# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/41 "2020-02-18T20:44:50Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > A well-balanced breakfast. In commercials people are always sitting down to eat a “well balanced breakfast” consisting of many different items. Then when you get back to the show, people are always presented with this same sort of complicated breakfast but are \*always \*in too much of a hurry to do anything more than eat a bite of toast or have a swig of orange juice. The bus is here! ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/42 "2020-02-18T20:45:28Z")
Parents who throw their entire nicely prepared salmon dinner away because the kid will only eat mac and cheese, and decide the entire family has to eat mac and cheese instead of just ordering the kid to eat what he’s given, or if you’re a pushover, make it just for him. Flashbacks in black and white and modern day in color. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/43 "2020-02-18T20:53:48Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I know someone who actually did that. The bow is pretty damned impressive! The bow is probably worth more then most of my cars. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/44 "2020-02-18T21:49:33Z")
A broke young guy with a miserable credit score, walking away gladly with € 1.000 in cash from an usury credit given by a financial sharks institute, being instantly surrounded by at least four swooning hot chicks. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/45 "2020-02-18T21:59:18Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Women being super impressed that the guys had the right beer for the party. Most women I know aren’t that much into beer and would be a lot more impressed with mixed drinks being offered. Mrs. Martian would be super impressed if the guys had picked up a nice Belgian quad… ---
**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 18, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/46 "2020-02-18T22:19:22Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Someone surprising their spouse with a brand new luxury car with a giant bow on it. [Colin Powell’s Corvette came with a bow.](https://hips.hearstapps.com/roa.h-cdn.co/assets/16/45/1280x641/gallery-1478790217-screen-shot-2016-11-10-at-100250-am.png?resize=480:*) Granted, it was from his children rather than his spouse. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/47 "2020-02-18T22:20:30Z")
> [@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.) Nowadays they use bladder leak liners for that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/48 "2020-02-18T22:25:37Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Off-road vehicles being driven on dirt roads yet remaining virtually pristine. Yeah, and what’s with everybody in commercials driving perfectly restored 1969 Ford Broncos??? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/49 "2020-02-18T22:55:23Z")
People getting their title back from Title Max. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/50 "2020-02-18T23:00:41Z")
I’m not sure if this is a local ad or not, but it’s for some “retirement village” and shows these two girls who are about 10 years old, and one is raving to the other about all the great amenities at grandma and grandpa’s new place. Yeah, that’s not what 10 year old girls are talking about in real life. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/51 "2020-02-18T23:02:19Z")
Applebee’s food looks good. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/52 "2020-02-18T23:20:31Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > A house with two side-by-side bathtubs, outside the house, overlooking a scenic view. > > Same here. My brother and I badgered my mom into buying a can. We were extremely disappointed. Me three! Still disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/53 "2020-02-18T23:21:59Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Pretty much the entire “has this ever happened to you” section of any given infomercial, featuring the most inept people to have ever lived… As a young’un, my kid came up with a clever taunt: “Well, you’re as stupid as… the people in the black and white part of an infomercial.” > [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Someone surprising their spouse with a brand new luxury car with a giant bow on it. We had a thread on that and someone posted the stats that December is a low point for car purchases. So, no, there aren’t many people doing that. But if they are, they deserve to be divorced. “Hey, honey, I just made a major financial decision with no input from you, and put us even deeper in debt for five years! Surpriiiise!” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/54 "2020-02-18T23:25:36Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Black folks gushing over Buicks. Anyone gushing over Buicks. Add to that: anyone referring to “my Buick,” as in a parasailing guy saying anxiously “I think I forgot to lock my Buick.” No one in the history of the planet has ever said this. _Ever._ Another thing seen in TV commercials and never in the real world: Tom Selleck giving a %&#@\*& about the old people he’s luring into being-foreclosed-on with his deliberately-deceptive ‘reverse mortgage’ ads. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/55 "2020-02-18T23:59:31Z")
I read somewhere, someone bought an expensive car as a surprise, it was delivered with a huge bow on top, and someone from the dealership came to take pictures. He left WITH the bow, because he said it was one of the only ones they had and they had to reuse it. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/56 "2020-02-19T00:27:17Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Add to that: anyone referring to “my Buick,” as in a parasailing guy saying anxiously “I think I forgot to lock my Buick.” > > No one in the history of the planet has ever said this. _Ever._ > Another thing seen in TV commercials and never in the real world: Tom Selleck giving a %&#@\*& about the old people he’s luring into being-foreclosed-on with his deliberately-deceptive ‘reverse mortgage’ ads. I was just going to mention that Buick commercial. And then he drops his phone in the ocean after he locks it via the app. I hate those Buick commercials. People asking, “is that a Buick?” or “is that your new Buick?” etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/57 "2020-02-19T01:05:16Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > I was just going to mention that Buick commercial. And then he drops his phone in the ocean after he locks it via the app. > > I hate those Buick commercials. People asking, “is that a Buick?” or “is that your new Buick?” etc. I gather the Buick people are hoping that the idea will arise that a Buick is very similar to a Mercedes or a Rolls-Royce or a Bugatti: that is, that people will think of Buicks as being such high-status cars to own, that people will naturally mention the make of their car in casual conversation. Because, prestige! But this is so clearly ridiculous that people are more likely to start thinking of Buick owners as fools. And I bet that won’t be good for sales. At all. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/58 "2020-02-19T01:12:55Z")
In 1969 Foolbert Sturgeon published an underground comix story called “Jesus goes to the College Faculty Party,” in which one of the background scenes was a professor asking “if you were a car, what would you be?” A heckling nearby prof said “He’d be a 1948 Buick with mudflaps and a chrome duck on the hood.” It’s been one one of my go-to lines for years. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/59 "2020-02-19T01:14:23Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > And using the phrase “moderate to severe” while describing their condition. This. Don’t people have conditions that are mild? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2020, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/60 "2020-02-19T01:27:38Z")
The guys taking boner pills are all good-looking and masculine, no short, fat, bald old guys whining that they can’t get it up. And their women are so very happy that they’ll be getting fucked again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112.md?page=4)