# I hate commercials that make parents, adults, kids, oh hell anybody look like idiots **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 13, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585 "2022-08-13T04:04:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/1 "2022-08-13T04:04:38Z")
Example 1: A boy is reading/watching LoTR. Mom comes in the room and says something like, ‘Time for bed your _PIXIES_ can wait until tomorrow. Has this woman been living under a rock? Does she pay no attention to her kids interests or what he watches/reads? I hated Power Rangers in more ways than I can describe, but I knew what it was, who that bad guys were. I know more about the original version of that show than anyone should for their mental health. Example 2: Mom is talking about how kids’ tastes change from year to year she says something like, 'Kids one year it’s dinosaurs the next it’s camels." Her apparent daughter is standing next to her wearing a t-shirt that clearly depicts a _LAMA_. The daughter replies to her mother, “Lamas”. Blah, blah, commercial selling whatever. Mom says at the end, “Are you sure it’s not camals?” YES lady she’s sure because camels have HUMPS lamas do not. Thus the picture on your kid’s shirt is obviously NOT a camal because it doesn’t have a hump, and really it’s a lama. Ugh! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/2 "2022-08-13T04:27:23Z")
_This_ is the hill you want to die on? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/3 "2022-08-13T04:44:57Z")
What the fuck is a lama? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/4 "2022-08-13T04:54:31Z")
Dolly Llama: [![](https://toysatfoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/71tWblHouqL._AC_SL1500_.jpg) ](https://toysatfoys.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/71tWblHouqL._AC_SL1500_.jpg) I bet you feel enlightened now. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/5 "2022-08-13T05:01:02Z")
Nitpick: it’s “camels.” And “llamas,” for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/6 "2022-08-13T05:15:59Z")
Mom’s probably talking about the cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/7 "2022-08-13T05:23:10Z")
Parents not understanding their kids’ interests, and coming across as clueless (often by using the wrong words/names) is a time-honored trope in entertainment (and, for that matter, commercials). I could look up examples on The Youtubes, if you like. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/8 "2022-08-13T05:34:34Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > What the fuck is a lama? A 1 L Lama is a holy man, a 2 L Llama is a beast of burden, and a three L Llama is one hell of a big fire. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/9 "2022-08-13T07:11:07Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > Mom is talking about how kids’ tastes change from year to year she says something like, 'Kids one year it’s dinosaurs the next it’s camels." Her apparent daughter is standing next to her wearing a t-shirt that clearly depicts a _LAMA_. The daughter replies to her mother, “Lamas” I’ve seen that commercial, she’s not a mom. Just a random adult. Which is kind of the point. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/10 "2022-08-13T08:28:31Z")
Ads are well controlled over here to eliminate the kind of disparaging bias that you describe. We don’t get the washing powder ads that imply that a mother is a failure because she doesn’t use brand x anymore. Vacuum cleaners and washing machines are not exclusively operated by women. ---
**Author:** ![QMatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/aeb1de/32.png) [@QMatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QMatic)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/11 "2022-08-13T12:51:28Z")
Llamas are camelids ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/12 "2022-08-13T13:10:30Z")
The llama is a quadruped which lives in big rivers like the Amazon. It has two ears, a heart, a forehead, and a beak for eating honey. But it is provided with fins for swimming. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/13 "2022-08-13T13:18:56Z")
All right you. As the daughter of a fireman, I see what you did there. It’s the FIVE L llamas that are the really big ones. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/14 "2022-08-13T13:25:21Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > What the fuck is a lama ? You saw _Animal House_, right? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9rfnwsb-dg0/maxresdefault.jpg "Shama Lama Ding Dong (best version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rfnwsb-dg0) ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/15 "2022-08-13T13:38:31Z")
All I can say is that my parents (born in the late 1920s) had only vague ideas about my early-1980s interest in Star Trek, Star Wars, Goldorak (aka Grendizer), Albator (aka Harlock), and dozens of other things. I didn’t know Dune or Tolkien lore back then, but if I had been reading the books they wouldn’t have known anything beyond the pictures on the covers. The important things were my school grades and some notions of morality / proper behaviour as seen by ordinary religious people born in the late 1920s. We never did a commercial together, but in everyday conversations they would have seemed just as clueless as the ones in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/16 "2022-08-13T13:52:59Z")
Llamas are larger than frogs. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/17 "2022-08-13T14:09:08Z")
Are frogs the new breadbox? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/18 "2022-08-13T14:24:13Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > What the fuck is a lama? The opposite of a camal. Well nearly. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/19 "2022-08-13T14:33:48Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Ads are well controlled over here to eliminate the kind of disparaging bias that you describe. There’s a mandated minimum intelligence level for characters in ads? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585/20 "2022-08-13T14:34:34Z")
I thought it’s an anti-particle llama. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-hate-commercials-that-make-parents-adults-kids-oh-hell-anybody-look-like-idiots/969585.md?page=2)