I hate those commercials! The dance alone is enough to make me avoid that store.
We get a lot of those Tampa commercials where I live. There’s one ad that drives my mom crazy every time she sees it. I can’t remember if it’s for a doctor or lawyer’s office, but it has some guy in a suit holding up an X-ray – he claims it’s an X-ray of his own neck taken right after a bad car accident. My mom, an RN who has seen many X-rays, pointed out that the “person” in the films was actually a mannequin. GRRR!
Thanks for reminding me about those friggin’ “Truth” ads. I can’t stand that crap. (Is it really true that they’re funded by tobacco companies?)
What is especially comical is that the commercials are done by people in their teens to late twenties, acting as if cigarette manufacturers dupe people into thinking they have a safe product. Excuse me, but it tells you right there on the side of every pack that you could die, get lung cancer, harm your fetus, or whatever. Seems like a warning to me, and one that’s been there since before you were born.
What makes you think that tobacco companies should be responsible for killing people? I don’t smoke - frankly, I can’t stand cigarette smoke - but if you want to smoke, go right ahead. AFAIK, you have to be over 21 to buy them, which theoretically makes you responsible for your own actions.
Hey, why not have “truth” ads for auto manufacturers? People die in cars! Where are the “truth” ads for fast food places? People clog their arteries and keel over with heart attacks! Gimme a freaking break with this stupid-ass, pandering, PC bullshit. :rolleyes:
If I recall, the commercial calls the doll “the next Tickle Me Elmo.” Yeah. Like a little girl is really going to want a doll whose clothes can’t be changed, whose blanket is sewn onto its body, and whose face is perpetually frozen in an expression which reads “I fell off the back of the ugly truck this morning!” (Actually the commerical shows the girls who are supposedly receiving the dolls as gifts to be quite less than thrilled.)
I can’t stand those AT&T shepard commericals. If this guy is out in the middle of nowhere with his sheep, a) how does he keep that stupid phone of his charged, and b) just what is he doing with those sheep anyway?
Living in Raleigh, I am exposed to a lot of commercials for local shopping centers. Two such commercials that are on my hate list now are the ones from Cary Town Center and Cameron Village. The Cary Town ones are in black and white, with a woman walking around on a totally white set while talking about the virtues of Cary Town’s free gift wrapping services while holding a wrapped gift. (“Cary Town Center has free wrapping. That’s really smart. Did you know that they had free wrapping? You should use their free wrapping services. You hand them the box and they wrap it. Isn’t that amazing?”)
Cameron Village’s commercials don’t make sense at all. They don’t show any of the stores or even merchandise available. Instead, it pans over a rich woman’s plush bedroom (overstuffed chairs, fancy dresser with brushes and mirrors, sexy nightclothes, big bed with floral covers, etc.), showing her just strolling around the room. It’s set to some kind of music that ends with the line “dreaming all your dreams with me.” The last scene fills the screen with the woman’s horrifically bland, slightly smiling face, then fades out to the name of the shopping center.
There was a billboard “Truth” ad about a year ago that showed a teenager standing by the side of a desolate road smoking a butt. Next to him was a sign reading “Welcome to Loserville. Population: You”
Thank you so much for pointing this out!! I’ve been trying to explain this to people for ages. What the hell is the use of showing these ridiculous TRUTH commercials on television when everyone who already smokes doesn’t give a damn and everyone else can read the package! I don’t know what the difference is between smoking and eating fast food. Both kill you slowly, but are considered enjoyable by some. I, personally, think smoking is a disgusting habit. But if you want to do it, go ahead, it’s your own risk. Have you seen that weird TRUTH commercial with the girls having a sleepover and one of them is trying on some kind of zit cream? She starts telling the other girls it’s burning, and they tell her that that just means it’s working. And then, suddenly…SHE GOES UP IN FLAME! Yes, she spontaneously combusts! This thing scared me! Come on people, smoking is not such a huge drama. Take a chill pill. Or don’t, because I suppose that would be drug use.
There’s a commercial running now where a couple is on a date, then all-of-a-sudden the man’s face is plastered against a sheet of glass (I guess its supposed to be the inside of your TV screen). Sorry advertiser, all I know about the product is that it is some sort of razor. Anyway, the ad is just dumb.
The classic Mean Joe Green Coke ad was just on. Wonder how old the little kid in it is now?
