# "Tis the season for sickeningly sweet holiday commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** commercials-ads\ **Created:** [December 9, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790 "2021-12-09T19:01:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/1 "2021-12-09T19:01:01Z")
Mostly insincere glurge, like the little girl who saves her snowman’s head, the old lady who overcomes her hesitation and gives a guy a pair of gloves, the woman across the street who sends her neighbor a birdfeeder. Now Kohls has one where a kid insists upon dancing with his grandma. I guess it’s better than people being murdered, but just barely. Is anyone actually touched by these little vignettes? ---
**Author:** ![thdudescar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thdudescar/32/4638_2.png) [@thdudescar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thdudescar)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/2 "2021-12-09T19:07:37Z")
I liked the Overstock girl. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MXxaLxgyoO0/hqdefault.jpg "Overstock.com Christmas Commercial") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXxaLxgyoO0) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/3 "2021-12-09T19:08:20Z")
_Angels we have heard on high_ _Tell us to go out, and BUY_ - Tom Lehrer ---
**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:** [December 9, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/4 "2021-12-09T19:11:24Z")
I really don’t get the Kohl’s commercial where the little boy nods to his grandpa, who then drops the needle on a record of a slow, modern cover of The Beatles’ “From Me To You” and invites his grandma to dance. I get the sentiment of giving grandma a slow dance for Christmas but the music choice makes absolutely no sense. And if we’re talking music rights I’m sure “Moonlight Serenade” can be had for cheap. I mean can you even get this cover song on vinyl? [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es40dnGuhYs) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/5 "2021-12-09T19:18:42Z")
Ok, I’m a monster. I just looked at the comments, and apparently this thing actually gives some people comfort. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/6 "2021-12-09T19:22:45Z")
Yeah I can see the appeal. I didn’t really have a grandma to dance with, so I am 100% distracted by the song. I’m guessing that people who love it aren’t aware of the song and why it’s weird, and I’m ok with that. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/7 "2021-12-09T19:23:50Z")
A history of everyone’s favorite coffee commercial. > **[“You’re My Present This Year”: An Oral History of the Folgers Incest Ad](https://www.gq.com/story/folgers-incest-ad-oral-history)** > > The best part of waking up is getting to read this incest oral history. ---
**Author:** ![tricoteuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tricoteuse/32/4334_2.png) [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/8 "2021-12-10T15:02:52Z")
Oh God. The first year my older brother was away at college, he and I (his younger sister) got teased sooooo baaaaad with that commercial when he came home for Christmas break 😫 We actually made a point of avoiding each other so we wouldn’t have to hear “he’s your present this year!” for the billionth time. I mean now we torture each other with it every year but back then it was embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![tricoteuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tricoteuse/32/4334_2.png) [@tricoteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tricoteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/9 "2021-12-10T15:08:55Z")
There was one for a Lexus SUV a few years ago that drove me crazy. The family drives their $80,000 vehicle with a live Christmas tree on top of it into the snowy woods and plants the tree so the daughter can hang one ornament on it and whisper “see you next year” while a sappy song plays in the background. I grew up in New York State and ground with snow cover is going to be too hard to dig in. Daddy would have been wet and filthy and tired just trying. Plus there is no water or loose soil for the tree so it’s going to die. And the little girl next year will be too busy waiting for her friends to like her Instagram posts to drive out to the middle of nowhere to hang an ornament on a dead tree. I know I’m taking it way too seriously and I don’t care! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/10 "2021-12-10T15:23:57Z")
That certainly fits the sickeningly sweet criteria. They just try so hard with these manipulative little scenarios. Phony sentimentality. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/11 "2021-12-10T15:32:26Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > A history of everyone’s favorite coffee commercial. I have personally seen adult fan fiction about that commercial! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/12 "2021-12-10T15:33:58Z")
I like the ones where they just extend the eye-contact time. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/13 "2021-12-10T15:49:08Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I really don’t get the Kohl’s commercial where the little boy nods to his grandpa, who then drops the needle on a record of a slow, modern cover of The Beatles’ “From Me To You” and invites his grandma to dance. I was watching some Christmas movie on Freeform, and no joke, they played this commercial every single break. I’m not sure what marketing exec came up with that idea. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/14 "2021-12-10T17:25:28Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I really don’t get the Kohl’s commercial where the little boy nods to his grandpa, who then drops the needle on a record of a slow, modern cover of The Beatles’ “From Me To You” and invites his grandma to dance. I get the sentiment of giving grandma a slow dance for Christmas but the music choice makes absolutely no sense. “From Me to You” was released in early 1963 which makes it almost 59 years old, certainly long enough ago for a young woman who remembers it from her youth to be a rickety old grandma by now. “Moonlight Serenade” was released in 1939 and would be Grandma’s mother’s song. Besides, getting the rights to perform a catalog Lennon-McCartney song isn’t particularly expensive, unless you want the actual Beatles performance. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/15 "2021-12-10T17:39:06Z")
I hear you. I know all that. I’m just saying that a _cover_ of a Lennon-McCartney song doesn’t make sense in this context, so why make the commercial at all? Their song choice could have been much better, if you’re going to include an old lady and a vinyl record. [There literally is another commercial running right now](https://www.ispot.tv/ad/qDva/amazon-alexa-memories-song-by-the-flamingos) for Amazon Echo with two old folks dancing to “I Only Have Eyes For You” by the Flamingos. That makes way more sense, and there’s no record involved! ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/16 "2021-12-10T17:47:11Z")
The only Christmas commercial that ISN’T glurge is the decades old Hershey Kisses doing bells. And that Kohl’s commercial? I hate it with the heat of 1,000 Kenner Easy Bake Ovens. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/17 "2021-12-13T16:01:09Z")
I don’t mind seeing “touching” Christmas commercials. I like just about anything Christmas-y. But please no more Christmas commercials where the spouses give each other $80,000 vehicles. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/18 "2021-12-13T16:51:05Z")
The one with the giant trucks is several years old, and they "shop new trucks in each year. The worst thing about that commercial is the emasculated male simpering “I like red”. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/19 "2021-12-13T17:35:33Z")
I _never_ see commercials anymore, but they work for the same reason people sincerely love Hallmark movies. A very large percentage of people love to be manipulated and told how they feel/should feel. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790/20 "2021-12-13T17:42:24Z")
> [@peedin](#): > > The only Christmas commercial that ISN’T glurge is the decades old Hershey Kisses doing bells. That, and Corona’s “O Tannenpalm.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tis-the-season-for-sickeningly-sweet-holiday-commercials/955790.md?page=2)