More very hate-able commercials

[Irishman]

@Kimballkid

You are conflating two different sets of commercials for two different companies. The Tiki Barber one is for GEICO but the baseball player teaching tennis is for a tax website. Remember, he asks the tax lady if he can deduct equipment expenses.

I guess the commercials are really working.

AAA Auto Insurance: “So Easy, So Smart, So Switch”.

THAT’S NOT PARALLEL USAGE!

[Irishman]

“Country Crock has always been made with the goodness of plants.”

So, if I eat of tub of country crock, does that count as eating my vegetables?

[Rick_Kitchen]

@Irishman

“Country Crock has always been made with the goodness of plants.”

So is deadly nightshade. And numerous mushrooms and toadstools.

[Uncle_Jocko]

Okay, so pretty much every ad for some new kind of prescription medication is horrible (“ask your doctor if MiraCleCureTruvinOx is right for you!”) but the recent Keytruda one is especially grating to me.

All the visuals of the ad are of an extended family unit getting ready to be on this commercial - they’re getting makeup, their hair styled, there are loving looks exchanged - with the family matriarch then speaking on-camera about how great this medicine has worked for her.

Except they’re all actors. There’s small print that notes the words are essentially those of people actually using Keytruda, but the people you see are actors. Then why the heck are we given this fiction of the “real people” getting worked on by this backstage crew for their big moment on camera?

The contrivance of it all bothers me, for some reason. I don’t mind that they’re actors (I do a little acting myself, and I wouldn’t have turned down a paycheck for that), but the overall theme of the ad really rubs me the wrong way.

(And the only reason I know the product is Keytruda is because I saw the ad again literally three minutes ago.)

[Finagle]

I’m vaguely amused that the penis enhancer snake oils have been apparently replaced by testosterone boosters, judging by the numerous ads shilling “Nugenix” lately. Apparently they finally realized that even the dimmest person would eventually notice that their equipment is staying roughly the same dimensions, so now they’re moving on to the much harder (heh) to demonstrate testosterone boosters, marketed to the over-40 crowd. A bit of poking around the internet indicates that the main active ingredient is probably fenugreek and the scientific evidence for it doing anything is pretty minimal.

[running_coach]

@Finagle

I’m vaguely amused that the penis enhancer snake oils have been apparently replaced by testosterone boosters, judging by the numerous ads shilling “Nugenix” lately. Apparently they finally realized that even the dimmest person would eventually notice that their equipment is staying roughly the same dimensions, so now they’re moving on to the much harder (heh) to demonstrate testosterone boosters, marketed to the over-40 crowd. A bit of poking around the internet indicates that the main active ingredient is probably fenugreek and the scientific evidence for it doing anything is pretty minimal.

One of the side effects of Nugenix is you shit your pants.

[spoiler] Side effects of fenugreek

Side effects include diarrhea, stomach upset, bloating, gas, and a “maple syrup” odor in urine. Fenugreek can cause nasal congestion, coughing, wheezing, facial swelling, and severe allergic reactions in hypersensitive people. Fenugreek might lower blood sugar.

[/spoiler]

[zimaane]

But that brings up Liberty Mutual, and their “You picked the wrong insurance plan. No, I picked the wrong insurance company.” “With Liberty Mutual full cost plan, …” Wait, is full cost in every Liberty Mutual plan, or is that a special feature? Because if it’s a special feature, then it’s exactly like the other insurance company that offered you “gap insurance” that you didn’t take.

I came in to post about that one too. As you point out, it’s confusing, and the guy’s voice is so grating. The other LM commercials are almost as annoying, but they at least have attractive women.

[Jackmannii]

@Rick_Kitchen

The American Beauty pasta ad where they talk about all of the good things about America, and American wheat is “one of them”.

American Beauty was one of the worst things about living in small town Iowa back in the day, when it and Budget spaghetti were the only brands available at Hy-Vee.

American Beauty was tasteless, but at least it didn’t stick together in horrible waxy logs like Budget.

[carnivorousplant]

@Jackmannii

American Beauty was tasteless, but at least it didn’t stick together in horrible waxy logs like Budget.

Is not all pasta tasteless?

[Jeff_Lichtman]

@carnivorousplant

Is not all pasta tasteless?

Good pasta tastes like the grain it was made from.

[Chefguy]

I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but I just saw one for a Jimmy Dean product which touts this gem “Made from real ingredients!” No shit? So, shredded tires and ground glass, then?

There’s a drug ad about cancer therapy that stars a fairly haggard woman who looks like she probably had cancer, but the disclaimer at the bottom says she’s an actor portraying someone. Yet the ad persists in showing her not only with doctors but with her doting “family” posing for pictures and being affectionate with each other. It really annoys me for some reason.

