I will not purchase any product or patronize any business that uses the sound of an alarm clock in its TV commercials. I sometimes (OK, often) fall asleep with the TV on, and hearing that wakes me up, which means I stay up, because I’ve stayed up after the alarm for over 20 years now. As far as radio ads, anything that sounds like a cell phone or a siren (police, fire, or ambulance) will insure that the advertised product or service will be ignored by me. I don’t need to be looking for cops, firetrucks, or ambulances that don’t exist on my commute.
I’ll never shop at a Kroger grocery store; the chain supported a labor organization’s boycott of Mt. Olive Pickle Company (where my father worked).
I won’t even look at a Chick-fil-A; aside from wearing their religion on their shirtsleeve, the “cows r dum, eat mor chikin” commercials are tired and stupid. They’ve got TV commercials, radio commercials, TV billboards, newspaper inserts, mail flyers, mylar balloons, ladies at the mall chasing you with trays of toothpick-spiked chicken tidbits…you can’t get away from them.
*If the client should prove refractory,
toss in a photo of his factory.
But only in the gravest case,
should you ever show the client’s face.*
You too, eh? Yeah, my husband and I were pretty disgusted at his level of fearmongering and general appeal to the worst elements of far-right conservativism. I felt like writing him a letter to tell him I’d no longer (knowingly) buy his products. Then again, I figured he’s such a multi-millionaire that he wouldn’t give a shit about some liberal chick who isn’t gonna go to his ice cream store or buy his sour cream in the supermarket - plus the better result came about anyway, he lost that primary election, and lost his primary run for governor recently as well.
I was just thinking about it this weekend, when I passed on a dessert at a restaurant that was advertised as being served with Oberweis ice cream.
I haven’t spent a dime at either McDonald’s or WalMart in I don’ t know how many years, mainly because of their horrible, horrible ads.
Subway used to be in the same category back when that pudgy bastard Jared kept popping up every time I turned around, but then they cut him way back, improved their food, and became the closest place to eat to my workplace, and now I go there every now and then.
No, he was a vicious homophobic bigot.
All his life, he fought to keep his company from offering domestic benefits to employees. There were complaints that the company discriminated against GLBT workers, or any non-christian workers.
And despite his reputation for supporting adoption, he was a big funder of efforts to prevent gay & lesbian couples from adopting. Apparently he thought it was better to lleave kids in state institutions rather than have them adopted by a non-straight family. Also opposed adoptions by couples who were not the same race.
Sorry, not what I’d consider a “class act”.
Huh. I had no idea. Do you have a link or something about that?
I’d be curious to see a citation for the claim that he fought non-hetero adoptions. That does not seem to be born out by the remarks by the head of his adoption foundation:
Soronen could, of course, be spinning Thomas’s views to be more in line with her own current views, but, as stated, her comments contradict the homophobe claim.
(I will also note that while opposing partner benefits is hardly admirable, I have known of several opponents who were driven by corporate finances rather than bigotry. I will leave to the reader whether that mitigates or exacerbates the issue.)
Here’s a quick few:
GLAAD on Wendy’s pulling advertising from Ellen show when she comes out:
http://www.glaad.org/action/al_archive_detail.php?id=2121&PHPSESSID=b8ce6eed695114740282437c20cf3485
TurnOut’s list of “Actively Anti-Gay Companies” featuring Wendy’s:
http://www.turnleft.com/out/boycott.html
HRC story on efforts to prevent gays from adopting, reporting that the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption ‘declines to take an official position on gay adoption’:
http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=27559&TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm
GRD Media Watch reporting on Dave Thomas’ support for arch-homophobe Pat Robertson:
http://www.qrd.org/qrd/media/medialert/1995/04.21.95
You do realize that your third citation is the same as mine in which there is no indication that Thomas opposed gay adoptions.
Your first citation indicates that Wendy’s followed a large number of sponsors in avoiding shows that were controversial. Not noble, but hardly homophobic.
Your second citation simply repeats the same information, then does a bit of well poisoning by linking Thomas to Pat Robertson.
Your final link makes a bigger deal of associating Thomas to Robertson. Hardly a sign of a pro-gay advocate, of course.
Not one of your links provides a single quotation from Thomas condemning or opposing gay adoptions or even condemning homosexuality.
