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Celebrating 1,000 NCIS-franchise episodes

TheCrankyCreative

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Posts posted by TheCrankyCreative

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    Wow, the new campaign for Marcus by Goldman Sachs is terrible. Not only does it manage to make Rosamund Pike completely unappealing - something I thought was surely impossible - but that tagline - "You can money" - makes me want to knock the smug, stupid smile off the ad creators' smug, stupid faces.

    On a happier note, does anyone know the brand/advertiser behind that wonderful watercolor-themed TV commercial showing dolphins and football players? It's beautiful - artful, even - but it doesn't do the best job of embedding its message in the mind.

    • Love 4

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    On 4/24/2021 at 2:58 PM, peacheslatour said:

    The one that instantly comes to mind is the one with the "strongest man in the world" with all of his disgusting grunting and shouting. Makes my skin crawl.

    Yep -- and before that, the stupid clog dancing and bagpipes.

    Any excuse to make noise just to get our attention.

    • Love 4

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    21 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

    Has anyone been seeing over and over again the Flo & The Gang "Beach Day" ad?  Flo can't be content to sun herself at the beach with her cohorts; she overhears a conversation between other beach goers about clustering their various insurance needs.  Flo can't keep quiet and springs into action telling them about bundling.  Why does Flo have to sound so manic and screechy?  I can barely make out what she's babbling about.  Has Flo always been this way or is it just on my nerves more?

    See, this ad and others which misuse sound to irritate the shit out me -- well, they, ah . . . they irritate the shit right out of me.

    It's a boorish gimmick used by inconsiderate creatives who don't know how to behave as guests in our living rooms.

    And yes, it's all the rage and I hate it.

    • Love 3

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    34 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

    I like the honesty.  Why play coy when millions of women shave their pubic hair,  and millions of men like it.  

    I think my biggest problems with it are: 1) Visually, it's a bit much for unsuspecting viewers (of which we all are); and 2) It runs at all hours of the day.

    People lost their minds over the Schick Hydro Silk TrimStyle ad with the three cute girls "trimming their bushes," but so far as I know, that ad only aired during certain hours or during shows that were already aimed at more mature audiences.

    We all know what razors do. I'm not sure we need to see close-up camera shots of anyone, woman or man, shaving their pubes on TV.

    • Love 7

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    Liberty's "wet teddy bears" isn't a commercial -- it's the ad agency giving Liberty Mutual a public teabagging.

    "Look!" they are saying. "We can get this client to buy ANYTHING!"

    In my blog review of this ad, I included Liberty's contact information so people could speak out. If you'd like to give the company a piece of your mind, here is how to do it:

    https://www.facebook.com/libertymutual

    https://twitter.com/LibertyMutual

    Customer service phone number: 1-800-290-7933

    Mailing address for the corporate headquarters:

    Liberty Mutual Insurance
    175 Berkeley Street
    Boston, Massachusetts 02116

    Be sure to address your comments to Jenna Lebel, Liberty’s chief marketing officer. None of these ads can air without her approval.

    Fight on, fellow ad critics!

    • Useful 5
    • Love 2

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    On 9/20/2020 at 11:04 PM, Brattinella said:

    There is a commercial that is breaking the law: Inogen, the product that makes oxygen.  Their commercial's is at least 25% louder dBa than is allowed by law.  Our TV volume is never changed, except for this horrid jarring ad!  I know it sounds petty, but it is annoying.  I don't know who to report it to.

     

    Probably been answered already, but here is the link to the FCC page detailing the CALM Act and how to report too-loud commercials:

    https://www.fcc.gov/media/policy/loud-commercials

    I also like to call them out on Twitter at @FCC.

    • Useful 2

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    On 2/8/2020 at 10:25 PM, Colleenna said:

    I hate this Turbotax  ad. It's just  plain irritating.  

     

    You aren't kidding. What twisted mind thought this stupid song and dance would make a great way to sell tax software? Especially when competition within the category is heating up. Shouldn't the ad be about Turbo Tax features and advantages?

    I had meant to review and rate every Super Bowl ad this year on my blog. Couldn't do it. The sheer idiocy would have given me an explosive aneurysm. I settled for writing a post that highlighted a few ads and suggested that the best Super Bowl ad (a full-page ad in the New York Times from Ryan Reynolds for Mint Mobile) wasn't a TV commercial at all.

    But you can bet your butt that this ad from Turbo Tax was my shining example of abject stupidity for this year.

    SO. BAD.

    Keep the ad discussions coming. I need ideas for my next ad review!

    • LOL 2
    • Love 4

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    On 8/23/2019 at 10:39 AM, chessiegal said:

    I think the Buick ads are clever. 

