# Things you see in TV commercials that never happen in the real world **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [February 18, 2020, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112 "2020-02-18T15:22:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/222 "2020-02-27T08:10:29Z")
> [@JpnDude](#): > > THIS! A couple of years ago JpnGal and I went to the NYC Midtown location. We ordered nachos and it had patethic generic chips with microwaved cheese and terrible toppings. Their menu options is way overpriced for the quality, similar to Hard Rock Cafe. lol I read somewhere that said "Applebees is where you go when your feelin too classy for Dennys but can’t afford outback " ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/223 "2020-02-27T13:31:34Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > Yes; a local radio station does this. They only take 3 callers and they each only have 5 or 10 seconds to answer The afternoon drive guys on a local all-news station do this, but the questions are on stories active that day. Easy to answer if you’ve been listening to the station, not so easy if you have not. Correct answers get a prize that is not exactly life changing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/224 "2020-02-27T19:38:40Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Give them a short time to answer. > [@kitap](#): > > Yes; a local radio station does this. They only take 3 callers and they each only have 5 or 10 seconds to answer DJ and talk host [Paul Harris](http://www.harrisonline.com/) had something similar with the [Harris Challenge](http://www.harrisonline.com/the-history-of-the-harris-challenge/) until he retired from broadcasting a few years ago. [Here’s an example of the Challenge you can listen to.](http://www.harrisonline.com/harris-challenge-102017/) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/225 "2020-02-28T04:24:29Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > lol I read somewhere that said "Applebees is where you go when your feelin too classy for Dennys but can’t afford outback " If you ignore all the shit drenched in melted cheap cheddar sauce, and bacon bitsm and burgerfries - I have had some nice little pieces of steak there. And a nice dessert. You don’t HAVE to drink a gallon of beer and eat all the crappy things on the menu. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/226 "2020-02-28T15:31:58Z")
eHarmony profile thumbnails full of 10s. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/227 "2020-02-28T16:00:13Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Woodchucks chucking wood into a lake. [Or any place else](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog#Etymology), for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/228 "2020-02-28T21:12:58Z")
Shotguns making ricochet noises. Multi-shot pistols and revolvers that never need reloading. Urban car chases that never get stuck behind a bus moving at 5mph and stopping to pick up every thirty seconds. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/229 "2020-02-28T21:19:44Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > If you ignore all the shit drenched in melted cheap cheddar sauce… That’s now called QUESO and it’s not melted; it comes from the can as semi-solid, gelatinous goo. But it costs extra as if it were cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/230 "2020-02-29T16:52:37Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Someone surprising their spouse with a brand new luxury car with a giant bow on it. Several comments along that general line. IMO the most incorrect among the comments on at least potentially realistic stuff in commercials (IOW not counting woodchucks chucking wood, etc). Somebody else mentioned that some dealers will sell you such a bow. I didn’t know that, but people definitely give surprise gifts of relatively expensive car. I gave my wife a pretty expensive\* car as a surprise for her birthday once. It also wasn’t strange ‘that there was no discussion’ because we casually discuss cars often, she’d mentioned she liked a particular model and color, so I got it. It was more than I was used to spending on a car but affordable so my previous reluctance just made it more of a surprise. I don’t think a large % of people do this or all the time, we might not do it again. But IMO it fits ‘never (even if meaning very rarely) happens’ less well than some other standards in commercials, particularly demographic groups and their social or romantic interaction where commercials tend to be pretty ‘aspirational’, to put it positively. Same vehicle, a ‘luxury’ SUV but now 15 yrs old, is driven off paved roads not rarely in the rural area our daughter lives. It’s quite good off road by general reputation and our experience. \*relatively expensive is…relative, obviously. Even pegging it to ‘blue collar’ a large absolute number of ‘blue collar guys’, by their own sense of themselves, make very good money (own a contracting business, are very highly skilled, etc) so dumping a load of cinder blocks roughly into the back of your expensive new pick up, OK that doesn’t happen. But culture/class-wise ‘blue collar guys’ spending a lot on pick ups, that does happen. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/231 "2020-02-29T18:12:48Z")
