The most tiresome cliches in advertising

Right. Nothing works better than ZonkMaster. Damn near everything similar works just as well as ZonkMaster, and many brands are a lot cheaper than ours, but we’re not lying, exactly, when we say that nothing works better than our product.

This product is not only better quality and better looking than that of our competitors, but the people in our ads who use it have a more exciting social life than you do, schmuck. If you would start using our product - and maybe start being a little social yourself - you, too could be better at entertaining and you might actually find that you have some friends.

I just have to laugh though at the Carl’s Jr. commercials where the single-guy doesn’t even know how to make breakfast. If it weren’t for Carl’s Jr., some guys would starve!

Thankfully, they’ve gotten rid of their stupid “Apple Jacks don’t taste like apples” campaign and replaced it with a new one that explains why they don’t taste like apples- they have cinnamon flavor, too. A cartoon apple attempts to sabotage a cinnamon stick’s attempts to get to a bowl of Apple Jacks, but his plans backfire. I’m glad they changed it.

We don’t get that kind of saucy innuendo in the states. Mostly hapless chaps and their savior women swooping in to clean up our mess.

Seeing video of the chunky people before, then video of them after they’ve used WeightGain3000 and SoloBowFleXtreme just tells me that to be truly motivated to lose weight and get in shape, you need to be on the payroll of a company that sells excercise equipment.

The ones that always peg my fun-meter are the car ads that say, “We’ll pay off your trade-in no matter how much you owe on it!!!”

Well, D’UH!

The worst cliches are those that foster the mispronunciation of words like absorb and stomach, but my pet peeves are the ones where they have these pre-printed pads with the check boxes for symptoms that Product A only relieves some of while Product B (or C) handles all of. Have you ever seen such a checklist on a pad in your doctor’s office or at the Jiffy Lube?

Wonder if Kinko’s laughs whenever somebody brings in a print order for such pads…

“Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids”, I hated that commercial.
A Family Guy episode did a funny parody of that commercial. I forgot which one.

I want to know which women out there are menstruating that blue watery fluid.

I don’t.

Sadly there is a lot of truth to this one. A whole generation of young men haven’t a clue how to cook for themselves and eat out for virtually every meal. My own stepson hasn’t mastered much more than making macaroni and cheese. I thank my parents for teaching me to actually cook. I’m no Julia Child - now I’ve cut the dickens out of myself - but I can make a decent meal from scratch on short notice.

I also hate the ads that say (in essence) “It’s OK to be a selfish greedy pig, and cheat your family/loved one out of their share- becuase it’s OUR product”. :mad:

The avocado council ran a series of billboards out here saying that very same thing. I swore off avocados.

Hey, DrDeth have you seen my LeanPocketssup[/sup]?

I really hope the sleazy husband/boyfriend that bogarted that lady’s LeanPocketssup[/sup] burnt the everluvin’F*ck outta the roof of his mouth.

As has been pointed out, the child who is the expert and has to convince the adult (and/or the adult viewer) about the validity of the product. Obviously, if an annoying child is telling me that a car or a juice is the best one available, I will just buy what they tell me to buy without considering any other options. How is a child somehow intellectually superior or wiser than I am? And why do I want that belittling feeling of listening to and believing them?

A new cliche that I absolutely hate is the “editing together 100 people saying one sentence to create the illusion of multitudes of people using the product”. Somehow I suspect there’s only one advertising company responsible for every commercial that utilizes this aggressively annoying technique. I rue the day the company creates one of these commercials using 100 precocious children or CGI talking pets all finishing each other’s “sentence” about some sort of juice or medicine or auto. “I use”–“I use”–“I use”–“Miracle Cure-All Product”!

Movie adds for sci-fi/fantasy that say “You will believe.”
No, since I know right off the bat that it’s a made up, fictional story, I won’t even come close to believing.
Now if it’s actually based on a real event, and I don’t mean just loosely based, then there’s a possibility I might believe. If I even bother to go see the movie that is.

Padeye - it’s not just young men. My sister once called my mum for her greek salad recipe. And asked to make mashed potatoes.

We get some great movie ads up here - “The #1 romantic-comedy starring Jim Carrey in Canada!”. Is anyone fooled by this?

Better than that, the movie teasers with “In a World gone mad!”

There’s a comedian that does a segment on it, it’s pretty funny.

Er, make that “asked how to”.

Lately, it seems to me, when I hear “In a world gone mad!” or anything similar, I know that a comedy movie is going to be announced.
Or, if that line is used on TV, it’s either to talk about a TV comedy, or advertise a new product that’ll bring you sanity (I.E. a new mop, special flavor of coffee, etc…)

TV ad: Any casting of a child – or worse yet, many children – with “cute” speech impediments. I’m looking at you, Mr Grape Juice Man.

Radio ad: “We have TOO MANY CARRSSSSSSS!!” Well, I guess you fucked yourself, didntcha?