Given that he was probably an Evangelical Christian, I am sure that he would not be a shining beacon of hope for gay rights, but you have not yet provided evidence of the specific charge that he opposed gay adoptions.
Any of the myriad Discount Rug Emporiums that have endless “sales”- Up to 87% off! Why haven’t you got a rug yet? YOU! That’s right, YOU! How dare you not have a rug at these insane prices! Get off your fat ass, waddle down here, and buy a rug! Get several, in fact! If you don’t, you’re a cheap bastard!
Ads which have obviously been produced on the cheap by local film students using a Sony HandyCam are another no-no. Either do your TV Advertising properly, or spend your money on a radio ad.
And for Radio Ads- Any business that pays the DJs (usually the breakfast crew) to advertise their product (especially in the guise of between song or post-news banter) is unlikely to see any of my money. The DJs job should be to play music, and maybe comment on local news and current affairs- not advertise tanning salons, Bob’s discount Drycleaners, or any other business, local or otherwise…
I’m not so sure your rejection was a bad thing for the rest of the eharmony community. Many of the “personality test” surveys repeat the same question multiple times, but worded differently. Your lack of consistancy in answering was probably caught by their software, indicating that you were either: not serious, a liar, or crazy. To me, it’s a good thing that they reject people who’s answers just don’t add up.
But yeah, that dude is still annoying as hell.
Yeah, I’d agree with your assessment. My rejection made perfect sense from a “prospective pool” POV. I’m sure I had many contradictions and inconsistencies.
But I’ve also heard of folks that have been rejected who actually wanted to join the service. (I think there was actually a thread about that out here a while ago.) That’s interesting to me, in that if people were answering honestly, perhaps their software is seeking a certain *type * of person.
I politely accepted my rejection. It was deserved based on my motives. 
But if I never really strayed too far from the average score (say picking the numbers 3, 4, and 5 on a scale of 1 to 7), I’m not sure that’s how they weeded me out. I suspect it was more based on time, as I clearly couldn’t have read all of the questions in the time I completed the survey.
In any event, I saw an eHarmony commercial last night, and that guy still gives me the creeps.
Dave Thomas was a heck of a guy (and a Freemason, I might add.)
I will not go to Jiffy Lube. They had a Christmastime radio ad with a children’s choir singing ‘Jiffy Lube’ over and over again to the tune:
“Tell all the world
Jesus is King.”
(I have no idea what that carol is, and now I cannot listen to it without hearing ‘Jiffy Lube.’)
I don’t know the exact words anymore, so a summury has to do.
Ho Chunk Casino:
Can’t make ends meet this Christmas, and you can’t buy the kids any presents. You’ll solve your delema, when you take that last forty bucks and gamble. Every poor sod that wants to buy the family something, but can’t will win a fortune and Christmas will be saved. That’s right folks gambling to save Christmas for your family will make every family member’s Christmas wonderful.
We had a local jeweller in town who felt the need to take out an ad in the local paper to explain why “Jesus IS the reason for the season.” Don’t care if it is a watch battery replacement or the purchase of some pricey jewelry, but I definitely won’t darken their doors again.
For starters, it’s Ford Motor Company. 
And the first CEO spokesman of the modern age was Lee Iacoccoa, who was appearing in ads long before Dave Thomas (DT started appearing in Wendy’s commercials after the “Where’s the Beef” campaign of 1984).
No way, did they really? Ho Chunk is a shitty casino, but we go a few times a year when we’re up in the Dells. Might have to put a stop to that.
And the *diseased mutant hampster thing * ad. (shudders in horror) :eek:
*Curves * as it’s sexist and anti-woman-rights all at the same time.
I don’t agree with Chick-Fil-a but at least they are honest and forthright about it, so although I don’t go out of my way to eat there, I will do so on a rare occassion.
Investors Business Daily (or “IB Journal”… it’s been a few years).
The commercial where the goofy-looking man and his (of course) much-better looking wife are arguing over who told who first about the marvel that is the Investors Business Daily. The commercial ends with the wife whispering to the camera “But I told him!”
Irritated the hell out of me and opened my eyes to the plethora of “stupid, clueless husband/indulgently all-knowing wife” stereotypes there are out there.