Agreed. It’s like a surreal hostage situation. The flat affect of the dad, the mom repeatedly saying “hmm?” as if she’s in a ketamine trance, the daughter silently looking on.
But those ‘Little Baby’s Ice Cream’ ads, woah. If David Lynch ever saw those, he probably went “WTF was that?”
Is it weird that I now suddenly have a craving for some melty vanilla ice cream?
I may have trouble eating vanilla for a while. What screwed up psycho came up with those? Rhetorical, seriously don’t want to know.
I still don’t see the creepy factor in the stew one. Aside from the fact of the expected gender norms and behaviors of the time.
I think it’s the odd silences…and building tension…awaiting the inevitable explosion when the husband finds out it’s canned stew.
Mine, in a parody commercial from c. 2 decades ago, was “get the head of a Golden Retriever.”
Anything by Trolli, but this gets “honorable” mention!
I remember when that ice cream commercial was on. Definitely creepy.
The face caress. 
It was creepy right until the reveal. I did not see that coming.
The Burger King and Jack in the Box ads featuring people dressed up like the characters were creepy. The fact that Burger King had a video game where the mascot sneaked up on people and gave them burgers was double creepy
One of Dave Barry’s books, probably a good 20 years ago or so, had a bit about prescription drug ads where he says they are basically sending you two equally urgent yet conflicting messages:
And to this day I cannot see a prescription drug ad without that running through my head.
I didn’t notice any of the creepy things that others had mentioned about the stew commercial. What bothered me was how she got enough stew for all three of them, and be able to provide a second helping, out of what appeared to be a single 15-ounce can.
That was my first thought too, and also all the noise that can would have made being tossed in the metal garbage can.
I think the mom is a bit distracted because she’s not sure which bowl has the arsenic in it.
I couldn’t figure out why a big section of that guy’s head was missing until I saw the tongue coming in at the end. Yikes! Yeah, creepy.
Reminds me of the ending of Montenegro (1981).
The ice cream ads absolutely take the definition of creepy to levels beyond anything else.
And it’s as awesome as hell!!!
I know. That actor really did commit to the bit
I love Dave Barry, and he always seems to nail the quirkiness of American society.
I always thought early McDonald’s ads were creepy, too.
More funny than creepy.
This one has a creepy ending-
The “Johnny Smoke” anti-smoking commercials creeped me out to the point where I closed my eyes when they came on. Don’t ask me to provide a link; I don’t wanna see it.
Oh man, I remember those from when I was a kid and yeah, they creeped me out too. But now I think I’d kinda like to see one, just to see what it was that creeped out six year old me.