# What fast food/restaurant commercials are wasted in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561 "2017-02-11T17:37:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/81 "2017-02-26T17:03:06Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I grew up in New Zealand but have spent my adult life in Australia. Well, that explains the “regionalism” a little bit! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/82 "2017-02-26T19:24:07Z")
Yay, all of them! No fast food/chain restaurants are allowed in our mostly-unsullied County. We don’t have any Stoplights either, but that’s another benefit altogether… ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/83 "2017-02-26T20:30:15Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Sonic. I get ads for this and so do my parents. The nearest sonic to my parents is 30 miles away, for me where I live it is a 25 minute drive. Your ‘too far’ driving distance is clearly much less than mine. While I wouldn’t drive 25 minutes to go to a particular fast food place, I’d certainly drive 25 minutes to hit a shop, visit a friend, or meet at a bar, and incidentally grab fast food while I’m in that area. My commute used to be 30 minutes, and 30-45 minute commutes are common where I am, so there are plenty of people looking to grab food more than 25 minutes from their home. There are also people who live an hour or two outside of town who will drive into on the weekends to shop at stores or go to events, and incidentally pick up food at some point on the trip. So I really don’t think the ‘30 miles’ or ‘25 minutes’ are unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/84 "2017-02-26T20:52:21Z")
> [@kayT](#): > > Sonic commercials are great. Sonic food is awful. I’ll tell you that my husband and I once got hot fudge sundaes from Sonic and after a couple of bites we threw them in the trash. Seriously. I can’t believe people eat there. Be glad there are no Sonics near you. > > Those guys in the ads are great, though. Their drinks are what you go to sonic for. Their real fruit slushes or limeades are great and they have a lot of options. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/85 "2017-02-26T21:01:27Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Sonic. I get ads for this and so do my parents. The nearest sonic to my parents is 30 miles away, for me where I live it is a 25 minute drive. I don’t think that qualifies. Unless you think tv stations cater to a 15 mile radius. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/86 "2017-02-28T23:25:19Z")
All of them. I live about 100 miles from St. Louis, in the middle of nowhere (it’s a 40-minute drive to the nearest stop light), and get the St. Louis stations on my satellite. Other than the most basic of fast food (McD’s, Taco Bell, etc.), which is still a 40-minute drive away, all fast food/restaurant commercials are wasted on me. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/87 "2017-03-03T14:02:41Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > All of our fast food/chain restaurants are a 25-minute drive. 🙂 > > Many commercials are wasted on us, and worse, some make me wail “When will we get a \ here??!!!” Most notably > > Olive Garden > Outback Steakhouse > Carraba’s > Cheesecake Factory > Sonic > . > . > . Olive Garden - Concord, Manchester, Portsmouth, Tyngsboro, Methuen Outback Steakhouse - Seabrook, Bedford, Tyngsboro, Methuen Carraba’s - Bedford, Peabody MA, Cheesecake Factory - Burlington MA, Peabody MA Sonic - Wilmington MA, Lynnfield MA, and apparently Lawrence MA (I only knew of Lynnfield) Not all particularly close to where you may be in NH, but certainly in the Boston TV market, which includes the NH station (WMUR) ---
**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:** [March 3, 2017, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/88 "2017-03-03T20:18:32Z")
We have a Little Caesars in walking distance but they’ve stopped offering specialties like the bacon-wrapped crust and won’t even bother with the new smokehouse BBQ. The local Carraba’s closed, nearest one now is out past Wolf Trap. > [@madmonk28](#): > > Sonic commercials on DC tv, no idea where one is. Largo, down the Beltway from Golden Corral. Both of which are about 25 miles from us. Closer than Hardee’s though, need to go all the way to Baltimore or down to Quantico for one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/89 "2017-03-03T21:03:29Z")
Um, virtually everything. I think we have the burger places (Burger King, Mickie D’s, Wendy’s), Subway and a KFC in a 50 mile radius. And that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2017, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/90 "2017-03-06T23:07:58Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > All of our fast food/chain restaurants are a 25-minute drive. 🙂 > > Many commercials are wasted on us, and worse, some make me wail “When will we get a \ here??!!!” Most notably > > Cheesecake Factory > > . I’ve lived in two areas with a Cheesecake Factory and never seen a commercial for them. ---
**Author:** ![ImAWalkingCorpse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/65b543/32.png) [@ImAWalkingCorpse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ImAWalkingCorpse)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/91 "2017-03-14T03:44:16Z")
Checkers/Rally is no where me and they show the commercials here in Kansas City. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/92 "2017-03-14T04:14:30Z")
Until recently Dave and Busters was illegal in New Jersey. No really. Despite the fact that we have had casino gambling for decades it was illegal to have alcohol and amusement games under the same roof. We would get the D&B commercials because there are some in Pennsylvania. Last year the law changed and we are supposed to get a few here. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/93 "2017-03-14T08:37:27Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Might be a regionalism them, because if someone said “Let’s go to a coffee shop” and then took me to a Denny’s, I’d be perplexed to say the least. Same here – and I grew up in the New York City metro area, and I’ve lived in Chicago, California, Kansas, and now Wisconsin. I don’t think I’ve ever come across the phrase “coffee shop” in my life! It sounds like a place to buy whole-bean coffee of various types, or maybe coffee-themed gifts? A “shop” is for shopping, not eating! Maybe I’ll start a thread about this. You’re from Australia/New Zealand, but we have similar language quirks, you and I. To cite another one just from this (non-linguistic) thread, I thought the phrase “security theater” was pretty well known – lots of social-sciency popular magazine articles used it about ten years ago, when the post-9/11 travel world was solidifying and the TSA (and its equivalents in other countries) was starting to attract criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/94 "2017-03-14T14:45:02Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever come across the phrase “coffee shop” in my life! It could be a generational thing. For someone born in the '60’s, being around people born earlier in the century, the terms “coffee shop” and “malt shop” were in common use around me. A coffee shop was a diner, same same. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/95 "2017-03-14T14:52:16Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > It could be a generational thing. For someone born in the '60’s, being around people born earlier in the century, the terms “coffee shop” and “malt shop” were in common use around me. A coffee shop was a diner, same same. Thanks. That sounds right. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/96 "2017-03-14T16:59:14Z")
Dominos closed nearly all their stores in LR in the mid 90’s. There were only two left in this area. Both at least 12 miles from me. Yet their ads run daily. They’ve never stopped advertising. I’ve written them off long ago. I just checked Google and am very surprised to see several new locations have opened here. Still none in my area of the city. No way am I driving 10 miles in heavy traffic just for a badly made pizza. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/97 "2017-03-15T16:44:34Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Thanks. That sounds right. > **[Dictionary.com | Meanings & Definitions of English Words](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/coffee-shop)** > > The world's leading online dictionary: English definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more. A trusted authority for 25+ years! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561/98 "2017-03-15T21:19:39Z")
Special case for us English-speakers in Montreal. We’ll watch shows on the nearest American network affiliates in upstate Vermont and New York and catch commercials for stores and restaurants that do not operate in Canada. Oddly, the total market size for even a fraction of a major city like Montreal is probably greater than the total market of mostly-rural upstate New York _and_ Vermont, so I kinda wonder why they don’t sell more advertising for products and services available on our side of the border. I suppose I should collect data on viewership - I might find out that I’m way off base - but in any case, the nearest Chili’s is a good hundred miles from here, and the only reason I even know that Chili’s is a thing is because I’ll have seen their commercials. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fast-food-restaurant-commercials-are-wasted-in-your-area/779561.md?page=4)