# What TV commercials really piss you off? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 12, 2002, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810 "2002-03-12T09:06:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/41 "2002-03-14T18:11:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Manatee \* > \*\*The worst are those ads for Lunchables. > > Kid dejectedly looks into lunchbag day after day, getting gloomier and gloomier over the prospect of yet another PBJ and an apple. > > Until that Golden Day when Mom FINALLY gets with the program and puts a Lunchables box in there! YES!!! Fist-pumping and high fives follow. > > Yes, if you truly loved your kids you’d pump 'em full of fat and nitrites. Otherwise you’re just a cheap, heartless, selfish bastard/bitch for giving your kid a real home-made lunch. \*\* I’m not a dad, but I’m willing to bet those things cost a ridiculous about of money. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/42 "2002-03-14T19:31:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FriendRob \* > The car ad where it’s driving through a quaint European town and the quaint Europeans townfolk follow it with slack-jawed stares. To add injury to insult, the tune is Jethro Tull! (I think the car is called Sonata. _Jethro Tull?_ WTF?) Even better- the song is “Thick As A Brick”. Subtle commentary, perhaps, on those who actually watch the commercial? And as for Debeers- my favorite commercial parody will _always_ be the diamond commercial they showed on Family Guy, where the couple (only shown in shadow) walked by the lake, he pulled out the diamond and placed it on her finger, and she began to kneel just before it cut to the “Diamonds- she practically has to.” ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/43 "2002-03-14T20:31:32Z")
What, nobody’s nominated the Dell Dude yet? ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/44 "2002-03-14T20:57:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*What, nobody’s nominated the Dell Dude yet? \*\* I used to like the kid… until the last few ads. Now he’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2002, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/45 "2002-03-14T21:32:50Z")
The Red Lobster current commercial I find distrubing. _You’re Just Too Good to Be True_ is playing in the background, this guy is looking smitten and adoringly into a lobster tank and he and the lobster are making pincher gestures at each other. Next shot, someone eating lobster. Just creeps me out. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/46 "2002-03-15T07:44:11Z")
For most generally annoying, i’m thinking of the KFC ads with Jason Alexander (aka George from Seinfeld). And Carrot Top is right up there as well. There are also some ads out there that display a level of gender stereotyping that is totally unacceptable. There have been a bunch of commercials recently for new types of floor-cleaning equipment, from the “Swiffer” mop to some brand (i can’t remember which) of vacuum cleaner. Not one shows a man using the equipment, and i saw one ad today that even even described using this equipment as the perfect combination of “woman and machine”!!! Another commercial, just as problematic, was one that i saw recently for Dimetapp cough medicine. It showed a couple asking a pharmacist about the best medicine for their kids. The father askes which brand is recommended by pediatricians, then the mother asks which brands is used by more moms. The father asks which brand is PPA-free, and then the mother asks which one tastes better. You get the picture here? Men are rational and scientific; women are emotional and sentimental. This is a set of centuries-old stereotypes that should be offensive to all those to whom the product is targetted. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/47 "2002-03-15T08:41:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MyFootsZZZ \* > \*\* > > I’m not a dad, but I’m willing to bet those things cost a ridiculous about of money. \*\* I’m a stepdad, and they do - well, a lot considering what’s in them. What’s really messed up is my stepdaughter claims to love them and begs for them whenever we pass them in the grocery store, but when she gets one she hardly eats any of it. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/48 "2002-03-15T09:02:11Z")
Whoever thought of bringing Carrot Top into commercials should burn in hell, with molten sulphur regularly and ritualistically poured into every orifice by sadistic imps. The new commercial for the Mitsubishi Eclipse just creeps me out horribly. You know, the one with the girl doing all kinds of gyrations in the passenger seat for no apparent reason except that she’s in an Eclipse. Give me a break. Commercials for prescription medication. I’m disturbed with the idea of commercials encouraging patients to go pester their doctors about what kind of medication they think they should be getting. “What…you’re not giving me Nexium? _Why not?!_” That commercial…I think it’s for the new Subaru SUV…which shows an SUV skimming across a body of water just like one of those weird lizards that run across the water’s surface. I almost spit my drink out the first time I saw that. Something about that commercial deeply pisses me off. It’s amazing I even know these many commercials in the first place. The vast majority of time I either have the mute button or am channel surfing during a program’s commercial break. ---
**Author:** ![ricecake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@ricecake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricecake)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/49 "2002-03-15T10:50:56Z")
For the Chicago crowd- OPEN TO THE PUBLIC! AMERICAN FURNITURE LIQUIDATORS… is the absolute worst thing Ive seen in years. When it comes on I am filled with seething hatred towards the announcer. Its the kind of voice that you can hear from a mile away that somehow overcomes the mute button on my remote (maybe its just echoing in my head from the little airtime it got). This is the only thing that comes on TV that does this to me. Whoever came up with Zoom Zoom Zoom _zoom zoom_ needs to be sent to the deep fat fryer at McDonalds. Also the Eagle Insurance commercials are so badly done that I find myself gawking at the TV well after the commercial has played. BTW- nice career move Mancow - TWO ENTHUSIASTIC THUMBS UP! Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my shirt. Wheres my bib? I should watch less TV… ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/50 "2002-03-15T11:47:54Z")
