# Really stupid things that annoy you in commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961 "2012-01-19T00:54:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/121 "2012-01-23T18:59:48Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Another win for the grammar police: some new Bausch & Lomb product, which opens with a woman asking “Don’t you wish there was an eyedrop that did … something?” I don’t know what this miracle product is supposed to do, because I’m busy ranting “Were, people, WERE!!!” Ad copywriters are apparently raised by wolves! Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/122 "2012-01-23T19:08:18Z")
> [@Zago](#): > > There’s a diaper commercial - cartoon babies coming down the runway turn their buts to the audience and WHAT? There’s some kind of explosion in the diaper - am I supose to think that if the diaper wasn’t so good the audience would be sprayed with pooh? This reminds me – I watched a bit of TV over the weekend and just about every damn commercial break featured this bit of torture called the “Potty Dance.” Ugh! Toddlers singing and dancing in their diapers like some depraved episode of _Barney & Friends_… Honest, I don’t normally have thoughts about hurting children, but this horrifying abomination makes me want to slap the ever-lovin’ crap out of every last one of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/123 "2012-01-23T19:33:22Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Huh? Grammatically, that should be, “Don’t you wish there _were_ …” They’re supposing a condition different than is the case. Use were, not was. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/124 "2012-01-23T19:59:33Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > Commericals showing trucks doing things that they cannot do, with an ironic “Trucks cannot actually do this, do not attempt” disclaimer at the bottom. This also bugs me, and I think it’s a classic case of someone trying to be ironic and getting lost up his own ass. The commercials show the truck doing stuff I know the truck can’t do- stuff I would never for a second believe any truck could do. Why is that supposed to make me want the truck? Because I’m going to want to pretend I could do those things? > [@Wheelz](#): > > TV show promos that say something like “It’s the most controversial episode of \*The Good Wife \*yet!!!” > > No, no, no. You don’t get to call your _own_ show “controversial.” If somebody _else_ takes notice of it, and there’s some actual public debate over it, then _maybe_ there’s a controversy. But not just because you say so. Uncontroversially seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/125 "2012-01-23T20:05:08Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Grammatically, that should be, “Don’t you wish there _were_ …” > > They’re supposing a condition different than is the case. Use were, not was. So you mean it should be “I wish I **were** an Oscar Meyer wiener”? ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/126 "2012-01-23T20:08:08Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/127 "2012-01-23T20:21:47Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > So you mean it should be “I wish I **were** an Oscar Meyer wiener”? That’s how I’ve always heard it. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/128 "2012-01-23T20:27:41Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > This also bugs me, and I think it’s a classic case of someone trying to be ironic and getting lost up his own ass. The commercials show the truck doing stuff I know the truck can’t do- stuff I would never for a second believe any truck could do. If we’re talking about the same commercials, I think the disclaimer might have been legally mandated. The one I see running now has a truck doing barrel rolls in the snow, and you would have to be an idiot to think it could really do that. But a few months ago, they were running an ad that showed a truck pushing a dune buggy up a steep sand dune. I don’t think that one had a disclaimer, and if you have never driven in deep sand, it wasn’t so obvious that what you were seeing was impossible. So I’d guess they got a warning from somebody to start running disclaimers, and maybe the new commercial is a deliberate attempt to make disclaimers look stupid and unnecessary. Additional evidence for my theory is that in the barrel-roll commercial, the disclaimer is in large, legible type. Disclaimers they don’t really want you to see are usually in type so small that you need a 60" HDTV to have a prayer of reading them, and even then only with a DVR that lets you freeze the picture. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/129 "2012-01-23T20:28:25Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’s how I’ve always heard it. Hmm . . . browsing on-line shows I have been mislead. Wait, does that mean we found a song with correct grammar?! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/130 "2012-01-23T20:32:44Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > If we’re talking about the same commercials, I think the disclaimer might have been legally mandated. The one I see running now has a truck doing barrel rolls in the snow, and you would have to be an idiot to think it could really do that. But a few months ago, they were running an ad that showed a truck pushing a dune buggy up a steep sand dune. I still see that one sometimes. I don’t know what order they were produced in, although I thought I saw the one with the airplane first. Maybe the disclaimer isn’t part of the joke, but I still think it’s a really stupid commercial. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/131 "2012-01-23T20:37:25Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I still see that one sometimes. I don’t know what order they were produced in, although I thought I saw the one with the airplane first. Maybe the disclaimer isn’t part of the joke, but I still think it’s a really stupid commercial. But they all kind of are. How stupid do you have to be to think you’ll have to fight off women if you use Axe Body Spray? