# Grossest TV commercial ever?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825 "2005-01-21T00:04:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/1 "2005-01-21T00:04:10Z")
And I can’t even remember the produce being advertised! I think it’s some sort of sanitizer, but here’s a description of the commercial: They show a guy in a grocery store, pushing his cart around - he’s sneezing and coughing (and not covering his nose or mouth, mind you!) … so germs are all over that shopping cart. Then you see a mother and daughter come and pick that cart to use next…with Rick James’ “Can’t touch this” music playing in the background. I’m sorry but that’s just **GROSS**!! I wish I could remember what the product they’re selling is. It did make me think twice, though, the next time I went grocery shopping. I’ll confess and admit that I kept my gloves on when pushing the cart. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/2 "2005-01-21T00:34:27Z")
that commercial for yoshis island for the snes where they were stuffing a fat guy full of food (like mr creosote from python) to illustrate how “packed with features” the game was gonna be and he exploded in a big gooey chunky mess… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/3 "2005-01-21T00:41:15Z")
> [@tarragon918](#): > > I’m sorry but that’s just **GROSS**!! I wish I could remember what the product they’re selling is. It did make me think twice, though, the next time I went grocery shopping. I’ll confess and admit that I kept my gloves on when pushing the cart. 😛 Actually, the Weis Markets around here offer sanitizing wipes at the door to wipe off the cart and basket handles. I first noticed this about three months ago. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/4 "2005-01-21T00:46:23Z")
I just saw the ad today – it’s for Purell (sp?), a sanitizing handwash that you can use without water. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/5 "2005-01-21T00:53:35Z")
Nitpick: it’s MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.” The product is Purell hand sanitizer. Didn’t particularly gross me out, because I have an overactive imagination and that sort of scenario occurred to me a couple of years ago. What’s really gross is that I’m sure there are people who do that to carts. Ew! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/6 "2005-01-21T03:36:24Z")
Mail order ad for oneathem Bug Zapper things a few years back. Voiceover Anncr.: **"The dead insects are collected in this handy catch basin."** (CU hand emptying what looks like brown rice husks out of a white plastic cup-like thingy.) Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/7 "2005-01-21T03:40:35Z")
That toenail fungus one, where the animated little fungus is just _itching_ to get under your toenail. He dives on under and hang out with his fungal buddies. It’s… it’s… _grody_, even. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/8 "2005-01-21T03:41:51Z")
Whoops - didn’t mean to pun there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/9 "2005-01-21T04:38:22Z")
Purell! Yes, the hand sanitizer that you use without water. The commercial actually begins with some guy in the bathroom who comes out without washing his hands!!! Heh, I suppose it is effective advertising for the product, mind you, but every time I see that commercial it makes me twitch. I’m starting to consider buying it and using it when I go to the grocery store next time! My cousin says that markets in her area distribute handwipes during the winter months. I’m starting to feel like **Monk** but seriously, especially with the flu vaccine shortage this season, germs are lurking on those shopping carts. 😃 I did not know that was MC Hammer! Thought it was Rick James! Thanks for the correction. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gfab912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a9a28c/32.png) [@Gfab912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfab912)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/10 "2005-01-21T04:41:55Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > That toenail fungus one, where the animated little fungus is just _itching_ to get under your toenail. He dives on under and hang out with his fungal buddies. It’s… it’s… _grody_, even. That’s a good one. How about the Quiznos’ commericial with the two dancing dead rats?!? WTF was the marketing dept thinking? Needless to say, before seeing that commercial I wanted to try them but since, that’s all I think about while I drive by looking for somewhere else to eat. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/11 "2005-01-21T04:45:56Z")
It’s very, very hard to top the toenail fungus, but the Pepto Bismol commercial featuring four office workers dancing about diarrhea sends me running to the bathroom choking up bile even faster. It’s gross without having to show anything explicit. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mermaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@The\_Mermaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mermaid)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/12 "2005-01-21T11:45:03Z")
> [@tarragon918](#): > > Purell! Yes, the hand sanitizer that you use without water. The commercial actually begins with some guy in the bathroom who comes out without washing his hands!!! Heh, I suppose it is effective advertising for the product, mind you, but every time I see that commercial it makes me twitch. I’m starting to consider buying it and using it when I go to the grocery store next time! My cousin says that markets in her area distribute handwipes during the winter months. I’m starting to feel like **Monk** but seriously, especially with the flu vaccine shortage this season, germs are lurking on those shopping carts. 😃 > > I did not know that was MC Hammer! Thought it was Rick James! Thanks for the correction. 🙂 Further nitpick, MC Hammer’s “Can’t touch this” was sampled from Rick James “Superfreak”. I haven’t seen the commercial but what you’re probably hearing IS the Rick James riff. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/13 "2005-01-21T12:06:28Z")
One that I hated featured the otherwise stunning Naoko Iijima standing, facing the camera, coated in a thin layer of some black ‘substance’. She speaks for a few moments before the camera cuts to the product: A toilet made with a special coating that keeps shit from sticking to the sides of the bowl. Ick. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/14 "2005-01-21T15:58:25Z")
I still have bad dreams about the jeans commercial with the talking belly buttons. _shiver_ ---
**Author:** ![brix11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@brix11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brix11)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/15 "2005-01-21T16:11:41Z")
I find the Charmin commercials with the animated bears scratching their butts on animated trees somewhat offensive. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/16 "2005-01-21T16:16:18Z")
You call that gross? You must’ve forgotten last year’s Super Bowl, and the beer commercial that featured the horse farting. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/17 "2005-01-21T16:21:21Z")
My candidate to beat the Toe Nail Fungus Guy is Phlegm Guy. There’s a commercial for an expectorant whose main character is a greenish-yellow globular sort of fellow, getting comfortable and settling down in someones lungs. A man coughs and we see the character being sucked into what’s obviously the trachea. Man, this makes the new Kotex ads look positively savory. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/18 "2005-01-21T16:23:55Z")
I think the commercial for Mucinex (a drug that helps break up mucus or something, apparently) with the giant booger or lung butter or whatever he is supposed to be is the most disgusting thing on TV right now. Remember the one for Dodge pickups (I think) with the guy who hocks the huge chunk of beef jerky and spit onto the windshield? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/19 "2005-01-21T16:25:22Z")
> [@brix11](#): > > I find the Charmin commercials with the animated bears scratching their butts on animated trees somewhat offensive. Ugh…I HATE the Bowel Movemet Bears[sup]TM[/sup]. I don’t find it gross, just…disturbing. They are WAYtoo damn happy about taking a sh\*t and wiping their ass afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825/20 "2005-01-21T16:27:30Z")
Alas! **Poor Yorick** beat me to it. _preview is my friend_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grossest-tv-commercial-ever/285825.md?page=2)