While I haven’t seen any commercials that have scared the daylights out of me (but that’s probably not far off the way things are going) there are some I’ve seen that are subtly creepy. Like the ones for Wallgreens where they talk about a land called Perfect. I’ve seen about three of them, and they all feature the everday goings on in a utopian suburbia (one that really has the back lights on too high) and where everyone smiles all the time. And then there’s this music going on in the background. I can’t really describe it, but it’s got kids singing in it IIRC. Creepy. Then there are these Linux ads. That kid freaks me out.
So, what are the creepier commercials you’ve seen?
Well, aside from the “Viral Marketing” ads, which don’t run on a regular basis, there’s a commercial for some drug that is apparently a penis enlargement, or “male enhancement” drug. All of the people in it are dressed in '50’s wear, and have overly-perfect makeup and hair. They have smiles showing all of their teeth, including the molars at the back. The scenario runs typically like this; the couple making up the example in the commercial are out with the neighbors; the wife is grinning her maniacial grin, her husband doing the same. Usuallly something gives away that he’s been taking the drug, for example, he jumps into the pool and there’s a cutaway shot of his trunks floating on the water. He emerges from the water not realizing that he’s naked–cut to wife with two friends. The friends are looking on in awe while his wife shrugs and grins even harder.
Everyone looks and acts like that vidoe for “Black Hole Sun.” It’s more the whole super-happy until it hurts looks that everyone is wearing that makes it weird. I don’t recall the name of the drug, but it’s been playing pretty frequently, mostly late at night.
There’s a Friendly’s ad running currently that rivets me totally every time I see it.
Friendly’s, for our friends (heh) elsewhere, is a northeast US restaurant chain, kind of at the level of Denny’s or something, that’s known for its ice cream. (Like Howard Johnson’s, for those who remember them.)
The current ad has this woman who looks like she was cryogenically freezed in 1970 – loose curls, a little makeup – getting ready for a romantic evening out with her husband. Her daughter is watching her dress, and when her husband looks in to say he’s on his way to pick up the sitter, the daughter is on the mother’s lap, with the mother’s necklace around her neck, and the two females, faces side by side, gaze up at the father. “I think there’s been a little change in plans,” says the mother, coyly.
The next shot is of the three of them walking into Friendly’s.
No mention of the Levi’s ad with the stalker mannequin? That one wigs me out.
Imagine: a man walks into a clothing store, and buys the last pair of jeans. They have to be taken off the display, and the rest of the commercial shows the guy driving around town with the naked mannequin hiding somewhere in the background. The very end shows the guy sleeping on a couch, and a door opens, throwing light on the man’s sleeping body - and the silhouette of the mannequin slides into view, casting a shadow over the man’s face.
There’s a Pepto Bismol commercial featuring four office workers dancing about diarrhea that’s absolutely the sickest advertisement I’ve ever seen. My friend in the Detroit area had been raving in disgust about it for months, and I refused to believe such a thing existed. Imagine my chagrin when it happened to play while I was visiting her.
A CLOSE runner-up is the series of toenail fungus ads featuring the little animated fungus lifting up a toenail and then diving into the skin below. Creepier than any horror movie I could name.
I saw a commercial once late at night. It was a video you could order about all kinds of animals out in the wild get’n it on.
Only except the CREEPY thing about it was the whole commercial had like a “Girls Gone Wild” vibe to it. Right down to I quote (and shit you not) “Some scenes in this video are too hot for t.v.!”
WTF?
OH, yeah. I pracitcaly pissed my pants from laughing so hard the first time I saw “Wake up with the King.”
Oh God, yes. Worse, I got the song stuck in my head one day, and couldn’t get that John Cleese-like voice out of my head for hours. I was also in line of sight to our own water cooler, so I could see it performed live in 3-D.
So damn creepy. BK used to be my default breakfast location but since that commercial started running I have chosen hunger over going in. I can’t handle that damn plastic-headed molester thing.
When that goes away I will return and again enjoy the Best Damn Breakfast Sandwich On the Planet. Even the McTio Bagel at Lousia’s on Eastlake isn’t as good.
:eek: Oooooooookaaaaaaaay. There’s a part of me that is thinking, “Thank God I’ve never seen that!” And then there’s the other part going “You know you want to.” That is the naughty part.
Which brings me on to the Kinder Bueno(sp?) ads. If you haven’t seen these it involves a bloke getting chatted up by a soliciting chocolate bar which screams:
“I’m soft, and creamy, eat me, EAT ME!”
at which point naughty, chocolate munching occurs. If that wasn’t bad enough the cutesy voice they use is very…um, youthful. I don’t eat Kinder Bueno bars because of that advert.
The commercial where the kid is learning mouth to mouth resucitation on a dummy and the dummy steals the gum out of his mouth and runs away is pretty weird.
