I’m watching a show on the History Channel enititled “Plague” about the Black Death. When it cut to the first commercial, there was a voiceover saying the words quoted in my thread title. Did nobody think about how that would sound?
First they over fish the oceans and now this!
But I do love those Cheddar Bay Biscuits.
Well, I’d be more worried about it if it weren’t for the fact that the documentary was annoying me right, left and center, anyways. I tried watching, and even hopping to other shows wasn’t enough to keep me interested.
Obviously, now, I’m back online instead of watching the boob tube.
BTW, does anyone else think that they were going a bit overboard with the “people back there were too different to understand” meme? (And how would they choose to explain what happened during the “Spanish Influenza” of 1918-1919, where many of the same behaviors that are being described with an air of superiority and scorn, happened all over again? “Cowardly people leaving the poor in the cities to suffer…” comes to mind…)
How disappointing. I thought somebody had caught the plague at Red Lobster. That’d be hilarious, as long as they got the right antibiotics!
That reminds me of something Mick Hanley said at a concert recently. A cancer charity asked could they use his biggest hit on a charity cd release. He said they could but would “Past the point of rescue” really be appropriate for that?
Oh man, that’s hilarious. Can I quote the OP in my “mock the stupid” livejournal community?
Be my guest. 
I was watching a documentary on the Nazis once. When they listed their sponsors they superimposed their logos–AT&T, Ford, whatever–on a picture of goose-stepping stormtroopers.
I’ve been hearing ads for a holiday movie on TV that say in part, “And she gets the greatest Christmas present of all…Ernest Borgnine” The first time I heard it I went HUH? before it registered that Ernest Borgnine is one of the actors in the movie (A Grandfather for Christmas, IIRC).
This bring to mind a network radio news broadcast I heard in the early to mid '80s. The lead story was on the increasing mortality from the newly named disease AIDS. Then they cut to a commercial break, and an enthusiastic announcer said:
"“Ayds helps you control your appetite so you lose weight… Why take diet pills when you can enjoy Ayds?.. Ayds helps you lose weight safely and effectively!”
Yep, Ayds (pronounced the same as the disease) was once a popular over-the-counter diet candy. For some reason the company went out of business…
Hey, if you want to try, c’mon out to New Mexico. We’ve got the plague. Play with enough bunnies and gophers and you might get it!
Now I’m envisioning an ad campaign for NM tourism: “Come to sunny New Mexico! We’ve got no water, but we’ve got the plague! And Hanta virus, too. Also, lots of radioactive waste and maybe aliens!”
So I heard a bit of this show, including a line to the effect that, “This was the only time in hisory when every single person on earth had the experience of having loved ones die before their eyes in a very short time.”
Was this truly global? Did Polynesians and Native Americans and EVERYBODY get it? Or was this just another half-assed ill-researched HC program?
Maybe they were looking to buy some airtime and the only other show available was “Modern Marvels: Gas.”
Very similar to the OP was an episode of “Secrets of the Dead” I watched on PBS.
The voiceover: “Secrets of the Dead: The Mystery of Syphilis, is made possible by viewers like you. [ pause ] Thank You.”
Uh … you’re welcome? (What have you heard?!)
You know, just for a second I thought you were refering to this article which was published yesterday in the NY Times.*
(*Sorry, the cite is a different way to get the the same article. The NY Times site requires sign-up to allow viewing direct links.)
No, not truly global. There wouldn’t be any reason to suspect it was and as far as I know, no evidence to support it reached ‘undiscovered’ Australia. Eurocentrism strikes again.
I love those ones that say things like, “Nature is brought to you by [corporation]” or, even better, “The Universe is brought to you by [corporation]”
My favorite misplaced commercial was a news program teaser about whether bicycle seats could make men infertile. Yes, it was during the Tour de France, so it was probably meant to be topical, but it made watching the race after that a little difficult.
When I was a kid, we were recording The Sound of Music off TV and attempting to time pausing and recording to skip the commercials. We did a pretty good job, but there is a spot on our recording where you now hear (during the gazebo scene where Maria and the Captain are discussing getting married) “We’d better ask the children…and Christopher Plummer.”
For Ford anyway, that would have been entirely appropriate.
I know a lot of folks out there have some serious dislike for any of the Darden restaurants, so maybe next week we’ll come across a listing like:
Pestilence. Brought to you by the Olive Garden!
or
Longhorn Steakhouse. Proud sponsor of Mad Cow Disease Through the Ages!