Stupidest commercial of the Year

[peasea]

blinx wrote:
Here in Denmark some companies apparently don’t think it’s worth it to film a new commercial when they need one for our market, so they take the (usually) german original and very badly dub danish voices over it. I hate 'em all - I get upset even thinking about them.

I think they do that in the States sometimes, too. One word: Mentos. Except they don’t bother with the dubbing.

I recently started seeing these commercials (Progressive Insurance, maybe?) where a woman is playing with an on-line voodoo doll of her ex-boyfriend, causing him actual pain while he is on a date (she pokes the doll’s shoulder with a ‘pin’, and he screams, flinging his drink onto his date). At the end, she uses a pair of virtual pliers on his virtual…jewels, after which we see his eyes get really wide, but we’re gratefully spared the rest of his reaction. Do some women find this funny or empowering? Would it be funny if a man were remotely mutilating his ex-girlfriend’s genitalia? As a guy, I find it highly offensive, and it does not give me a good image of the company or its product.

[MagicEyes]

The stupidest commercial I’ve ever seen is the yogurt ad where these two STUPID women are raving about how good the yogurt is–“It’s long massage good! It’s 'I’d like to thank the Academy good!” Give me a break–NO yogurt is that good! It’s YOGURT!!! It’s FERMENTED MILK!!! I will never buy their yogurt, just because of this commercial.

Coming in second (but almost as stupid) is an ad for a local car wash. Picture in your head, a cheesy low-budget commercial with no dialogue, just bad music: Guy goes to pick up his date, rings the doorbell, she opens the door. Cut to his car, which is splattered with mud. She yells at him, and slams the door in his face. He should have gone to the car wash. :rolleyes: How stupid. Do they really think women are that shallow?

ME

[mudcrutch]

peasea, yes, that was a Progressive ad. Jerks. If I had a Progressive policy I would cancel it just because of that stupid commerical. :mad:

[Lamia]

*Originally posted by peasea *
** I think they do that in the States sometimes, too. One word: Mentos. Except they don’t bother with the dubbing.
**

Oddly, many of those old Mentos ads actually were produced in the US. They were also all originally in English and aired in English around the world except in Russia, where they were dubbed.

http://dijon.best.vwh.net/tv/mentos/mentos-faq.html

[peasea]

originally posted by Lamia
**Oddly, many of those old Mentos ads actually were produced in the US. They were also all originally in English and aired in English around the world except in Russia, where they were dubbed. **

Wow, I feel disillusioned now. I was always so certain those commercials were European. At least I’m not the only one:

http://dijon.best.vwh.net/tv/mentos/mentos-faq.html#1a

"I had the good fortune to speak with the guy at Van Melle in Kentucky who designed those Mentos commercials. I’ll have to go through my old research files a little later to give you more information on him. If I remember correctly, he told me that the commercials were filmed in California and Florida. They were not at all conceived for a Euoropean audience and he found it amusing that everyone thought that."

[Skywatcher]

There’s a Gran Prix race coming up in DC next week. Nothing wrong with that except the race is sponsored by Cadillac, which has been advertising their CTS and the race with a really dumb radio commercial. Yes, “Gran Prix” is a French term but I’m pretty sure that the translation has nothing to do with Cadillac, nor is “CTS” French for “Tested in Germany.” I can’t wait until the race is over so I’m no longer subjected to the inanity of these commercials!

[Doubting_Robert]

Yes, the “Can you hear me now?” commercials are annoying, but some are better than others. The guy is starting to show up in some strange places, including one commercial shown during some show with unusual sets (old castle? haunted house? I’ve forgotten). The commercial showed the guy walking through what looked a lot like sets for the show it was sponsoring.

In any case, you can’t get away from him. He’s even wandering around in commercials on the Spanish-language station, asking his question in Spanish.

[Tuckerfan]

There’s a commerical for a local dairy here that’s absolutely the worst thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. It deals with how they come up with their new flavors of ice cream. I have no idea if the people in the commercial are supposed to acting like they can’t act or if they really can’t act. All I do know is that a bunch of drunken three year olds could pull off a better performance! Its so bad, it beats the former gods of annoying commercials, the Dell dip and Carrottop hands down.

[annieclaus]

*Originally posted by DarkWriter *
**The chick spasming/“dancing” in the front passenger seat. I loathe that commercial.

Sheri **

This one is also at the head of my list. Persons who twitch like that used to be hidden away!

[Ich_Bin_s]

You guys have it all wrong. I would have breakfast with the Dell kid every day if it meant that I could forget the forty five seconds of my life that I spent watching that smirking idiot on those Encyclopedia Britannica commercials. Damn it, I wanted to smack him.

Encyclopedia Britannica Kid, the

I actually laugh at the Dell commercials now. It’s like Paul Shafer and Dan Rather; I delight in their presence because I am immune to their harpy song, yet I get to watch those around me writhe in agony.

[airdisc]

Any commercial with the stoner Dell kid.

The “Can you hear me now” ads.

