# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/122 "2020-02-20T15:49:16Z")
Gorgeous people on their exercise bikes in spacious, minimalist living rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking wooded ravines. Even gorgeous people keep their exercise bikes in the basement near the washer and dryer. ---
**Author:** ![Vic\_Parrish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Vic\_Parrish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vic_Parrish)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/123 "2020-02-20T15:55:09Z")
People who are aware that certain fungal infections are common in the place to which they’re traveling. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/124 "2020-02-20T16:08:56Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Brothers and sisters getting [just a little too close](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMwFWDIFVCU) over a cup of coffee. Well, there is an [extended cut version.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhfcWTZeP1k) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/125 "2020-02-20T16:43:07Z")
Every single fast food restaurant is remarkably clean with bright white tile and fresh paint on the walls. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/126 "2020-02-20T17:12:31Z")
Car dealerships are buzzing with many people anxiously looking at cars and then vigorously shaking the smiling salesman’s hand out in the lot, presuming they got a great deal. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/127 "2020-02-20T17:22:17Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Dancing around the kitchen with your SO while cooking dinner and hand feeding them the ingredients as you do so. Meh - I sup_pose_ in the first flushes of a relationship such culinary symbiosis can come to fruition (heh), but really, who are we kidding - not just from personal experience, but also from witnessing, over the decades, _countless_ couples at each throats over the too-many-chefs-in-the-kitchen antagonisms. Quite often, when preparing a meal, we’re hungry. And, being hungry, we can sometimes get, oh, just a _little_ irritable, p-haps. “No - DON’T! Leave that alone! Just…just…just _go away_, will you!?” > [@Akaj](#): > > Gorgeous people on their exercise bikes in spacious, minimalist living rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking wooded ravines. > > Even gorgeous people keep their exercise bikes in the basement near the washer and dryer. Oh but I keep my peleton in the massage room overlooking the infinity pool. > [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Or fighting for the last waffle. > [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Eggo fight! Got it covered.😉 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/128 "2020-02-20T17:39:56Z")
Dancing bears singing about toilet paper. Only happened once in my life ---
**Author:** ![moojja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@moojja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moojja)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/129 "2020-02-20T17:56:38Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > I do see multi-ethnic groups of friends in their twenties and thirties pretty frequently in real life, though. Guess it depends where you live. My coworker was making fun of this trope as we were carpooling. Then we realized in the car, there’s one Asian woman, one black guy, one Indian guy and one white guy, all in their thirties. None of us are good looking though. ---
**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 20, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/130 "2020-02-20T18:57:50Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Dancing bears singing about toilet paper. Only happened once in my life Naked bears but apparently the littlest bear wears underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/131 "2020-02-20T19:04:07Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Every single fast food restaurant is remarkably clean with bright white tile and fresh paint on the walls. And smiling customers. Also, the fryer claxon that you can hear in any corner of the lobby. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/132 "2020-02-20T19:05:25Z")
> [@moojja](#): > > My coworker was making fun of this trope as we were carpooling. Then we realized in the car, there’s one Asian woman, one black guy, one Indian guy and one white guy, all in their thirties. None of us are good looking though. That sounds like a project group I was part of in college. We had two white guys, a black guy, an Indian guy, a Middle Eastern guy, and a Chinese guy. Sometimes after we were done with our work for the night we all walked into a bar. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/133 "2020-02-20T19:13:11Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Whatever drug you have been prescribed, you will get to live the rest of your life vacationing in a photogenic wilderness, but in slow motion. > > … And a perfect husband who never says a word, great friends, no work. And Mothers spending all day long playing with their only daughters. No other kids, no work for the Mom. Sure my dad and I tossed the ball around a bit, we’d all play a family game once in a while, but I dont know anyone who does this. I mean, doesnt that little girl have school or friends, doesnt that woman have a job or housework or friends? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/134 "2020-02-20T20:08:40Z")
I’ve never seen a professional driver on a closed course. Which, by the way, looks remarkably like an ordinary road. ---
**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 20, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/135 "2020-02-20T20:13:04Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Taking a boner pill and then getting into a separate, but very close by, bathtub than your spouse. I rather liked [this parody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Wu6Ry2vcOA) featured in the Super Bowl a few years ago. People talking enthusiastically about a product they love to a friend while holding up the box at shoulder height with the label pointed not at their friend but rather in some random direction. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/136 "2020-02-20T20:15:12Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I’ve never seen a professional driver on a **closed course.** Which, by the way, looks remarkably like an ordinary road. Which it is. The road is closed to traffic for filming. No idea of the logistics of doing so. ---
**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:** [February 20, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/137 "2020-02-20T20:32:10Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > That sounds like a project group I was part of in college. We had two white guys, a black guy, an Indian guy, a Middle Eastern guy, and a Chinese guy. Sometimes after we were done with our work for the night we all walked into a bar. And the bartender said, “What is this, some kind of a joke?” ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/138 "2020-02-20T22:03:41Z")
People who dance around singing and grinning while they arrange furniture that was just delivered (Wayfair). I hate Wayfair. For that commercial, and [the one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1hr5A6U914) with the overblown, histrionic singing (it’s just bathroom furniture) I will never buy from them. I mean it. ---
**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 20, 2020, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/139 "2020-02-20T22:07:53Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > That sounds like a project group I was part of in college. We had two white guys, a black guy, an Indian guy, a Middle Eastern guy, and a Chinese guy. Sometimes after we were done with our work for the night we all walked into a bar. A firm foundation for a sitcom! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/140 "2020-02-20T22:36:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > A firm foundation for a sitcom! 🆒 We were just lucky the Indian guy wasn’t a strict Hindu, or ordering pizza would have been difficult. The Middle Eastern guy (Jordanian, to be specific), being Muslim, always insisted on ordering from a halal place that used beef pepperoni, which none of us had a problem with. If the Indian guy had been a practicing Hindu I guess we would have been stuck with chicken or vegetarian pizza. ETA: When we walked into that bar we were actually going there for wings, not drinks. Obviously the Muslim guy didn’t drink. ---
**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 20, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112/141 "2020-02-20T22:50:52Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Naked bears but apparently the littlest bear wears underwear. Clearly they all wear their underwear _under their fur_. As near as I can figure there’s some sort of sado-masochistic self-flaying going on. It’s really strong stuff for prime time, when you come to think about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-see-in-tv-commercials-that-never-happen-in-the-real-world/848112.md?page=8)