I hate the ones where everyone is stiff and glaring.
Mostly perfume and The Gap, but now some tech companies like Cisco.
I don’t like to be glared at guys!
Exactly. We declare a “war” on drugs that are used by a small percentage of the general population. Yet it’s perfectly legal to have a product that’s responsible for countless lung-related deaths, and which is used by a far greater number of people. It’s perfectly legal to have a product that causes deaths and injuries from drunk driving, deaths from liver ailments, and countless numbers of fights and domestic abuse. Where are the truth ads for alcohol?
If it’s illegal to buy a quarter ounce of pot, then it may as well be illegal to buy cigarettes and beer. Oh, but I forgot, our elected officials would never go for anything like that. Apparently, there’s just not enough money among the marijuana lobbyists. :rolleyes:
We now return you to our regularly scheduled thread.
How about that commercial where that real rough looking guy is working hard throwing fence posts into his truck, and wiping the sweat off his face. Meanwhile, the narrator is asking us if we’ve ever seen that movie where the two people meet via e-mail called “Got Mail”, then he says, “Well, this guy hasn’t”. As if those of us who, (1) use a computer, (2) check our e-mail, or (3) would watch a movie, are worthless when compared to this rugged specimen of a man who drives a Chevy (I think) Truck. My kids crack up when they see that one.
Mervis Diamond Importers! Could someone please snuff “Ronnie Mervis” and his bogus cockney accent??
These annoying Jiffy Lube radio commercials (are these just local?) where some monotone moron sings the praises of oil changes to classical music tunes. Arrrgggh!! And they keep making new ones! This is probably the only commercial currently playing where I will change the station if it comes on.
I agree about the Giant Food commercial…what a freak!
I must admit my guilty pleasure of religiously watching, with great amusement, late-night infomericals. But not for anything with the words “Ab,” “Torso,” or that include that greasy twenty-something trying to make me a millionaire. And it’s good to see that “Cleo” (the Caribbean Cassandra from mindandsoul.com) has finally returned kitchy respectability to Psychic Hotlines that has been desperately absent since Dionne Warwick left the airwaves.
I used to really despise that atomfilms.com commercial called “Angry Kid.” You know, with some hideous claymation kid sniffing his finger, then saying, in a hideously nasal voice, “Stinky.” It was one of the few commercials that actually forced me to change the channel as soon as it came on. Luckily, it’s not shown anymore.
A newer commercial that is pushing me toward that point is that damned “Bod” fragrance spray. Three or four shirtless guys run around playing sports or jumping around or whatever, while some moon-eyed girl says, “Nice bod. Tight bod. Hard bod. I want your bod.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, these commercials are always shown in groups of three! With other commercials in between. So even when one is over, I know I can dread the next two that are on the way. I really hate the pseudo-word “bod” now even more than before.
OH GOD!!! I had repressed the memory of the “Angry Kid” commercial and then you had to bring it up again. That scared me…a lot. I also was forced to change the channel, though relief was not fast enough–the emotional scarring will probably be permanent. What’s so funny about it anyway? Someone sniffing their finger and saying “Stinky” in a creepy way is not my idea of sophisticated humor. Or even low humor. I feel the same way about the Subway shadow guy and Bad Andy. WHAT IS THE DEAL? I just don’t get it.
What’s goofy about this one is it got facts wrong (as far as I can recall). Tom Hanks’ and Meg Ryan’s characters don’t meet via e-mail, they meet via instant messages (AOL, of course)… Or am I nitpicking?
There was some pre-Christmas credit card commercial that made use of the Grinch. The irony was pretty heavy: The Grinch was a charming tale about a nasty fellow who learned that the true meaning of Christmas isn’t noise and commercialism. Just to prove how much money we have, we bought the rights to rape the classic Dr. Seuss tale, since raping Christmas is losing its novelty. I still haven’t figured out what in hell a credit card commercial is for. I thought that banks competed against other banks, but this commercial didn’t seem like it was associated with a bank. It was a Visa or MasterCard commercial … as if Visa or MasterCard were a company? So I was a little confused as well as being filled with all the typical reactions to TV commercials (which I won’t go into now).
You’re right, I’m nitpicking. I think I completely forgot that chat room idea because my perception was clouded by my displeasure at how they portrayed online interactions.
[/hijack] … we now return you to your thread, already in progress.
