This one is so stupid I mute the TV when it comes on.
Some doofus is in his garage while his SO is in another room doing paperwork or something. He starts in with “Honey, what does this switch do?” and after she indicates she has no clue, he starts flipping the switch back and forth with sound effects of “off” “on” “off” “on” while down the street some old bat is sitting in her car halfway into her garage and the garage door is slamming into her hood with the same rhythm.
The tagline is “Life comes at you fast.” And they sing the Nationwide jingle.
I hate that commercial more than any other I can name and will never consider buying their insurance.
After the first one gave me a wtf moment, I began muting it every time. There are times when I can hear it in the other room, far from the remote, when I have to stuff my fingers in my ears. To be charitable, it sucks.
I hate that one too, mostly because it doesn’t make any sense.
But the cavemen I hate even more. And they seem to be multiplying. Is this really all the ad agencies can come up with or is it just what the brilliant minds at gecko liked.
My favorite insurance commercial to hate and despise are the cartoons. I’m sure some marketing genius figured that kids raised on anime and video games are now of an age to buy insurance, so hey! Why not market it at them with some PINK-HAIRED HO who battles giant robots and is a hockey goaley and a secret agent all at the same time?! I get the feeling that their target demographic is girl geek gamers.
I often wonder this same thing. I believe that somewhere along the way ad people got the idea that being loud, brassy, offensive and stupid made the consumer associate that oddity with some desirable quality of the product or service. They were somehow able to persuade the people at the company being advertised that this was the case. From there the myth has fed itself to the point that only occasionally does an ad present simultaneously humorous or interesting commercials with a pleasant image of the company.
When they’re done at the local level it’s painful. But national ads? I just don’t understand it at all.
I just know that I will deliberately avoid doing business with places that run offensive commercials.
A guy is in a shark cage and accidentally fires his harpoon gun toward the surface. The harpoon hits the boat, which explodes and rapidly sinks. This poor sap is towed straight to hell in his shark cage by the boat sinking into the inky depths.
I agree that that’s a frightening situation, but somehow that gallows humor doesn’t bother me as much as the rank stupidity of the garage door thing. I just want to reach into my TV and turn that garage door asshole’s brain to Jell-o with a small hammer. No excuse for that level of stupidity.
The shark guy at least had some measure of good intentions when he shot his boat!
I hate all the Mecury Insurance ads that feature a “UFO-ologist” trying to get the skinny on how they can have such low rates for their policys. Their tag line:
Yes, our rates are low. And no, we’re not from outer space.