I like the Old Spice commercials and don’t hate the and/or commercial. But there are two commercials that I hate because they’re just bad advertising.
The Apple Ale something or other. The guy is at a bar and is asked what he’d like to drink. He is then whapped upside the head so hard he’s knocked down. Yeah, that’s gonna make me want to drink your crappy apple beer.
The other is for Dove soap or some other type of girly cleansing product. They show pieces of paper covered in what looks like foundation and then dip them in glasses of water containing different soaps and pull them out. All of the pieces of paper show the foundation removed in various amounts except for one. The Dove one has all the foundation still clinging to it.
Says the voiceover: Imagine what that means for your skin!
It means your crappy soap isn’t cleaning me at all. Why would you show me how much muck your soap leaves behind?
I saw this one over the weekend and while it’s ridiculous I liked it. I’m probably getting his name wrong.
It’s set in an office. There’s a camel. The camel is excitedly going around to everyone in the office. “Guess what day it is? Guess what day it is?” Everyone looks bored and doesn’t respond. Finally one says, “It’s Hump Day, Harvey.”
How about the spots with the woman wheeling a shopping cart through the supermarket and criticizing government regulations? Who even created this one? They don’t identify themselves but it sounds like some right-wing organization. And having a woman do the commercial!
That makes me think of some of the ladies at my workplace…they just can’t understand why I keep a bottle of dish detergent in the restroom when we have a dispenser that produces such nice, tiny dollops of foamy, coconut-scented soap. I don’t care how good it smells, it does absolutely no good when your hands are covered in crud from handling inventory!
Dougie, is that the one where the lady rambles about how taxing soda will hurt her family economically? That one was equal parts funny and confusing.
The point of a commercial is to make you remember the product AND give you a positive impression of the product. Bing’s robot weirdos, for example, make me like Google even more even though I remember the commercial and what product it’s for.
I agree. As was previously posted, it’s been the conventional wisdom in the advertising biz for decades that it doesn’t matter how annoyed people are by a commercial as long as they remember the name of the product.
But the conventional wisdom isn’t always correct. As you mention, Bing has done itself no favors with its “memorable” ad campaigns.
I am well aware of the name of that search engine—but have never used it. In fact, anytime I’m doing a complex search and am not completely happy with what I’m getting, I will use search engines other-than-my-regular one—but will consciously choose NOT to try Bing, on the principle that since their ads were designed by unintelligent people, then their search algorithms were probably written by unintelligent people, too.
Oh, I looked into that one. What that one is saying is, “Hi, I’m an actress paid by the soft drink beverage industry to convince you to make your Congresscritters lay off bothering us!”
Maybe it’s just me but there are plenty of memorable commercials I’ve seen where I have no memory of what they’re selling.
Examples:
-The little pig in the car with the pinwheels going “Weeeeeeee!” I think it’s funny. Have no idea or recollection of what they’re selling.
-The guy stting in the class with kids getting funny answers from them. Again, no memory of what they’re selling. Is it a Geico ad or something?
-Pretty much any type of beverage commercial. I could tell you it was for a beverage but that’s about it. There was some recent one with Jeff Gordon test driving a Camaro. Pretty sure it was for a soda. If I had to guess I’d say Diet Dr.Pepper?
-Some recent truck commercial with cables suspending the truck from 4 corners to show how strong it is. Ram? GMC? Ford? Toyota? Not a clue.
Maybe it’s my age (43) and I’ve been so bombarded by advertisements in my lifetime that I can now mentally block out the product? Selective tunnel vision viewing?
Sometimes there is an element of “I’m not their target demographic”. I can see how I might be put off by an ad that appeals to a different mentality and segment of the population. Think Cheetos ads with Chester the Cheatah lying around. They’re clearly marketing to pot heads.
Big head Kind commercials for Burger King probably fit this, but for me, they convinced me to actively avoid Burger King during this period. Though it’s not like I eat a lot of fast food burgers anyway.
That one is mildly amusing because it makes sense. You can understand how theoretically someone might have a sweet chicken and a sour chicken. And apparently some people like sour, given the popularity of things like sour apple candy and whatnot.
That’s a great example. Annoying personality characters, all from the same writer, fine. But what’s with biting the album?
Another in the series of Skittles grossout ads. Skittles pox, anyone? Yum yum.
What they are trying to show is the other examples damage the underlying paper, and dove does not. That’s all well and good, unless the reason it doesn’t damage the paper is because it doesn’t reach the paper through the foundation. But I honestly can’t tell because I can’t tell what’s paper and what’s makeup or whatever. Is there even any foundation on the paper, or is it peachish colored paper?
The State Farm sing-the-jingle ads are generally stupid. I’d buy their premise if you sang it when you needed your agent to help you with a claim - car accident, tree falling on the house, that sort of thing. But singing the jingle to get a sandwich or a hot tub? I used to have State Farm insurance - they never offered me a sandwich.
I think the Old Spice ads are hilarious! Simple pleasures for simple minds, I suppose.
Yup, sorry, I do love the Old Spice commercials - from the ones with Bruce Campbell, through the deep-voiced Old Spice Guy ones, and up to the one just posted. Damned funny.
I did like the State Farm one with the guys at the wildlife park who are in their car, eating buffalo jerky, and this pisses off a nearby buffalo. Cue singing the jingle, panicking as they point it out to the agent, then teleporting back to the office. Sorry, it’s just goofy enough to amuse me or something.
This isn’t exactly “nonsensical” so much as it’s an example of Not Thinking it Through:
Fellow-public radio listeners will have heard for years the promotional message “Sit4Less, featuring all colors of the Herman Miller Aeron Chair, now including True Black.” In recent months the promo has been changed to:
“Sit4Less is now Sit4Life!”…then the bit about the chairs.
Now, I’m guessing that the people who head this office furniture company simply assumed that adding “For Life” (or “4Life”)…to anything…always, and without reservation, makes for a completely wonderful and life-affirming and spirit-elevating name change.
But what does “sit for life” convey to most listeners?
To be blunt, doesn’t it convey–a life spent in a seated position? As in, “wheelchair”? As in, you’re not going to be getting out of that wheelchair?
They don’t sell wheelchairs, by the way. Their mission statement is: “Sit4Life.com seeks to be the leading source for the most desirable ergonomic seating and accessories found in global Fortune 500 companies and delivers them to the home and small office customer - For less.”
Even many people who DO use wheelchairs, hope that they won’t be using them “for life”…they have hopes of therapies or surgeries that might get them back on their feet again.*
I just marvel, every time I hear that ad. Didn’t they think about this at all?
*in none of this do I intend any disrespect or denigration of those who don’t walk.
