# Verizon has just entered the Stupid Commercial Hall of Fame
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 13, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814 "2003-08-13T03:12:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/1 "2003-08-13T03:12:49Z")
Ya know something? I like the Verizon Guy. _“Can you hear me now?..Can you hear me now?”_ Over and over, all over the place, never tiring. Like the Energizer Bunny with a cell phone, you never know where he’ll wind up.
Except…in the current commercial, he runs across a pit viper (looks like a rattlesnake) reared and ready to strike. He takes a pic on the videophone and sends it to somebody, who replies back, “NOT POISONOUS.” Ahem?? A non-poisonous pit viper? No such f\*cking thing!!
Then, he steps over it, passing it by mere inches…RIGHT THROUGH the “Kill Zone”, where a small-brained reptile would instinctively strike at a threat. All this without a “Do Not Attempt” warning. I smell a lawsuit in the planning stages…
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### Author:  [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/2 "2003-08-13T06:53:10Z")
Well, ya know, pit vipers are not poisonous. I don’t think it would hurt you to badly if you bit one. They are, however, quite venomous, and would definitely hurt you, should it decide to reciprocate…
Yes, it is a stupid commercial, and the bad thing is, lots of people will see that commercial and say, “Huh, I always thought those things were dangerous”, thus throwing caution to the wind.
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### Author:  [@evilhomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhomer)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/3 "2003-08-13T13:09:57Z")
Of course, it could be argued that anyone who takes advice about potentially dangerous reptiles from a cell phone commercial has no one to blame but themself if they are bitten.
I was hoping this was a creative way for verizon to get rid of the “can you hear me now” guy. They could have a closing line like “Getting advice is now even easier, just make sure you get it from the right person!”
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/4 "2003-08-13T14:03:00Z")
I really don’t think people are going to be playing with pit vipers anytime soon just because of a commercial.
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### Author:  [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/5 "2003-08-13T14:17:44Z")
Rather than making sure they have a proper signal in Pit-Viper Land, or in the Antarctic, or on a submarine trolling the depths of the Indian Ocean, or wherever - how about %&\*(#&$ing making sure I can get a goddamn signal at my own house, in the suburbs of Hartford, CT.
Verizon’s a joke.
/hijack
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/6 "2003-08-13T15:52:09Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by KGS \*
> **Ya know something? I like the Verizon Guy. _“Can you hear me now?..Can you hear me now?”_ Over and over, all over the place, never tiring. Like the Energizer Bunny with a cell phone, you never know where he’ll wind up.**
Funny, I thought the very first “Can you hear me now?” ad put them in that particular Hall of Fame.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/7 "2003-08-13T17:59:44Z")
I haven’t seen the commercial. Are you sure it wasn’t something like a gopher snake, which is non-venomous and is often mistaken for a rattlesnake?
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### Author:  [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/8 "2003-08-13T18:15:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Neurotik \*
> \*\*I really don’t think people are going to be playing with pit vipers anytime soon just because of a commercial. \*\*
And if they do that’s ok, the gene pool could always use some cleansing.
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### Author:  [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/9 "2003-08-13T23:02:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Neurotik \*
> \*\*I really don’t think people are going to be playing with pit vipers anytime soon just because of a commercial. \*\*
You wouldn’t think so, but there was that guy that tried to collect on the Harrier with the Pepsi Points.
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### Author:  [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/10 "2003-08-14T00:04:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tangent \*
> \*\*I haven’t seen the commercial. Are you sure it wasn’t something like a gopher snake, which is non-venomous and is often mistaken for a rattlesnake? \*\*
Hmm, I did some Google searching on gopher snakes, and you may be right. It sure looked like a genuine rattler, though. And it’s still one hell of an annoying commercial, so there. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/11 "2003-08-14T00:10:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tangent \*
> \*\*I haven’t seen the commercial. Are you sure it wasn’t something like a gopher snake, which is non-venomous and is often mistaken for a rattlesnake? \*\*
Yup. The commercial is plugging the fact that not only can you send pictures, you can attach sound clips to them. So Canyouhearmenow guy recorded the menacing rattle sound to send along with the photo, to which he got the ‘Not poisonous’ reply. Gopher snakes don’t rattle, do they?
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### Author:  [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/12 "2003-08-14T00:13:26Z")
[hijack]
Speaking of dumb commercials, am I the only annoyed by those ads for the sexual potency drug (can’t recall the name) featuring the guy with the creepy frozen smile and his f’ugly wife?
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### Author:  [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/13 "2003-08-14T00:35:37Z")
No, you’re not the only one **Fibber**. I was absolutely convinced that that commercial was a joke until I realized that I wasn’t watching SNL…There’s still a part of my brain that refuses to believe it’s real.
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/14 "2003-08-14T01:13:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Saltire \*
> Gopher snakes don’t rattle, do they?
Actually, they can. Sort of. They don’t have rattles, but they can mimic the sound of a rattlesnake by vibrating the end of their tail very quickly in dry grass or leaves.
[Cite](http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/Biolab/wlhgophersnake.html)
and
[Cite](http://www.zooregon.org/Cards/Ed_Program/snake_pacific_gopher.htm) .
I agree that the commercial sounds stupid, though. I wouldn’t take the risk of being bitten by a possible rattler based on the opinion of someone who is observing said snake over a cell phone. Also, non-venomous snakes can bite and may do so if they feel sufficiently threatened. Who wants to get bit, even if it’s not life threatening? I’ve had many close encounters with snakes outdoors, though, (including rattlesnakes) and most of them just want to be left alone and will try their best to get away from you rather than bite you.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/15 "2003-08-14T01:27:14Z")
I don’t believe I have ever seen a gopher snake with the broad head and keeled scales of the snake in the commercial. I think it is a light coloured Western Rattlesnake, and the spokesmoron should have given it a wide berth.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/16 "2003-08-14T02:36:33Z")
I was rooting for the snake, so I found the commercial a grave disappointment.
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### Author:  [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verizon-has-just-entered-the-stupid-commercial-hall-of-fame/194814/17 "2003-08-14T05:10:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bernse \*
> \*\*You wouldn’t think so, but there was that guy that tried to collect on the Harrier with the Pepsi Points. \*\*
Hey, gotta give the guy credit - he _did_ gather up enough points. Too bad the guys at Pepsi decided to stiff him. (Not that I imagine they had much of a choice in the matter, but still.)