# Latest stupid commercial thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102 "2012-07-23T02:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/101 "2013-01-24T18:12:59Z")
What’s with Geico and implied bestiality? First the one where the lady thinks the gecko is Stanley (presumably some other lizard she got frisky with) and now the girl who finds out Max the piggy can’t take a hint. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/102 "2013-01-24T18:15:06Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > What’s with Geico and implied bestiality? First the one where the lady thinks the gecko is Stanley (presumably some other lizard she got frisky with) and now the girl who finds out Max the piggy can’t take a hint. That girl sounded ready for a good porkin’. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/103 "2013-01-24T22:49:19Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > a. Pretty girls opening up suicide doors on a car. They call them suicide doors for a reason. None of Lincoln’s current cars appear to have suicide doors. The Honda Element has a suicide door on the passenger side. It allows the entry on that side to open wide like a van but without the necessary space required for rails. There’s no column between the two doors. But the analogy was some visual similarity between the opening of the doors vs the current sunroof. Um, whatever. > [@](#): > > c. A manual gear shifter that disappears. Does it retract into the console? Or are they advertising that they have automatic transmissions? Because I’d sort of expect that. (Actually, they apparently moved the shifter buttons to somewhere near the radio. Sounds like an engaging driving experience.) It’s definitely an ambiguous graphic. Not sure what it’s trying to say. Where do you get they have shifter buttons? > [@](#): > > f. Then there’s a crash test where the air bag comes out of the driver’s chest. This sounds only slightly safer than a Ridley Scott alien. > Maybe it’s coming out of the seat belt? Better hope you haven’t twisted it, then. This is actually interesting. I’m trying to figure out if the intent is to spread the loading on the body to reduce impact damage from the belt itself. That seems a worthy concept. You shouldn’t have your belt twisted, anyway. > [@cjepson](#): > > I’m neither a Christian nor a Satanist, so I have no dog in this hunt, but I was still rather bemused to see that Mercedes Benz has apparently come to the conclusion that it’s time to start using [Satan](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWjycKOsI2o) to sell cars in America. The tradition of taking an excerpt from a song that says the few words you want as your message, without any attention to what the song is about or the lyrics that follow that most people know, which might not be the message you want. [quote=“Gabing\_Gaboing, post:97, topic:629102”] The commercial that I currently can’t stand is the one for the Comfy Pillow or whatchacallit. It’s a pillow with memory foam and gel beads and makes all your back problems go away. > [@](#): > > The worst, though, is a man who speaks to us next to the cab of his “truck” which seems to basically be a pickup. He claims to have driven it for something like 30 years, then tells us that thanks to this pillow, “my back feels great, and my bottom feels great!” _Bottom_…really? It turns him into a soccer mom or a four-year-old. Next he will tell us all how he goes potty all by himself. “Bottom” is a perfectly normal term to use for what you sit on, especially in polite company. It’s not in league with such things as “potty” for using the restroom or “pee-pee” for penis. ---
**Author:** ![Troppus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a587f6/32.png) [@Troppus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troppus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/104 "2013-01-24T23:49:03Z")
Is there a great commercial thread active? No? Can I just leave this amazingly sweet [Chevrolet Traverse ad](http://www.youtube.com/user/Chevrolet?v=aX1ghwzn7NU) here? ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/105 "2013-01-25T04:36:22Z")
Wow, Troppus, I just came to see if anyone posted about that ad here because a long time friend of mine (20+ years, though more of a casual acquaintance since high school) sang, whistled, and recorded the song you hear in the background himself. He posted the ad on his Facebook, and we have all been heartily congratulating him on his darn sweet gig. BUT…I confessed to him I found the ad creepy as hell. Still do. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2013, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/106 "2013-01-25T06:29:07Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > The H&R Block ad in which the lady claims to have read all 900 pages of the Obamacare bill. Also the H&R Block commercial with the old bow tie guy mugging for the camera, shaking his jowls. It ends with the worst shit eating grin I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/107 "2013-03-15T04:04:56Z")
This Centrum multivitamin commercial is [so fucking stupid](http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Ao5/centrum-silver-on-the-fence) it makes me laugh. It’s basically saying that because a study was done on the effects of multivitamins and the multivitamin used in the study was Centrum, that means Centrum is awesome. No mention at all as to the _results_ of that study using Centrum. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/108 "2013-03-15T21:11:56Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > What’s with Geico and implied bestiality? First the one where the lady thinks the gecko is Stanley (presumably some other lizard she got frisky with) and now the girl who finds out Max the piggy can’t take a hint. It’s a pattern of “extending the gimmick”. They start with a gimmick character. “Geico is _not_ a Gekko”. They then reverse the gimmick. “Geico is sold _by_ a Gekko.” They then extend the gimmick character into a person. Since the Gekko is a salesman, he has a boss, and has interactions with other people as if he’s a person. Witness conversations with boss, pulling a wallet out of his pocket, etc. The next logical extension is to project romantic interactions for the person-like version of the gimmick character. Ergo, lady mistakes Gekko for an old boyfriend. Swap to pig. Gimmick character: piggy yelling “Whee whee whee” all the way home. Extend the gimmick: piggy yelling “whee” in ever more creative traveling scenarios. Extend the gimmick: piggy starts talking as if he’s a person, interacting with clueless people. Cue flight attendants. Extend the gimmick: piggy goes on a date, driving his car. Clueless piggy doesn’t realize his date has the hots for him. Piggy driving car around gets pulled over by cop. I haven’t actually watched this one, so I’m not certain what misunderstanding is supposed to be occurring in this ad. It’s called “beating a dead [del]caveman[/del] horse”. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/109 "2013-03-16T09:37:38Z")
