I hate the one where the two teenagers are standing around staring into the freezer and then call their mother’s cell phone to tell her that they’re dying. She calmly tells them that they’re only hungry and should make some crappy frozen pizza snacks. They respond that they don’t have any, in spite of the fact that they’re staring into a freezer in which the pizza snacks are one of only four or five objects. The mother responds by directing them to the snacks (“In front of you and to the left” or something like that) and they high five as a voiceover says “Great job, Mom!”
Yeah. Great job raising not one but two idiots too stupid to tell the difference between hunger and death and who can’t find anything to eat while staring into a freezer that contains almost nothing but ice cream and junk food. Yeah, great job, Mom!
I hate that the blonde is clearly the main character in what should be an ensemble commercial for no discernible reason.
Looking at the other videos on the page, it’s clear she’s supposed to be there spokesmodel, but that context is lacking when I don’t remember previous ad campaigns.
I find that commercial unbelievably smarmy, making women look like shallow idiots. And in what universe does not having kids naturally free you up to take trips to Paris and live a life of luxury??? Every woman I know on the Pill is slogging away at the daily grind just like women who are already mothers, hoping to save up a little so she CAN start a family someday before her eggs expire. “Take the Pill, you’ll be rich enough to buy a McMansion!” Jerkwads…A similar, older commercial was for a birth control patch, with scenes of peppy young women just capering through their fun fun fun lives, including one shot of a ditz sporting the patch on her stomach and flaunting it around like the latest fun tattoo, like a cool fashion accessory. This was before that patch maimed and maybe killed several users and was taken off the market.
And another, older commercial for an arthritis miracle pill. The despondent arthritis sufferer leaves her doctors office with the diagnosis: “U.R. old and getting the artheritis” - and she looks like the doctor told her she had 24 hours to live! Next scene: after swallowing the miracle drug, she is all smiles and striding along a beautiful beach with her loving husband, all better now. Dimwit has ‘only’ arthritis, can afford the medication, is happily married and walking along a beautiful beach. She lucked out. So what was that “Imma going home and commit suicide” look earlier?
There’s a Wendy’s ad where two guys are in a car. One goes, “Lunch?” And the other goes, “The usual.” Then a girl, I’m assuming it’s supposed to be Wendy, pops up in the back seat and convinces them go to to Wendy’s for a spicy chicken sandwich, and they just go along.
If a strange girl popped up from my back seat I’d be more like, “Who the hell are you and how did you get in my car?”
The thing in a commercial I hate is when they give you a phone number in alphanumeric format such that the letters form an easy-to-remember word – AND THE WORD MAKES IT LOOK LIKE THE PHONE NUMBER HAS MORE THAN SEVEN DIGITS! Admittedly, the most egregious example I can come up with at the moment is on a RADIO, rather than a TV commercial:
Some loan company wants you to call them at (866) 66-FASTER. Yes I know it will work, but I am enraged that they think it’s okay to just put an extra digit at the end of the actual phone number. Just use (866) ONE-CRUD!
I think what really gets me is the “Great job, Mom!” and the fact that this conversation has apparently happened many times before. Those two brain donors have apparently called their mother with “emergencies” like this often enough that the idea that her children are in actual danger no longer enters her mind as she matter-of-factly tells them they’re hungry. I just imagine all the previous calls:
“Mom, the house is underwater!”
“No, it’s just raining.”
“Mom, there’s a burglar downstairs!”
“No, your father just got home from work.”
“Mom, the house is on fire!”
“No, you’re just standing over the heat duct.”
“Mom, I’ve gone blind!”
“No, you have your eyes closed.”
The only “great job” the mom’s done is resisting the urge to smother her idiot sons with a pillow to put them out of her misery.
This is definitely a silly reason. One of the V8 juice commercials with Jackie Chan has him saving a woman from drinking cranberry juice for breakfast in favor of glass of V8. I lunge for the remote when I see the beginning of that ad. I have nothing against V8 juice but I cannot handle consuming tomato juice or anything that’s heavy in tomato before lunch. Just the thought of drinking V8 for breakfast gives me instant heartburn.
You know when a company wants to use letters in their phone number to be catchy, but oftentimes they use too many letters? “Give us a call down here at 1-800-I-Really-Enjoy-Carpeting.” It’s too many letters man, must I dial them all? “Hello?” “Hold on, man. I’m only on ‘enjoy.’ How did you know I was calling? You’re good. I can see why they hired you.” – Mitch Hedberg
You see, that kind of commercial bothers me for an entirely different silly reason. Here’s a grown woman fully capable of making her own decisions, but no, we can’t have that! Someone has to “save her” from drinking something she apparently enjoys (and that isn’t that bad all things considered) in favor of shoving their own product down her throat (more literally here than in some other cases). All it’s missing is the slogan “V8, because we know what you need and want better than you do!”
I can’t comment on #1, but as to #2, it’s Kate Upton, who is the “it girl” in bikini modeling right now. She was on the cover of SI’s Bikini Issue (who still buys that?)
As to #3, take a good look at other food commercials. They never eat what they’re advertising. It’s mainly because the food has been sitting around all damn day for umpteen different takes, and on top of that they usually do “stuff” to the food, like coat them with varnish and shit to make them not look like ass under the lighting and shit.
I thought of another one. The stupid State Farm ad where the customer and agent say some lines from “Anyway You Want It” and then talk about having a Journey moment. I love the song, but those two saying the lines makes me cringe.
Then the customer mentions going to a concert in '83 that was crawling with chicks, sees his wife looking at him funny, and says he has to go. What, his wife will be upset that he was into hot chicks in 83? I guess she’ll be downright pissed that he’s still into them now.
There’sthiscommercial currently airing in the UK for the Peugeot RCZ. The slogan is “It chooses you, it owns you”. Worst slogan ever! Makes it sound like your car has enslaved you.
No, not because ‘you can’t taste test insurance!’…that doesn’t bother me any more than the Progressive ads acting like you buy it in boxes.
No, it’s the guy who does the taste testing. I’ve seen him in a bunch of other commercials, and the ‘he’s everywhere’ aspect bothers me. (Also, he’s kind of smarmy, but that’s actually amusing in most of the ads.)