Any commercial that involves the following:

Toenail fungus
Hemmorhoids
Premature ejaculation
Impotence
Gas
Indigestion
Heartburn
Colon cancer
Colon polyps
Tampons
Maxipads
Deoderant
Vaginal Dryness
Jock itch

Any commercial that shows close ups of people’s lips or mouth.

Any commercial that shows people chewing.

That “Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now” jingle with the woman with the wiggly ass running to her golf cart.

That Horizon commercial that shows new-age muzak with black and white pictures. I’m sure this commercial cost less than 50$ to make. I don’t see this commercial anymore. I guess there is a God after all.

That paper towel commercial showing the fat ass piece of crap kid whose eating BBQ chicken and tossing the towels on the floor. I consider this commercial to be grosser than goatse.cx.

Any commercial for pet food, especially those with the fake animation of animals talking, and those that show a can of dog food being branded. That has to smell bad.

Any “retro-mercial” on TVLand. The Soviet fashion show one is a lot funnier WHEN THERE’S A SUCH THING AS THE SOVIET UNION!

Any commercial that equates mudane tasks such as washing your hair or shaving to sex. Sorry, but I would much rather have sex than shave. Even if it’s with the entire LA police department.

Any commercial with kids on it. Sorry guys, my heartstrings are immune.

Zoom zoom zoom. I’ve never heard this (my dad saw what I was typing, and is now giving me input) commercial, and I consider myself better for it. My dad claims I’ve seen it, but I maintain I haven’t.

Aflac commercials, after I’ve seen them more than once. Unless it was a particularly good one. Then it’s twice.

The commercial for Panasonic cameras where some kids honk their horn and cause the fat black guy to drop his groceries. Then a midget comes out and tells them to do it again. Way to encourage people to be obnoxious assholes. I hope the NAACP comes down on you like a ton of bricks for having the prank victim be a black guy.

All car commercials. Period. I can only think of one that I won’t bother to mute. C’mon guys, REAL driving involves getting from point A to point B, on an always crowded highway filled with people who can’t figure out what their turn signals are for. It is not accompanied by sexy music, empty roads, and blissful sunsets. Nor am I being chased by giant animals. I tend to avoid anyplace where rabbits are bigger than an SUV.

Commercials for Primetime Glick, Strip Mall (these two both got axed a while back), and Crank Yankers (this one has not, but probably will be, axed)

All commercials telling me who to vote for.

The Progressive commercials where the parents bitch and moan about how their daughter got an expensive tongue piercing. If I got a frickin tongue piercing, my parents would kill me. Price would be of no concern.

Any commercial with Wilford Brimley.

The Mike’s Hard Lemonage commercials. All of them. Even if I did drink, I wouldn’t drink that, but it doesn’t matter because I don’t drink.

That’s it, but I’m about to watch a half hour of TV, so I’ll probably be back with another 10 or 20.

[Morbo]

*Originally posted by HPL *
**2. The new “Mike’s Hard Lemonade/Ice Tea” commerial, with some kind of space aliens or evil head. **

Originally posted by BraheSilver
That “Got Milk” ad with the kid eating peanut butter. He’s eating pb off a big 'ol spoon, and sipping from his carton of milk. Running out of milk, he gives the spoon to the dog. The camera then decides to give us an eternity of the dog licking the roof of its mouth. If felching has a sound, I’m sure this is it.

Good lord, these are three of my favorite commercials. Must’ve been a bunch of guys like me in their focus groups. Although, the one with the second head was much better when they focused on her boobs, which they don’t do anymore for some reason.

Originally posted by dantheman
**Ooh, here’s another. There’s a radio commercial out there for Office Max.

The catch phrase is “Max Means More.”

Like hell it does. Max means “most.” - you know, the maximum? You dummies could have marketed your stores so much better by saying it offered the MOST office stuff. What a missed opportunity!**

The ones that kills me is Radio Shack. “You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers.”

Apparently one of the answers they don’t have is why they think it’s OK to say “You have got questions? We have got answers” - it’s “you have questions” and “we have answers”. “Have got” is redundant and not correct. Morons.

As for the OP: If “zoom zoom” goes on for another TEN YEARS like the godforsaken “Like a rock” campaign, then maybe it would win. What compelled them to think ANY song by Bob fucking Seeger was worthy of TEN YEARS of commercials using that same song? Hearing that song every day is quite simply my hell on Earth, and I will never - NEVER - buy a Chevrolet because of it.

[dantheman]

*Originally posted by Dooku *
**
The ones that kills me is Radio Shack. “You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers.”

Apparently one of the answers they don’t have is why they think it’s OK to say “You have got questions? We have got answers” - it’s “you have questions” and “we have answers”. “Have got” is redundant and not correct. Morons.**

They’re not being dumb at all. Although it’s grammatically correct to say “we have answers”, it sounds good to the ear to say “we’ve got answers”. And truth be told, 99.9999% of the human populace isn’t going to stop to expand “we’ve” into “we have” - it’s just “we’ve” to most of us.

You know, a lot of the commericals in this thread are being cited because they’re annoying, not because they’re stupid (well, not necessarily). Did the OP mean both, I wonder?