**Ambivalid** , agreed. It looks like that version is a short version of a longer commercial. There’s a cut between mentioning the study and mentioning Centrum Silver. But as shown, that is a definite :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/110 "2013-03-16T14:49:15Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I like the “two things at once” ad though. Just for the way he shuts down that little girl. > > _Watching a boy shake his head and arm simultaneously_ > “I can do…” > “Hang on, I’m watching this.” Yeah, I like that one, too, mostly because the girl who says, “I am absolutely positive!” reminds me a LOT of my niece! ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/111 "2013-03-16T18:46:28Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **Ambivalid** , agreed. It looks like that version is a short version of a longer commercial. There’s a cut between mentioning the study and mentioning Centrum Silver. But as shown, that is a definite :rolleyes:. Well the longer one isn’t any better; I just used that link because it’s what I quickly found online. The actual TV commercial is just as stupid. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/112 "2013-03-16T23:25:07Z")
FedEx usually has pretty clever ads, but there’s one that just sucks. Some guys are walking into a hotel lobby with their golf clubs, and they see their boss (with his back to them) checking in without clubs, so they start flinging their clubs away from them, making all kinds of noise and commotion, so their boss won’t see them??? It’s just idiotic. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/113 "2013-03-17T01:03:31Z")
> [@Chanteuse](#): > > Yeah, I like that one, too, mostly because the girl who says, “I am absolutely positive!” reminds me a LOT of my niece! I can’t call that series stupid. I especially love the the little girl talking about being turned into a werewolf. "…and then you would be all ‘wwrrwwwrrrww’ which means, ‘I wish I were a human again!’ " I honestly stop the DVR to watch that commercial when I’m fast forwarding. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/114 "2013-03-17T02:40:54Z")
I also like the one with the little girl who just rambles on and on about “more, more, we want more.” And the man finally responds, “I follow you.” ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/115 "2013-03-17T02:46:32Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > I also like the one with the little girl who just rambles on and on about “more, more, we want more.” And the man finally responds, “I follow you.” Hilarious. I love that commercial. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/116 "2013-03-17T03:16:37Z")
**Irishman** , where I live "bottom"is exactly on a par with “potty”. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/117 "2013-03-17T23:37:07Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > I can’t call that series stupid. I especially love the the little girl talking about being turned into a werewolf. "…and then you would be all ‘wwrrwwwrrrww’ which means, ‘I wish I were a human again!’ " > > I honestly stop the DVR to watch that commercial when I’m fast forwarding. I like these too. The guy’s deadpan reactions to the kids is hilarious. I really like in the “island made out of candy” one, when the girl says the showers could be hot fudge, he gives a very interested “Hmm” in reaction. 😃 Not exactly commercials, but PSAs I have heard a lot on radio in my neck of the woods (and there is a TV version as well): they are to inform parents about choosing and using the proper car seat for their kids. Problem is, the yuppie scum parents you hear trading all their parenting knowledge in the first part of the spot is horribly condescending (“I knew that.”“So obvious.”“Totally obvious.”). Then , to make matters worse, another parent not even involved with the group drops the bomb that most people don’t know how to use child car seats correctly. Which leaves the yuppies (almost) speechless (“I think I knew that.”“No. No, you didn’t”). Those PSAs make me all bitey. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/118 "2013-03-18T07:04:50Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > The one that’s been driving me nuts recently has Jeff Bridges (I think?) talking about Olympic “athaletes”. Something about hearing the word “athalete” is like nails on a chalkboard to me. (Actually, nails on a chalkboard don’t bother me, but metaphorically speaking…) During the 1976 Olympics (in Montreal) Baskin-Robbins had a flavor of ice-cream called “Decathalemon.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/119 "2013-03-18T07:19:25Z")
During the holidays I saw a car commercial which appeared to show a young man visiting his parents in a car that they see through an upstairs window. By the time he comes in the front door, his parents have sneaked down to the car and driven it away without him! They say, “He’ll be fine.” What if he should call the cops and report it stolen? And the commercial for a hotel in Las Vegas with all the white furry animals–kikttens, rabbits, puppies, etc, running down corridors. At one point, a young woman with the coldest expression on her face closes a door on a little rabbit and walks away in a huff. What is this supposed to sell? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2013, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102/120 "2013-03-18T13:56:29Z")
After being blasted on both TV and radio with those damnable Michael Bolton commercials, you couldn’t get me to sign up with Optimum if you put a gun to my head. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-stupid-commercial-thread/629102.md?page=7)