I was in San Francisco last month when I saw a poster ad for some HIV medication or another. The tagline:
“HIV. Deal with it your way.”
Who the fuck decided to market AIDS meds as a fashion accessory?
There’s an ad running for Drano’s new formula, which is gel-based. The ad features a couple using the old Drano, and watching it run down the drain. They talk about how since it’s a liquid, it’s not working, since it just runs through the clog instead of sticking to it.
Uh-huh.
So you’re marketing your new product by claiming that the product that made you famous doesn’t actually work? But you’re still selling it? Um. Okay, then.
That one made me laugh out loud.
There’s another one, although not as funny as the above one. A elderly grocery store employee is standing next to a display of Jimmy Dean sausages. He points at them and says, while obviously reading from a cue card, “Jimmy Dean Sausages. Go to the store and buy them.”
And that’s it!
Worst copy I’ve ever heard:
For the Schick Quattro, the first ever 4-bladed razor. :rolleyes:
“Where will it end?”
“Here!”
Just seen on a jar of Nescafé:
Think that must have been the winning entry in a poorly subscribed competition, because that makes no damn sense at all.
Any product whose ad says something like:
“Nothing works better than Drippo!”
Fine, I’ll use nothing then.
Do you think she’ll list herself as “Diarrhea Girl” in her resume?
A long time ago, I posted a message commenting on the testimonials found in house catalogs of the 1920s. “My family and I have found the Sears Radmore house to be completely satisfactory.” Most testimonials seemed really … well, they just said the equivalent of “yeah, it’s okay I guess.”
Did someone just reference Manos: The Hands of Fate for a joke? You gotta love The Dope.
–Warner Bros. advertisement for Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, 1969.
With original Listerine, there is no way around the horrible taste. In fact, the warning might be helpful. It keeps new customers from spitting it on their bathroom mirrors in shock.
Oh, and Sublight - “Pork. The one you love?” That is wicked. Thanks for sharing.
I think I have something that tops all of you. It’s Dial For Men soap which I picked up last week. Let me quote it here for you:
At first, I thought, this HAS to be Japanese translated into English and gone horribly awry. Then I realized, no, it’s just comedy…gone horribly awry.
Never mind that you used “odor” about six times a sentence in different gerund versions randominzing whether a dash would be needed. Never mind that you started sentences with “and.”
My hair covered meat powered mansuit? Seriously? By the way, what other “stuff” do I not need as I’m washing things away?
The yoplait commercial. Peel off the lid, lick the yogurt on its underside. What was the deal, they donate X amount of profits to research? “Together, we can lick breast cancer.”
Here’s a tumor for you to suck on!
http://www.andrewteman.org/blog/index.php?p=39
Ad campaign where McDonald’s shows a guy with a cheeseburger and the text “I’d hit it.”
:eek:
Gawd, those fuckin’ hamburgers!
(You stole the one I came in to post!)
The Virginia Medical Center, proud of their Women’s Medicine wing, showed off their highly automated procedure with the rather odd tagline “This isn’t your mother’s hysterectomy!” The only sane response to that comment in any context would be “God, I should hope not!”
Most of the Medical Ads I saw in the US when I was there recently left my jaw agape.
You’ve got ads for Erectile Dysfunction medicine which manage to avoid any mention of erectile dysfunction at all, instead employing vague metaphors such as middle aged men looking vaguely dejected as they gaze at their wife in the garden, followed by the “after” scences of middle aged men taking their wives for rides on Harley Davidsons to country retreats.
Then, of course (and these are my favourites): Medicines where the side-effects are worse than whatever the medicine is supposed to cure! I particularly liked the hayfever spray that had potential side-effects including nasal fungal infections, glaucoma, blindness, and bronchial infections. :eek:
In fact, the general indication that you should be calling your doctor and asking them to prescribe Hardonex AN for you (instead of, I don’t know, asking your doctor what the best medicine for you might actually be) was more than a little disconcerting as well, IMHO…
Hm, it always seemed clear to me that the main idea was that Enzyte is supposed to lengthen one’s penis. I suppose that might be one way of “improving” erections.
I admire these spots for being, uh, classier? than one might expect from such a business; silly rather than sleazy. Hell, what I really admire is that they don’t try to make Bob and his wife out into some ultrastudly couple to be droolingly fantasized about, they make them into sort of sweet everyday Joes.
Of course, the product itself is still almost certainly worthless, the company ultimately engaging in simple hucksterism, and, according to Wikipedia, criminal activity of an even more overt stripe, but the commercials were kind of nice.
Ahhh, for the era of Let It All Hang Out. Or dribble out. Whatever. :rolleyes:
Back in the day there was N-R, Nature’s Remedy. Their tag line was the soul of discretion:
"N-R Tonight – Tomorrow All Right!"
Classy enough to use in the radio intro to the Tommy Dorsey band.
CBS actually refused all laxative ads for a time in the 30s because the copy was getting too blatant.
I think I’ll have a little more coffee.