Loatheful TV ad: Continental Airlines Platinum Elite, aka The Sniveler and the Whore

The BBQ Pit
1

I thought this repulsive ad had run its course a couple of months ago, but I see that it is back on the air, at least here in the NYC Metro area. I’m talking about the ad for Continental Airlines in which a envious, whiney male office creep pines for a hottie co-worker who is seen flirting with the presumed alpha-male of the office. “What does he have that I don’t?,” the creep asks her when they are alone. She swooningly replies that the alpha-male has enough Continental frequent flier miles to have flown her to several romanic destinations in the past month. “Talk to me when you’re Platinum Elite,” she cock-teases him as a parting shot.

The only thing that makes is ad bearable is the debate it sparks in my head every time I see it: Who is more reprehensible, the sniveler who is so desperate to get into his coworker’s panties, or the whore who can obviously be bought so easily with airline miles?

Am I the only one who hates this ad?

2

I’ve no issue with your oppinion of this advert, but aren’t most of them this loathsome? Haven’t you seen the one where some guy cracks open a bottle of Cheap American Pissbrew[sup]TM[/sup], and a crowd of blonde, bikini-clad babes with huge tits crowd around like bitches in heat? If we’re gonna pit this commercial (which, again, I think is perfectly reasonable), we ougtta open it up to a few more of its ilk.

3

There’s just one like that? :smiley:

4

I’m willing to do some long-term research on this subject. Just send me a couple cases of the brewski in question and I’ll get right on it. :smiley:

5

What about the one (I think it’s for a cell phone-or maybe a car–I don’t pay too much attention)?

It’s an older man, nicely dressed, obviously successful who has all these “toys” --it’s about football! (I remembered-whoopee). He is saying it’s all about the game etc, blathering on, like I am now–and then he shows his cell phone screen–zooms in on some moronic cheerleaders, all pouting and strutting like its their first porn movie or whatever. And then he leers at the camera and says something like, “yep, it’s all about the ‘game’”.

Blech, uck and puke. Yep-he’s got a chance in hell of every getting any that isn’t diseased and putrid. Yep.

:rolleyes:

6

The man in question is the owner of the Dallas Cowboys. He probably has a pretty damn good chance if he wants to take it.

7

Oooo, so many choices! Too many to limit you to just one. Variety pack!

8

Well, then it’s obviously something that the viewer would have to know about (and care about) to find funny.
I reiterate: blech, uck and puke, doubled because of the whole power structure/piggishness of it all.

Haven’t seen the Continental commercial, but I don’t watch alot of TV. It’s boring.

9

My current least favorite is an ad for window shades. A woman and her friend are in a room admiring the new shades. Through the window we see a man (presumably the husband) in the backyard trying to light a barbecue. His incompetence reduces the backyard to a smoking wasteland in seconds, while the women are so captivated by the blinds (or accustomed to his stupidity) that they don’t notice. Insulting.

I’ve never been able to figure out why that’s supposed to matter to me, in the context of the ad. Am I supposed to be impressed that a man who can afford the best of everything chooses a particular camera-phone? Is it a sign of the company’s success that they can afford to hire a multi-millionaire to shill for them. I have absolutely no desire to buy a thing just because the owner of the Cowboys has one.

10

Just so I’m clear on exactly what you’re pitting…

–Is it the implication that girls/women/womyn/females/XX chromosomal persons/whatever will get me off the permanently-offended’s barbecue grill/pretty ladies who conform to a particular, Barbie-style physique are inherently more desirable than others?

–Is it the idea that these (and, presumably, lesser) women are perfectly willing to trade affection for (or are attracted by) tangible or implied favors and/or goods?

–Is it the idea that men with less popular physical attributes (mine, for example) sometimes (but not with me) have greater status in financial, political, and/or other areas, and that these attributes, for men and women, are inversely proportional?

–Is it that I accumulated a lot of Frequent Flyer Miles with Eastern and am still bitter twenty years later?

–Is it that the choice presented by the ad is: sniveler, gorgeous whore, alpha male, and that it isn’t an appealing choice for (all right) us?

–Is it the proposition that all virtues (beauty, wealth, fame) are fungible, except the virtue of wisdom, and that that consists merely of consuming rightly?

–Is it that real life isn’t nearly as easy as TV commercials, so accumulating airline miles/hotel points/taxi kisses/extra peanuts at the bar actually doesn’t get me the rewards I’m promised? Not by you, of course, or anyone like you: let’s face it: in commercials, you guys suck pond water.

–Is the answer to your question the obvious one: that any transaction is the halved moral responsibility of the buyer and the seller? I’ll bet that’s the meat of it, because it plays equally well to your hatred of men and women.

–Maybe you should pay less attention to advertising? I bet I bet I bet I bet I win!!!

11

“If you drink our beer, hot women will have sex in your backyard!”

(thank you, Family Guy)

12

I have to defend this one. I think it’s amusingly done. For those that haven’t seen it, the scene in the yard changes somewhat each time the shade is lowered and raised, like a theatre’s curtain. With each change, what’s happening in the back yard is progressively more chaotic, contrasting sharply to the two women’s measured tones. I find it ironic and have to admit: when the guy is standing dumbly, staring up into the sky to find his grill, I crack up. The reaction of the dog is good, too.
YMMV, of course.

13

I dunno, I just hate the Burger King touchdown guy, to the point where boiling oil with leeches and sharp spikes sounds good. For him, although I’d rather be put through torture to see that atrocity again.

14

Send him some Moose [del]Piss[/del] Drool!