. I see… so the deal is that you’ll be so taken with the looks of this car (they also switched roof up/roof down) that you won’t even notice you’ve now got a brunette instead of a blond in the passenger seat, or that you’re parked to the right instead of to the left? So it’s a car for obliviots? At least Guy #2 does seem to be pausing to wonder what’s wrong with this picture… ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/32 "2011-05-30T20:02:02Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Corporate ego. Most very large corporations have entrenched marketing departments with entrenched marketing budgets. They will be producing ads whether it’s necessary or not to move the product. This kind of marketing, from the CEOs’ point of view, is really directed to shareholders, as a means of bolstering confidence in the company. They like to see the name of the company they’re invested in on their TV screens. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRTDIH5Ng4) is a good example of a commercial that might fit that category. It is for the “SPX Corporation”, which I have never heard of, and - having seen the ad - I still don’t know what they produce. Whoever posted it says it wasfor their “branding campaign”. I suppose the meaning of that is that if I’m ever looking to buy something, and I see that I can buy it either from ABC Corp or from SPX Corp, then I’ll be more likely to buy it from SPX, because I am more familiar with that brand. Yeah, could be. Or it could be like **guizot** said. > [@guizot](#): > > And you have to wonder: How much would sales of, let’s say, Coca-Cola, suffer if they suddenly stopped advertising? My guess is that they’d would lose very little in the short term. But over months and years, they’d fail to get any new customers. Youngsters who get old enough to choose for themselves will be saying, “Coke? Never heard of it. Give me a Pepsi.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/33 "2011-05-30T20:30:08Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > But over months and years, they’d fail to get any new customers. Youngsters who get old enough to choose for themselves will be saying, “Coke? Never heard of it. Give me a Pepsi.” RC Cola, Moxie Cola, and many others who didn’t put their money in advertising would agree. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/34 "2011-05-30T23:55:41Z")
I’m a Coke drinker, but this [Pepsi](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PnrIexbnY&feature=related) spot is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/35 "2011-05-31T00:34:03Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRTDIH5Ng4) is a good example of a commercial that might fit that category. It is for the “SPX Corporation”, which I have never heard of, and - having seen the ad - I still don’t know what they produce. Whoever posted it says it wasfor their “branding campaign”. I suppose the meaning of that is that if I’m ever looking to buy something, and I see that I can buy it either from ABC Corp or from SPX Corp, then I’ll be more likely to buy it from SPX, because I am more familiar with that brand. Yeah, could be. Or it could be like **guizot** said.My guess is that they’d would lose very little in the short term. But over months and years, they’d fail to get any new customers. Youngsters who get old enough to choose for themselves will be saying, “Coke? Never heard of it. Give me a Pepsi.” I think so, too, and I don’t know that Coke was not the best example–it was just an example off the top of my head. But this topic is something that Todd Gitlan was studying back when he was at Berkeley, and he told me that some of the marketing execs at very large and high profile corporations that he interviewed admitted to him point blank that they weren’t really sure all the time that their advertising actually was all so effective. Essentially, the way they explained it to him, they just continued to advertise because they didn’t want to take a chance on NOT advertising. “If nothing else, it makes the company seem strong to its investors,” is basically what they said to him. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/36 "2011-05-31T02:26:49Z")
> [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](#): > > [This Kia car commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miC1VZ9UVCQ)makes my head hurt. To me, its so…I don’t know, I’m at a loss to explain my level of WTF Yeah, well, I’m a bit unclear on why Kia seems to think we are all hamsters, but otherwise I kind of like it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/37 "2011-05-31T05:20:52Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I’m a Coke drinker, but this [Pepsi](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-PnrIexbnY&feature=related) spot is pretty good. I’m not impressed. None of those women were heavily enough armored to be secutori, and yet they had a retarius. It’s this kind of sloppy research that’s making Coke pull ahead in the cola wars. ---
**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646/38 "2011-05-31T05:48:13Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > I’m not impressed. None of those women were heavily enough armored to be secutori, and yet they had a retarius. It’s this kind of sloppy research that’s making Coke pull ahead in the cola wars. The anachronistic soda cans were more heavily armored. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commercials-you-dont-get/583646.md?page=1)