"Real People" Adverts...

In My Humble Opinion
1

…please don’t tell me i’m the only one who finds these really annoying.

(This could be a pit thread, but I don’t think it’s bad enough to put there. These just annoy me, i’m not enraged or appalled at them. )

You know the ones I mean - there’s two main types:

Person 1 (usually an attractive woman) is busy in a normal kitchen/living room/whatever room is appropriate for the product.
Person 2 (also usually an attractive woman, friends/relative of Person 1) walks in, greetings are exchanged.
Either Person 1 or Person 2 makes a remark about a problem they have.
The other person then expresses shock! (I swear, the line " I used to have (that problem) but now I have (product)! is far too overused).
Person with problem then says no, they’ve tried (similar products) before, and it’s just not worth it.
Other Person (and again, another cliche line - but (product) is different!) points out this new product is much better, and then goes into a long-winded speech ( while shots of the product in use by them are shown) about the abilities of (product).
Person with problem says their problems are now all solved! ( Cliche line "Wow, you’re right/it really is different/it really does work!)
The two then share a joke, and have a good laugh as the ad ends (usually with (product) in foreground while the two people continue to laugh, unfocused, in the background).

And there’s the other type, except Person 2 is usually an “expert” in the area of the product (chef, dishwasher repairman) and is usually an attractive glasses-wearing man, who proceeds to lecture Person 1 (still an attractive woman) on why and how the product works (while instead of the person demonstrating the (product), some kind of computer graphics are used to illustrate the description.

Cos, you know, when i’m thinking of buying a product, i’m really going to base that decision on an actor being convinced of it’s success in an advert for the damn product!
It’s just the way that they dress up the whole thing to look as if someone’s really being convinced in the ad. I’m sure there are people out there who will buy into “Hey, that lady in the advert there was convinced, and she’s tried all kinds of other solutions, just like me!”, but I am not one of those people - and your advert has just put me off buying your product completely.

I can’t be the only person who finds these ads annoying?

2

I find most ads annoying, but those are actually fairly innocuous. I’m more annoyed by the ones that try to sell products so that I can save me from myself, because I am too much of a moron to know not to set my clothing on fire when eating hot food.

3

Why am I reminded of Lenny Bruce, who was tired of these things back in the Sixties:

4

How about when people A and B are out in public, and person A starts complaining about the Embarrassing Affliction DuJour, and person B just happens to have the absolute best available cure for said affliction, in purse or pocket, in a brand-new, unopened package. Person A manages to use this product without having to open the package, and is immediately cured of EADJ. I love when that happens. :rolleyes:

5

As kind of an example of norinew’s post, the tampon commercial where a couple is on a rowboat, and it pops a leak, and while the guy turns around to get the stuff to seal it, the girl gets a ‘Eureka!’ moment and grabs a tampon out of the big box in her purse and plugs the hole.