My children find that commercial just hilarious. And repeat it over and over to me. Oh yeah, it’s just hilarious alright.
This is my favorite commercial ever. I have created an entire backstory between the couple and what will happen immediately after the commercial and believe me, the husband only gets to celebrate his victory for a moment.
It’s for State Farm, not Allstate. Allstate is now running the strange one where everyone talks like Dennis Haysbert when mentioning anything Allstate will do.
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Super-genius kids that have to explain the internet (or something else) to their parents.
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Free catheters!
Joe (or Joan) Consumer enjoying a nice cup of coffee that is obviously empty! It just looks so fake. Couldn’t they at least put some water in the cup? McDonald’s puts the whipped cream and everything on top of the empty cup and my mind sees the cup falling over between takes because it’s top heavy since there’s no liquid inside. Goes for TV shows as well.
Ads for newly released movies that go to convoluted lengths to describe the movie with some superlative: “The #1 family comedy in the country!” Because on its opening weekend the latest Chipmunk movie out-earned any other PG-rated comedies for that one week, but still only came in 5th at the box office.
Movies ads that quote “critics” that turn out to be some guy you never heard of from some blog that nobody reads, but they show that information for about a nanosecond in teeny-tiny type.
Part of the problem is the voice-over person gives “a” as much weight in the phrase as “place.” So it’s not quite Fonzie-esque, but it is far from a normal speech cadence.
I’d rather paste the can-can girls on my face. (Someone had to say it.)
That’s a totally acceptable alternate for the indefinite article. Especially at the start of a sentence.
That pic has 2, plus a third chick of indeterminate ethnicity, perhaps Indian or maybe Middle Eastern.
In Soviet Russia, can-cans can can-can YOU!
Coupon Suzy.
I actually sort of appreciate the new Ford commercials that I think are local to the Cleveland area. They feature what appear to be real people (who may or may not be actors, doesn’t matter) standing next to their parked car (parked near a Cleveland landmark of course) talking about how they like the gas mileage and the fact that they can plug their iPod in or talk to their GPS.
There’s no happy families or mountainsides or vast deserts. Just people talking about features of a car that a normal person would actually highlight if someone asked them how they liked their car.
As for the commercials salinqmind describes, yeah those fucking suck. And they always seem to be repeated ad nauseum whenever they are shown. Probably because they cost so much to make, they need to get the most bang out of their buck.
For my own contribution - along with ringing phones and doorbells, I am also starting to notice default smartphone sounds (like the iPhone notification noise) in commercials and they are just as bad.
Well that shows how well their advertising is doing if I don’t even know what it’s for. 
The State Farm I remember is the “Is your car up a pole again?” which I actually kind of like. If it’s even for State farm…:dubious:
I can’t look at the Allstate ones with Haysbert without thinking of his character in Major League. And I quote this line every time: “F*** you Jobu, I do it myself.”
Meaningless numbers and statistics, usually touted for “miracle” diet nostrums and face creams and such: “absorb up to 26% fewer* calories!” or “women saw 2 times fewer fine lines!” First off, “up to x%” is just weasel-y, since zero percent would technically fall within those parameters. Second, what is “2x less?” I counted 100 fine lines before, and now I have negative 200?
I have a feeling that I’m not the target audience for these advertisers.
*Bonus for ad copy that gets less/fewer wrong.
See my post #29
Similarly, “Save up to x% or more!” Which is it? Up to, or more? It can’t be both!
I just saw an ad yesterday that had this; “up to 50% off - guaranteed!”
I almost threatened them with false advertising for the 60% off sale items in the store.
Mind you, they also had signs up everywhere saying that the %off was based on the original price in one other store in some other city - like a New York Bargain Store basing it’s sales discount on the prices in Super Cost, Michigan. Price check that, sucker!
I automatically think of the exact same line!
Well, except for the last part, where the wife tells him he can’t fold clothes (unless I’m thinking of a different commercial than the one you mean). Really, though, that commercial is pretty good, and it feels almost like that’s a real couple, not the typical TV goofballs.
The controller thing bothers me, too. I just recently got an Xbox Kinect, so I know how those work … your body actually controls the action of the game. With the Wii, yeah, it’s the Wiimote you move around. So why, in this commercial for some life-changing muscle supplement, do they show a mom and daughter *standing *in front of their video game, moving around as if it’s a Kinect … using the regular old Xbox controllers? Why aren’t they sitting, or even standing still? Moving around doesn’t change anything with your game if you’re playing with a regular controller. You just look really stupid.
Yup. I’m a total nerd.
Any commercial that suggests using their product means I’ll have to constantly justify my choice to co-workers and strangers with no sense of boundaries.
I don’t want to eat anything that prompts fellow office workers to snidely remark, “Guess soomebody isn’t sticking to her diet,” til I explain it’s low-fat. I don’t want to be blocked by strangers demanding I explain why I’m driving a particular car.
Joseph A. Bank clothing stores commercials. Specifically, how the announcer uses very brief pauses while saying “Joseph A. Bank.”
Does anyone else notice those pauses? I perceive them like this: “Joseph (pauses a fraction of a second) A. (pauses a fraction of second) Bank”
Something about that just rubs me the wrong way, and really irritates me.