[Finagle]

@Chefguy

I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but I just saw one for a Jimmy Dean product which touts this gem “Made from real ingredients!” No shit? So, shredded tires and ground glass, then?

I noticed a while back that the frozen french fries were all labeled “Made with real potatoes”. Was there some kind of recent french fry scandal where they were made of something else? Sawdust and turnips?

[running_coach]

@Finagle

I noticed a while back that the frozen french fries were all labeled “Made with real potatoes”. Was there some kind of recent french fry scandal where they were made of something else? Sawdust and turnips?

Wiki on Pringles.

They were originally known as “Pringles Newfangled Potato Chips”, but other snack manufacturers objected, saying Pringles failed to meet the definition of a potato “chip”. The US Food and Drug Administration weighed in on the matter, and in 1975, they ruled Pringles could only use the word “chip” in their product name within the following phrase: “potato chips made from dried potatoes”

Pringles have about 42% potato content, the remainder being wheat starch and flours (potato, corn, and rice) combined with vegetable oils, an emulsifier, salt, and seasoning. Other ingredients can include sweeteners like maltodextrin and dextrose, monosodium glutamate (MSG), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, sodium caseinate, modified food starch, monoglyceride and diglyceride, autolyzed yeast extract, natural and artificial flavors, malted barley flour, wheat bran, dried black beans, sour cream, cheddar cheese, etc.; Pringles varieties vary in their ingredients.

WAG that fries can be made as an extruded product, not cut from potatoes.

[Chefguy]

@running_coach

Wiki on Pringles.
WAG that fries can be made as an extruded product, not cut from potatoes.

It explains why they taste like shit.

[Steve_MB]

@Chefguy

There’s a drug ad about cancer therapy that stars a fairly haggard woman who looks like she probably had cancer, but the disclaimer at the bottom says she’s an actor portraying someone. Yet the ad persists in showing her not only with doctors but with her doting “family” posing for pictures and being affectionate with each other. It really annoys me for some reason.

Maybe because, with the disclaimer showing that she isn’t a real cancer patient, it’s clear that every detail of the “haggard” appearance is custom-crafted for emotional manipulation.

My current commercial annoyance is the “story of whatsizname and Fair Trade Coffee”, partly because it doesn’t even slow down at the borderline between “inspirational” and “glurge” and partly because (like most commercials on MSNBC) it’s one of a half-dozen or so that get repeated about every five minutes.

@running_coach

One of the side effects of Nugenix is you shit your pants.

I guess that could come in handy if they ever bring back the draft.

(Oh, the name is “Nu-genix”, not “Nugen(t)-ix”. Never mind…"

[Rick_Kitchen]

My current commercial annoyance is the “story of whatsizname and Fair Trade Coffee”, partly because it doesn’t even slow down at the borderline between “inspirational” and “glurge” and partly because (like most commercials on MSNBC) it’s one of a half-dozen or so that get repeated about every five minutes.

How can you hate a commercial with cute puppies?

[Uncle_Jocko]

@Chefguy

There’s a drug ad about cancer therapy that stars a fairly haggard woman who looks like she probably had cancer, but the disclaimer at the bottom says she’s an actor portraying someone. Yet the ad persists in showing her not only with doctors but with her doting “family” posing for pictures and being affectionate with each other. It really annoys me for some reason.

@Steve_MB

Maybe because, with the disclaimer showing that she isn’t a real cancer patient, it’s clear that every detail of the “haggard” appearance is custom-crafted for emotional manipulation.

Exactly the ad I was talking about in post 1283. I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks the entire concept is skeevy.

[Pai325]

There are a lot of local commercials by me that have phones ringing in the background. They’re not for Sprint or Verizon, but just random restaurants or shops. It’s enough where I have to grab my phone and just double check that I’m not getting a call.

The phones have nothing to do with what they are selling, so hearing these phones ring and looking for mine multiple times a day just really annoys me.

It’s the same with radio commercials that decide to put ambulance or fire truck sirens in for no good reason. I’m driving down the street and I hear an ambulance, but I can’t see one. Why are they doing this!

[davidm]

@Pai325

There are a lot of local commercials by me that have phones ringing in the background. They’re not for Sprint or Verizon, but just random restaurants or shops. It’s enough where I have to grab my phone and just double check that I’m not getting a call.

The phones have nothing to do with what they are selling, so hearing these phones ring and looking for mine multiple times a day just really annoys me.

It’s the same with radio commercials that decide to put ambulance or fire truck sirens in for no good reason. I’m driving down the street and I hear an ambulance, but I can’t see one. Why are they doing this!

This makes me think of the Google Home ads. When someone on the ad says “ok Google” my phone hears it, waits for a command, then says “if you just said something, I didn’t hear what it was.”

[dougie_monty]

@Chefguy

It explains why they taste like shit.

And just how do you know THAT?