One word: \*\*OXYCLEAN!!! \*\* For God’s sake, man, stop shouting at me! I’m going to mention a few British ads even though most of you probably haven’t seen them: **DFS Furniture Stores** : DFS used to have these skin-crawlingly embarrassing ads featuring two third-rate gameshow host wannabes walking around the store gesturing at the furniture…until McDonald’s did a series of ads that were obvious parodies. Kudos to McD’s ad agency both for the laughs and for making DFS change their own ads. Alas, they replaced them with a different set of horrible ads, with such gems as showing a model in a bikini lounging on a sofa and commenting on the “removable covers”. Who writes your copy – Benny Hill? **Iceland** : A supermarket specializing in frozen food which often offers two-for-one deals. Commercials uniformly involve a voice-over of a man screaming at the top of his lungs over the 1812 overture while we’re shown the latest offers. Like it’s not bad enough that the volume in commercials is louder than the programs. Take a valium, man. **Carling Ale** : Music: _Just the Two of Us_. A man wakes up on a desert island amidst the rubble of a plane crash, awakened by a crab poking him. The crab shows him a fridge filled with nothing but Carling, but alas! there’s no power and it’s all warm. But wait! The crab helps the man rig up a treadmill to power the fridge, and runs as fast as his little crab legs can go to work it. Success! The beer is cold! Change to a night scene, the man sitting by a bonfire drinking a Carling. Suddenly we see him eating a crab leg \. Message: Drink Carling – it makes you an ungrateful bastard! ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/51 "2002-03-15T15:13:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quagmire \* > **It’s like the ad men actually say to themselves, "Gee, how can we make them MORE annoying??? I know! Alf!"** Remember Alf? He’s back, in pog form! Overall, I don’t find the 10-10 commercials that are sans Carrot Top all that annoying. I mean hey, we are talking about commercials here, they’re not going to be all that entertaining consistently. 🙂 > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > \*\*I can’t watch that one, not sure if it’s AOL or some other ISP, where the kids are singing a song about keeping in touch with Uncle Bob and various other family members. It’s cringe-inducing. \*\* Sounds like AT&T Broadband. I saw that frickin’ commercial so much I can shamefully still remember the first line of the “song” - _It’s that time of the year, something something family and friends both far and near…_ - Ok maybe I just sorta remember it. I only heard it a few times before it found a home on my mute list. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mojo \* > **and my personal least favorites, MLife. From the pointless keep-you-in-suspense Superbowl ads (did anyone else think “Gabbo” when they saw em?)…** Rofl - yep. When we saw one of those ridiculous spots for “mlife” for the first time, my wife, playing right into the advertisers hands, said “what’s mlife?” I responded with, “I think it’s some guy’s name. Some guy named ‘mlife’.” > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Atreyu \* > \*\*The new commercial for the Mitsubishi Eclipse just creeps me out horribly. You know, the one with the girl doing all kinds of gyrations in the passenger seat for no apparent reason except that she’s in an Eclipse. Give me a break. > > That commercial…I think it’s for the new Subaru SUV…which shows an SUV skimming across a body of water just like one of those weird lizards that run across the water’s surface. I almost spit my drink out the first time I saw that. Something about that commercial deeply pisses me off. \*\* LOL and right on about the dancin’ chick commercial. She looks more weird than hip (maybe it’s what she’s wearing), and that song sucks. The lizard running across the water is for the ineptly named Saturn VUE (pronounced “view”). They’ve got at least one more where a tiny view is tearing through the rough to avoid some predatory cat. Commercials like this remind me of an old article on The Onion in which a graphic artist had his [good judgement tainted](http://www.theonion.com/onion3634/graphic_designer.html) (note: the onion is inexplicably slow lately) by his desire to use a new photoshop plug-in that he had obtained. This series of commercials seem to only exist so some droogie at the advertising agency can pretend he or she’s a big hollywood director and direct a few special effects action sequences. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/52 "2002-03-15T15:59:40Z")
I forgot to mention the cringing that occurs when I hear the phrase “Celebrity Fitness Guru”- Is this Basedow guy a fitness guru to celebrities or does he consider himself a celebrity thorugh his work as a fitness guru? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/53 "2002-03-16T02:58:02Z")
