Meijer’s (kind of like a Target or Walmart chain in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio) had a great commercial that was sort-of negative:
A guy tries to feed his young son (not a young baby, but still in a booster seat with the tray) some kind of vegetable; it was brussels sprouts, lima beans, broccoli, something like that (one of the stereotypical “ewwww!” vegetables). The bag is supposed to be a premium brand. The kid scrunches his face up and refuses to eat it.
Quick cut. The guy again has that vegetable for the kid, but this time it’s the Meijer’s store brand. Instead of having the kid be happy to eat it, he still scrunches his face up and refuses. The tagline was something like, “They’ll still hate it, but at least you’ll pay a lot less!”
There’s another listerine commercial where the guy is using it and his face is scrunched up in burning pain and the tagline is something like “You can stand it! Only 30 seconds! You can take it, bacteria can’t!”
I tried it. I couldn’t take it. What bugs me about that commercial is that I guess back in the old days when we only swished it around until our eyes watered a little bit it wasn’t really doing any good. So now that I find out you have to torture yourself to do it right I figure, why bother?
There’s a commercial for an adult happy meal from McDonalds where the guy is sad because he didn’t get a toy. All it does is make me think that if it doesn’t have a toy what’s so happy about it? It’s just a hamburger and fries, then, isn’t it?
It’s never really bothered me, but I know plenty of people have a reaction that goes beyond “Yuk!” straight into “Aiiiieeeeee!!!” when they see Digger the Dermatophyte pulling up that toetail.
Warning: The above link shows Digger the Dermatophyte pulling up that toetail, so don’t click on it if you’re one of those folks.
There was the rogaine commercials that had the guy admitting ‘I used Rogaine. And I didn’t see any difference. And that’s the idea. You keep the hair you have.’
Those fuckers purposely misadvertised their product in the past to make it seem like you got your hair back, didn’t they? :mad: Just like the Listerine guys who never told you to swish as long as you have to so you were just doing it for nothing.
I’ll buy it too! I’ve been wondering if I could get it down here! Thanks for the link! I’ve been using it for years, and the slogan is right both ways. (Browse the site for the ingredients, or just think of mothballs dissolved in Pine-Sol.)
I saw a Saturday Night Live parody of this one, too. The tagline was “What happens in Thailand, stays in Thailand,” and it involved a dead prostitute. Very tasteless. Very funny.
There’s some laundry detergent that has a commercial that goes like this: Stereotypical doofus husband is trying to do laundry. Stereotypical all-knowing wife comes along and tells him “Wait! You can’t use just one scoop of ____ detergent! You need to use two scoops!” Then the announcer comes on and confirms that, yes, it’s not effective if you just use one, you need to use two scoops!
This was not a commercial attacking a competing brand, they were actually telling people, in essence, that their product is completely ineffective.
I was confused for a while after seeing that commercial, and I was convinced that I had somehow misinterpreted it. But I’ve seen the commercial once or twice since the first time I saw it, and that is indeed what the commercial is about. I can’t possibly imagine why they thought that would make me want to use the product. (Maybe their plan is to actually convince people to use more, and therefore buy more? Kind of like the Alka Seltzer strategy.)
As I remember, a few years ago, one of the “big four” networks had an ad for their new TV season, which had footage of a basketful of cute puppies. The announcer said that if people didn’t watch their new shows, the network wouldn’t make enough money to take care of the puppies, and they’d have to be put…“well, you know.”
Has anyone seen those commercials for that apparently new line of men’s products, Mitchum?
The commercials are like, “DO you drop crumbs all over your shirt when you’re eating chips? And then, do you eat the crumbs? If so, you’re a Mitchum Man.”
There was a Swiffer ad with a vapid bimbo using it on her floors. I guess the message was, “So easy even this dumbass can figure it out.” Come to think of it, that seems to be a common theme in ads these days.
