I’ve bitched about this for years now. Madge the manucurist extolling the virtues of Palmolive being “soft on hands while you do dishes.” Fair enough; she’s a manucurist, and part of her job could conceivably be to come to the rescue of housewives with tales of woe about dishhands, with the latest dermatological studies on why Palmolive is gentler on hands than, say, Lemon Joy.
But then, she dunks the woman’s hand in a bowl lined with a muffin cup and filled with green liquid, and declares with perfect aplumb, “You’re soaking in it!”
Why, oh, why, would a manucurist ever dump someone’s hand into DISHWASHING LIQUID as a prep for a manucure?
This is one of the classic commercial oddities that have intrigued me for years. More to come as I think of them.
Ugh. She didn’t say it with “perfect aplumb”, she skreeched it. Most obnoxious commercial tagline EVER.
My favorite Madge commercial was with the un-hip housewifey-looking woman who comes in groovin’ to a Walkman. “Madge, I sure dig Rock!” she says [cringe.] Madge: “Your hands look like you’ve been digging rock!” Nice.
Why couldn’y someone help the Hamburgler out? Why didn’t he just attack & eat Mayor Mcheese?
WTF was Grimmace?
Isn’t Ronald McD a poorly developed Character? We’ve known him since we could first turn on the TV and yet, and yet … we know so little about him … is he magic as has sometimes been indicated? Does he actually run McDonald land? Does he he still skateboard? Rememebr when he tried rapping, is that still on? I’d like a little backstory …
The scariest I ever saw Ronald McDonald was when they launched the Arch Deluxe (Rot In Hell) and that other weird chicken sandwich. It was a disco, and suddenly Ronald appears. I guess they were trying to show that McDonald’s had “grown up.”
But it was scary. Ronald McDonald still petrifies me, as do all clowns.
[li]Secret deodorant. “Strong enough for a man…but made for a woman!”[/li]
How exactly is it made for a woman? I use my wife’s unscented Secret all the time - I always run out first. ::shrug:: (When she catches me, I’m not exactly treated in the same lighthearted way as the guy in the commercial, either)
[li]The commercial with the guys that look for new ways to cool off their faces after they shave - one guy uses a water hose, the other guy dunks his head in a bowl of milk. Huh? Who are these dudes? It doesn’t hurt THAT much, fer cryin’ out loud…[/li]
[*] Who is the jerky Dentist that refuses to recommend the same products as his four colleagues? Does he run around spreading evil propaganda about Dentyne or something?
The worst commercial oddity for me is a fairly new Brawny paper towel ad. A woman shakes her head about the mess in her kitchen and grabs a sheet of paper toweling (rather than, say, a scrub brush), whereupon her right arm turns into a super-muscular steroidal monstrosity and drags her around the room, cleaning. I think the worst part of the ad for me is that her arm doesn’t change back at the end.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Dooku *
**[li] Who is the jerky Dentist that refuses to recommend the same products as his four colleagues? Does he run around spreading evil propaganda about Dentyne or something? **[/li][/QUOTE]
:: Ahem :: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_174a.html
Years ago I saw an ad for a disposable razor. The format is a takeoff on a western movie shoot-out, where the two men stand in a dusty street, then walk slowly towards each other until they whip competing disposable shavers out of their holsters and start shaving. The thing is, when they walk up to the each other, the camera shows them at holster level… and it truly looks like they’re about to start rubbing their crotches together, or else whip out their penises and compare. When I said as much to my brother, he spontaneously said, “Make you move, Slim!” and I said, “Who you calling Slim, Shortie?” I slay myself.
In this case, it isn’t the commercial that’s odd, but people’s memory of it. It’s a famous commercial for Life cereal. Two kids are uncertain about trying the cereal, and decide to check with their little brother. “Let’s get Mikey!” “Yeah! He won’t eat it – he hates everything!” But lo and behold, Mikey enjoys the cereal thorougly. “He likes it! Hey, Mikey!” Makes perfect sense; the message is: even finicky kids who are hard to please will love Life cereal.
Okay. But over and over, all over the country, I’ve encountered people who, for whatever reason, think the line is “Let’s get Mikey! He’ll eat anything!” Are these people brain-damaged? Anybody can forget a line, but don’t they think for even a second about what the hell the line is saying? Who would advertise a cereal based on the premise that it’s enjoyed by kids who will “eat anything”?
The Metamucil ads (and those of similar content) are the worst - Have you ever actually sat down with your mother and discussed…constipation?
And for all you ladies out there - Do you and your mother (or other female acquaintances) really have heart to heart talks about what brand of sanitary napkin or tampon you use?
I do like the commercial that answers that age-old question, “Does a bear shit in the woods?” The answer is, “Of course, as long as he’s using those Charmain wipes on a roll.”
It’s nice to know that if I do need to play some basketball between the time when I put my shaving lotion on and when I shave it off that my beard will in all probability remain soft and moist.
I remember an old Saturday Night Live commercial parody (about 10-15 years ago) that promoted a shaving razor with three blades. I don’t remember the name of it, but the commercial had animated graphics that explained how each blade performed a vital job. The commercial ended with the tagline, “because you’ll believe anything.”
Then I heard that just a few months ago, Gillette came out with an actual three-bladed razor called the ‘Triple-Trac’
There is a commercial currently running where a yuppie wonders who’s getting rich off the high interest rate on his credit card and it turns out…
Apes are. A bunch of apes and monkeys are having a great time on the money they rake in off credit card interest.
OK.
I know this is supposed to be a follow up to another ad where apes in a jungle find a guy’s lost card and buy a bunch of stuff with it and have a party, but the connection is really tenuous. The first commercial isn’t referred to in the new one, and I don’t even think the second set of monkeys could be the same ones as the first set, because one bunch is committing credit card fraud and the other have a finance company of some kind. I just don’t get it.
According to the FAQ of the McDonald’s newsgroup (yes, one exists), Grimace was originally the Evil Grimace, who stole milkshakes from people. It also quotes a McDonald’s rep quoted in a Straight Dope article about the modern Grimace, who’s just a friendly, clumsy purple blob.
You’re right, Guinasasia, but oh boy, did at one woman who was shocked to see “Blue Water???!” in her toilet bowl have a shapely figure! And under such dowdy clothes too!
I bet a lot of Dopers have seen the commercial with the woman who has her toddler in a high chair, with a bowl of cereal on the tray, and she deliberately slows down her telling of a story to the kid, as they both wait for the second hand on the wall clock to reach the “12” so the kid can knock the bowl of food onto the floor (and he does it on cue!) and the mother can switch on the vacuum, and clean the mess up. What is in the bowl? It looks like the mother is feeding her kid dry dog food! (This was a public service spot urging Californians to save energy by not using electrial appliances, like vacuum cleaners, before 7 p.m.)
Before all TV commercials went with color (and more and more women, presumably, switched from skirts to pants at home), a black-and-white spot for a floor wax (Top Job?) which began with a kid saying “Look Out!” showed two women in dresses in a house. One had just waxed the floor and–I doubt that the production people noticed–the wax produced such a shiny finish that the woman’s legs beneath her skirt were visible in the reflection on the floor!
“Everything’s better when you share it with friends. Even the painful burning of feminine itch.”
Guh?
If only it were a SNL parody! The commerical features several women sitting in a flowerly living room, presumably discussing feminine itch, fer chrissakes! Add Vagisil to the list of products I will never buy due to their advertising.