There are probably a hell of a lot more interracial couples / friend groups than people buying new cars as a surprise gift. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/232 "2020-03-01T12:55:46Z")
[A recent Marketplace segment](https://www.marketplace.org/2019/12/05/do-people-really-buy-cars-as-holiday-gifts/) on Lexus’ success in getting people to see a Lexus as a holiday present. Red bows mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/233 "2020-03-01T14:34:59Z")
Commercials for kitchen gadgets. They show how the WonderGadget works, makes your life so much better, it cleans in the dishwasher- and so compact! It folds up and goes into the otherwise completely empty drawer in your kitchen! Who the fuck has EVER had an empty drawer in the kitchen? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/234 "2020-03-01T15:34:45Z")
^ It’s empty because WonderGadget made every single implement in that drawer obsolete and for some reason, you threw them all away. WonderGadget–only 17 E-Z payments of $19.95. 😉 Uh-oh, it’s [Nap Time!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF_nfazQaek) ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/235 "2020-03-01T18:19:24Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > There are probably a hell of a lot more interracial couples / friend groups than people buying new cars as a surprise gift. Probably, but new car as a surprise gift is a tiny % of commercials. Interracial friend groups and romantic pairings (including specific pairings rare among interracial couples in real American life) are ubiquitous in commercials of all kinds. Again I don’t think advertisers have an obligation to represent social reality accurately, especially if the vision they present is more of a social ideal, most people’s idea of anyway. Still, I’d stick with that aspect of commercials probably being more out of line with reality, given how standard it is in virtually all commercials, than a few commercials about buying a car as a gift…which a few people in fact do. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/236 "2020-03-01T18:30:38Z")
> [@kitap](#): > > How about huge ginormous bathrooms? Those are everywhere on ads. When my cousin (married to a big shot in IBM) lived in the Atlanta area, their master bathroom was the entire area over the 2-car garage. It was bigger than my first apartment! So they do exist in the rarefied atmosphere of executive dwellings. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/237 "2020-03-02T15:31:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > WonderGadget–only 17 E-Z payments of $19.95. Plus (in small print) 21.95 handling fee – charged with each payment. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When my cousin (married to a big shot in IBM) lived in the Atlanta area, their master bathroom was the entire area over the 2-car garage. It was bigger than my first apartment! So they do exist in the rarefied atmosphere of executive dwellings. They also exist in some houses old enough to have been originally built with no bathrooms. Sometimes bathrooms were eventually installed in walled-off small portions of other rooms, or in what had been large storage closets; but sometimes an entire bedroom was converted into a bathroom. IME bathrooms of that type rarely look anything like the ones in the ads, though. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/238 "2020-03-02T16:02:36Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And those femine hygiene products being used to soak up blue liquids. (Though I don’t think I have seen one of those commercials for quite a few years.) [This better?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EufLuiy2ANc) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/239 "2020-03-02T16:38:25Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > WonderGadget–only 17 E-Z payments of $19.95. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Plus (in small print) 21.95 handling fee – charged with each payment. But wait! If you order now, we’ll send you TWO WonderGadgets! Just pay a separate fee. ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/240 "2020-03-02T17:55:52Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > (snip) > 10 or 20 close friends gather for a farm-to-table dinner in the middle of a Napa Valley vineyard. > (snip) Actually, that does happen. I’ve poured wine at a few. All it takes is money. Usually it’s for a tour group to a winery or a wine club event. This link is close to what we’re talking about. [Outdoor dining in Napa](https://www.7x7.com/10-summer-dinner-parties-wine-country-2638736848.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/241 "2020-03-02T18:59:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Someone surprising their spouse with a brand new luxury car with a giant bow on it. Yes. My wife would literally murder me if I did that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112.md?page=13)