The new Starz channel commercial is still using Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from the 9th Symphony. Now some other new commercial uses a banjo version of the same music! Damn them! Damn them all to hell! ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/54 "2002-03-16T17:46:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Slacker \* > \*\*Overall, I don’t find the 10-10 commercials that are sans Carrot Top all that annoying. I mean hey, we are talking about commercials here, they’re not going to be all that entertaining consistently. 🙂 > \*\* I think Carrot Top does 1-800-COLLECT commercials. Like him or hate him, that’s probably enough for another thread. What bugs me about the 10-10 commercials is that they are basically dishonest. They tell you how cheap the 10-10 call is, “all calls up to 20 minutes for just 99 cents.” Sounds good. But what they _ **don’t** _ tell you is that that’s _ **up to** _ 20 minutes…a flat rate for the first twenty minutes. In other words, if you make a _ **one** _ minute long distance call it costs 99 cents. That’s a rate I wouldn’t want to pay even if I were rich. They skirt the deceptive advertising law by using the words _ **up to,** _ knowing that most people won’t notice. Their seven-cents-a-minute in-state rate is nothing to shout about either. If you _ **ask** _ your local phone company you can probably do better. I did. Another genre of commercials that just irritates me generally is the “hidden camera” commercial, wherein you are supposed to believe that actors you are looking at are just “ordinary folks” who don’t know they are on camera. The trick there is that the commercial doesn’t say the camera is hidden from **them.** Actually, it’s hidden from **you,** so they’ve told the truth…sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/55 "2002-03-16T17:54:27Z")
Hey, everybody…first post. Go me. Anyway, the commercial that annoys me the most is one of the Jason Alexander-KFC commercials, where he’s in the kitchen of some fast food restaurant watching a worker squirt ketchup, mayo, etc. on the burgers. He chastises the worker for having to put all the extra flavorings on to make it taste good, then says KFC is “Double breaded for extra crispiness!” In other words, he doesn’t like the burgers because they add stuff for flavor…but KFC is okay because they add stuff for flavor! ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/56 "2002-03-16T19:20:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Caesar’s Ghost \* > \*\*Hey, everybody…first post. Go me. > > Anyway, the commercial that annoys me the most is one of the Jason Alexander-KFC commercials, where he’s in the kitchen of some fast food restaurant watching a worker squirt ketchup, mayo, etc. on the burgers. He chastises the worker for having to put all the extra flavorings on to make it taste good, then says KFC is > > “Double breaded for extra crispiness!” > > In other words, he doesn’t like the burgers because they add stuff for flavor…but KFC is okay because they add stuff for flavor! \*\* Good point, **Ghost.** Jason Alexander’s appearance is enough to make a commercial (or anything else) annoying for me. Welcome to the SDMB. Careful, it’s addictive. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/57 "2002-03-17T01:00:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rowrrbazzle \* > \*\*The new Starz channel commercial is still using Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from the 9th Symphony. > > Now some other new commercial uses a banjo version of the same music! > > Damn them! Damn them all to hell! \*\* [Malcom Macdowell voice] Ah me brother and only friend. Every time Ludwig Van’s 9th comes on, I get so sick I want to snuff it. [/Malcom Macdowell voice] A local lawyer has ads that feature him turning into a CGI tiger. Oh yeah, that makes you look like a competent attorney. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/58 "2002-03-17T03:56:24Z")
I really hate those: “It’s all inside” Sears ads! Where they show, (only women so far…of course because women do all the shoping), the faces of all people making a STUPID ass expression on the face and putting a box around it… and this woman who has no vocal talent says “IT’S ALL INSIDE”. Yeah, it’s all inside up your ass. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/59 "2002-03-17T04:19:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Atreyu \* > **The new commercial for the Mitsubishi Eclipse just creeps me out horribly. You know, the one with the girl doing all kinds of gyrations in the passenger seat for no apparent reason except that she’s in an Eclipse. Give me a break.** I can’t help but wonder if this were a man it wouldn’t look so stupid in many peoples eyes, anyone get pissed over that Mr. Roboto car ad… where the guy is dancing weird then hid friend opens the door and you her the music? If the women in that commercial didn’t have such a serious face for most of the commercial, and smiled while doing it, it would have been a lot easier. ---
**Author:** ![Diff\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Diff\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diff_T)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810/60 "2002-03-17T05:36:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\*That awful Mentos commercial where the girl has her boyfriend over when her parents aren’t home, they come home unexpectedly, so she pops a Mentos (or is it an illegal drug?), puts a towel on his head and cream on his face, to make him look like one of her girlfriends (or is he Mrs. Doubtfire?).When the mother gets wise, she just smiles and shakes her head. GREAT message they’re sending to girls. > > Also, that damn Capri Sun commercial that says “Kids inhale it,” (or is that inhalent?). In this day of inhalents, it’s a bad phrase. \*\* I agree that these ads suck, but you seem like you have, maybe, a small twig up or around your butt. So what? She snuck a kid in her room… some people trust there kids. And unless this boy is a rapist, knowing she’s prude is good enough. Maybe the mother met the boy and trusted him. Maybe she trusts her daughters judgment. Perhaps these kids met at bible studies. I used to sneek into a gals room when I was young, I was a prude! Kids sneek!? You just teach them the best you can to be safe. In this day of inhalents… no one should use the word “inhale” because if a kid hears “inhale” he or she may inhale white out? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-tv-commercials-really-piss-you-off/97810.md?page=4)