# My irrational dislike for some commercials. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917 "2009-11-09T17:37:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/21 "2009-11-10T15:36:40Z")
> [@chela](#): > > They must be on sabbatical but i hate the AFLAC duck/goose/turkey, grating on the ears, bad, dumb, annoying, too stupid to be silly, repetitive, ridiculous, made my FIL laugh so it figures… The soccer one is pretty clever. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@FalconFinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FalconFinder)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/22 "2009-11-10T15:51:52Z")
I absolutely HATE those stupid “I’m a PC” commercials. Grates on my nerves something fierce. Humans are NOT Personal Computers!! Drives me totally nuts. There are a bunch of commercials out there that I enjoy watching, but for the life of me, I can’t think of one of them right now… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/23 "2009-11-10T16:22:52Z")
Commercials which anthropomorphize cleaning products and let me know that my current products will be heartbroken and despondent if I change to the advertised brand. How is knowing that my mop will awaken depressed in the middle of the night or my stove cleaner will cry alone in the dark cabinet supposed to entice me to switch brands? ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/24 "2009-11-10T16:29:58Z")
> [@FalconFinder](#): > > I absolutely HATE those stupid “I’m a PC” commercials. Grates on my nerves something fierce. Humans are NOT Personal Computers!! Drives me totally nuts. > > There are a bunch of commercials out there that I enjoy watching, but for the life of me, I can’t think of one of them right now… That was my immediate response the first time I saw one of those. I literally said out loud, “I’m not a PC, I’m a person”. Those Windows 7 commercials where the little girl creates a Powerpoint presentation with unicorns and kittens and flowers because of all the “happy words” she saw on her Daddy’s PC make me want to fwow up. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/25 "2009-11-10T16:34:12Z")
> [@FalconFinder](#): > > I absolutely HATE those stupid “I’m a PC” commercials. Grates on my nerves something fierce. Humans are NOT Personal Computers!! Microsoft just wants to show the world that Windows users don’t all look like [this](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0NkJxOtHJX0/R5S-66Ov7_I/AAAAAAAAATY/JAv4Q_I3axE/s400/apple-pc-mac-people.jpg). ---
**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:** [November 10, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/26 "2009-11-10T17:14:15Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > The stupid part is that Sonic ads are shown here as well, but the closest location is 50 miles away. I’m not driving an hour for fast food. We’ve had that discussion here before. Sonic isn’t a national chain (not yet, anyway, though they keep expanding), but they’re in enough of the U.S. that it makes sense, from a media-spending standpoint, to buy their ads nationally (mostly on cable), rather than buying on a market-by-market basis, only in the regions in which they currently operate. So, if you see a Sonic ad, and there aren’t any Sonics near you, it’s not that they’re specifically choosing to run an ad in your market, despite not operating a restaurant there…you’re simply seeing an ad that’s running nationally. It could also be argued that the national advertising has helped create interest in Sonic in those areas where they don’t currently operate, but plan to expand into. I know that, when they finally started opening restaurants in suburban Chicago earlier this year, they had massive lines for weeks, likely the result of curiosity created by years of those ads. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/27 "2009-11-10T17:17:56Z")
The \*I’m a PC \*commercials are a direct comeback to Apple’s _Mac vs. PC_ ads. In Apple’s ads the players claim to be Macs and PCs, and the PC character always comes off as incompetent. Thus Microsoft shows other people claiming to be PCs, though this time the people are in some way or another winners. They aren’t really trying make an existential statement. I’m glad someone else already mentioned the “arm and a leg” thing. It infuriates me too. Two that get me are for yogurt. A woman is on the phone telling someone about the pie-flavored yogurt she has been eating. Her eavesdropping husband thus begins searching the fridge for actual pie. When wife sees this she scolds and shames the husband, who sulks away like beaten dog. Next commercial shows the husband, who apparently has discovered the secret to pie-flavored yogurt, having the exact same phone conversation wife was having earlier. Wife overhears husband and interrupts him with a scold, at which point he sulks away again. The first commerical is infuriating for obvious reasons, and is pretty typical of commericals targeting married women. But the second commercial doesn’t even make sense. It just shows a bitch wife heel-grinding her husband for no reason. And somehow that is supposed to make me want to buy pie-flavored yogurt. I understand that commercials target certain demographics. And these tailor made ads need to appeal to a group by fulfilling a sort of fantasy or psychological need. Thus beer commericals show average looking guys cracking hilarious jokes and performing feats of athletic prowess whilst being surrounded by beautiful young women, and of course drinking beer. But what do these yogurt commericals tell us about women. That their fanatsy is to be saddled to a mentally disabled, impotent, dishrag of a husband who needs to be browbeaten for having the gall to look into the refrigerator without asking for permission first? Where have all the cowboys gone indeed. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/28 "2009-11-10T17:25:05Z")