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/132 "2012-01-23T20:43:56Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Grammatically, that should be, “Don’t you wish there _were_ …” > > They’re supposing a condition different than is the case. Use were, not was. No, they seem to be supposing a product (singular). I have no idea of what grammar rule you two are talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/133 "2012-01-23T20:44:37Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You’ll have to get a few hundred friends to join with you. They don’t have to report every single “side effect” a drug has in trials, just the most common. I forget if it’s anything found in 5% or more or 10% or more, but there is some number above which you must disclose. I suspect there’s some verbiage indicating that the adverse reaction must be significantly overreported in the test cohort versus the control cohort. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/134 "2012-01-23T20:45:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I still see that one sometimes. I don’t know what order they were produced in, although I thought I saw the one with the airplane first. I thought when you said airplane, you were talking about the truck doing the barrel roll. I just realized that you were talking about a third commercial, where an airliner has its landing gear disabled, and a truck pulls in front of it on the runway and saves the day. Yeah, I think that was the first of the series, and I don’t think it had a disclaimer, either. But not very many people were likely to try that stunt. I can see a lot of dumb guys taking their new truck out in the sand and getting stuck, and then angrily phoning the FCC or whatever about the deceptive advertising. ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/135 "2012-01-23T20:46:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > No, they seem to be supposing a product (singular). I have no idea of what grammar rule you two are talking about. > **[Subjunctive mood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood)** > > The subjunctive (also known as the conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of an utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude toward it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality, such as wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, obligation, or action, that has not yet occurred. The precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. The subjunctive is one of the irrealis moods, which refer to what is... ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/136 "2012-01-23T20:59:59Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > [Subjunctive mood - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood) That’s just plain silly. Neither word (“was or were”) would lead to any doubt as to meaning, and the ‘rule” (and there are no rules in English Grammar) is confusing and overly complex. “I wish there was” = 49,000,000 results, but “I wish there were” has only 27,800,000- so usage sez “was” wins. Indeed this forum agrees: > **[English Forward](https://www.englishforward.com/question/i-wish-i-waswere-there-1692036624)** > > English Forward The internet's largest learn english community. Now on blockchain “Older, prescriptive grammar books insist on the use of the subjunctive form “were”. Most modern, descriptive grammar books accept both “were” and “was” as being grammatically acceptable, but they suggest that “I wish I were” is more appropriate in formal contexts.” And “The older prescriptive grammars were simply wrong. Their analysis was wrong and the proof they offered was wrong. It was just one more rule that was wrong from the outset. The rule actually changed hundreds of years ago and yet these prescriptive grammars kept on misanalyzing this for centuries.” ---
**Author:** ![brocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@brocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brocks)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/137 "2012-01-23T21:15:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > That’s just plain silly. If you don’t want to use the subjunctive, I don’t think you are committing a felony, and I would say that someone’s comments about being raised by wolves is a bit harsh. But if you had no idea that the subjunctive mood existed, then a gap in your education has been filled, and you should be happy about that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/138 "2012-01-23T21:31:50Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > But they all kind of are. How stupid do you have to be to think you’ll have to fight off women if you use Axe Body Spray? I don’t like those commercials, but I can at least accept that that’s an exaggeration of “Axe smells good.” What does pretending to land a plane using a truck bed have to do with the truck? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/139 "2012-01-23T22:07:31Z")
> [@Just\_Ed](#): > > This bothers me too, but more so for the latter reason. I don’t believe anybody at McDonald’s or their ad agency actually believes the egg McMuffin will actually become a catch-phrase; it’s being used in a mock-metaphoric sense. Having said that, I agree with your assessment of its meaning - to me it sounds sardonic, and I wouldn’t use it to describe _anything_ as superlative. I must admit I was confused when I first saw the commercial, because the intended meaning caused such cognitive dissonance. Yeah, but I’d hit that Egg McMuffin. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961/140 "2012-01-23T22:34:02Z")
> [@brocks](#): > > …I just realized that you were talking about a third commercial, where an airliner has its landing gear disabled, and a truck pulls in front of it on the runway and saves the day. > [@Marley23](#): > > …What does pretending to land a plane using a truck bed have to do with the truck? Marley, you don’t remember [The 405](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpx6o4gvmXE)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-things-that-annoy-you-in-commercials/609961.md?page=8)