The one currently driving me up the wall is the one where the guy is mocking the pandas in a weird baby voice about how he has some nasty-looking Chinese chicken dish and they don’t, then the pandas snare him in a rope trap. Because pandas are all about eating chicken, you know. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/29 "2009-11-10T17:30:36Z")
All I know is, I’d love to see that damned Gecko squashed like a bug once and for all. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/30 "2009-11-10T17:33:57Z")
Nah, the Gecko is okay; I’d like to see their googly-eyed wad of cash burned, though. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/31 "2009-11-10T17:42:06Z")
I actually do like the Windows 7 commercials if just for the “dramatic re-enactment” moments with the more “attractive” actors playing the character in the commercial. I don’t know why, but I find them hilarious. My most irrational commercial hate is the Pristiq commercial with the wind-up doll. Not because of the doll (which almost everyone else hates) but because of the music. I don’t know why I hate it so much, but it just grates on me. I also hate most cleaning product commercials. Especially the ones showing women–and it’s ALWAYS women–A) being all ecstatic about their new cleaning product (“the only thing holding me back was this sub-par mop! Now that I have [product], I can finally do my wifely duty!”) or B) being locked in a glass box and told to clean with a certain product. If that were me I’d ask for the money first. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/32 "2009-11-10T17:47:31Z")
The one that drives me crazy is for Sarna lotion (I know, it got me to remember the name – long enough to NEVER BUY IT). Her family can’t stop scratching so she puts them in dog neck cone things. And that stops them from scratching HOW?? 😕:smack: ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/33 "2009-11-10T17:48:50Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > Especially when the ad is making the claim that their product placates the kids. Like, “Your kid a brat? Buy 'em our product and they’ll sorta behave for a few minutes!” What a terrible, terrible underlying moral. And “it’s OK you made a god-awful mess in the kitchen! In fact, I welcome it since I can use my super-absorbant paper towel! Whee!!” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/34 "2009-11-10T21:16:25Z")
My wife and I hate the Sprint commercials that are black and white and feature their CEO talking about how smooth and great they are. It’s just so…smug. I also hate the Apple vs. PC commercials. I just don’t see why Apple is so cool. ??? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/35 "2009-11-10T21:30:59Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I also hate the Apple vs. PC commercials. I just don’t see why Apple is so cool. ??? I usually feel bad for PC. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/36 "2009-11-10T21:36:14Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > All I know is, I’d love to see that damned Gecko squashed like a bug once and for all. The Gecko totally sold out, man. He used to be all like “People confuse me for Geico but I’m a gecko, not Geico!” Now he has a giant oak desk at Geico corporate with a frilled lizard who temps for him when he’s on vacation. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/37 "2009-11-10T22:13:57Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The Gecko totally sold out, man. He used to be all like “People confuse me for Geico but I’m a gecko, not Geico!” Now he has a giant oak desk at Geico corporate with a frilled lizard who temps for him when he’s on vacation. But I want the job of whatever costumer got to make that tiny suit featured in one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Stathol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/71e660/32.png) [@Stathol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stathol)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/38 "2009-11-10T22:20:41Z")
I want to deliver a savage beating to that [freecreditreport.com](http://freecreditreport.com) douchebag. I don’t think that’s “irrational”, though. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/39 "2009-11-10T22:25:32Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I usually feel bad for PC. ☹ Me too. Apple is such a snide obnoxious hipster, the kind who’s too cool for anything. I’d hang out with PC any day! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917/40 "2009-11-10T23:40:10Z")
I remembered the other one I hate. The woman holding up an arm and a leg from a mannequin and saying “I want a calling plan that doesn’t cost me one of these and one of these”…\…“an arm and a leg.” No shit, Sherlock, what am I, an idiot? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-irrational-dislike-for-some-commercials/516917.md?page=3)