    I also like the new batch of Liberty Mutual ads. I think they are funny. The only bone to pick for me is they act like they are the only insurance company that let's you customize to your needs. We've been with State Farm for decades, and we always customize to our needs.

    Bingo. What a shocking admission that Liberty Mutual has no message and no competitive advantages whatsoever. "Drek" is right.

    Quote

    I loathe them, and you raise a good point about their disguising totally generic claims as unique. (Which is but one source of my loathing.) When you think about it, other insurance companies don't really do that. Allstate focuses on the superior protection they'll give you because of their huge size, State Farm leverages their unparalleled network of neighborhood offices, Geico talks about saving you money compared to your current insurance, Progressive talks about the ease of buying their insurance online, Esurance kind of owns the "we make it incredibly simple because you don't want to have to think about insurance" category, Farmers is all about their assurance that they'll cover you no matter how weird your claim, etc. They all at least offer something that they can legitimately claim to be better at. Liberty's total reliance on gimmickry (and thievery of other insurance companies' devices, like the a-cappella jingle from Farmers and the animal from Geico) at the expense of an actual marketing strategy just exposes their utter poverty of ideas.

    Wow, that's a really excellent analysis!

    • Love 4

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    12 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

    Doesn't bother me, though the first time I saw it, I was kind of like, "Whoa, hey!" But I trim (just "normal," no hearts...but also no judgment; do what you want with your junk!) because I don't like hair but regular shaving upsets my skin bad. I wouldn't buy that thing though, for other reasons. 

    For other reasons? 😯

    My reaction upon first seeing the ad was similar to yours. As I said in my review, "As a married man in his late forties, my days of contemplating the nether regions of nubile twenty-year-olds ought to be long over."

    But of course, this ad is not for me.

    The ad works well for its target audience, I think, which helps to explain why it's been on the air for four years. And having looked at it closely for the purposes of the review, I appreciate the ad's more subtle and humorous touches, such as the girls' facial expressions and the interplay between them.

    Bottom line, I think it's more fun and flirty than offensive.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts, @TattleTeeny.

    • Love 2

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    What's people's consensus on Schick's "trimming the bushes" ad for its Hydro Silk TrimStyle razor?

    I'm about to review this commercial for my site (yes, I'm way late to the bush-trimming party), and wanted to take people's temperature on it. I know the commercial has generated a lot of complaints and even boycotts over the years, but the ad is still running. I think that's because it works.

    What are some opinions here?

    schick-hydro-silk-hydrating-trimming-the-bushes-commercial1.JPG

    • Love 3

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    On 6/24/2019 at 3:00 PM, LoneHaranguer said:

    Enough with the car ads that show "real people" saying good things about a product. Why should I care if these strangers like it? Assuming they actually do, since we're clearly not hearing everything they said. One ad ends with somebody saying that the designer deserves a cookie and a star; was that a nice way for her to say it looked like it was designed by a child?

    Oh, the goddamn cookie and the star! LOL. I wrote a review of that ad recently. Holy cow, you aren't kidding. So bad.

    If you don't already know how these commercials are made, the people in them really are people off the street. They're approached by young folks with clipboards and asked if they would like to participate in "market research" for $200. So they're paid, which means that once they find out the job is to ooh and ahh over Chevy vehicles on camera, that's exactly what happens -- along with the incredibly stupid blurtations you hear in the ads.

    I agree with you, it's time for these ads to go!

    • Useful 1
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    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    3 hours ago, Tom Holmberg said:

    The other annoying thing about this ad, besides the basshole, is the fake Jacques Cousteau.  He's dead, he's an environmental pioneer, a war hero, etc.  He shouldn't be used to advertise McDonald's.

    Excellent point. Unfortunately, nothing is sacred on Madison Avenue.

    • Love 5

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    It seems TV advertisers are hellbent on grabbing viewers' attention from :01 of the spot--if that means blasting an obnoxious voice or noise at twice the volume of the TV program, so be it. In that context, maybe driving a truck through a glass store front isn't as insane as it sounds.

    (Hint: It is still insane, and stupid too.)

    As for the My Pillow guy, yeah - his style isn't for everyone. Maybe his pillows aren't, either, but we have two and like them a lot. They are always--always--soft and full, and they seem to be the only pillows in the house that don't leave me with a sore neck in the morning. (I have chiropractic issues that lead to discomfort and headaches, and the My Pillows seem to help.)

    Oh, and I got sick of seeing Peyton Manning's "singing and playing music in the moving motor home" ad (no idea what it's for) after seeing it twice. (About 10 viewings ago.)

    • Love 3

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    1 hour ago, LoneHaranguer said:

    If the company is just looking for name recognition, its ads don't have to make sense. The stupidity of their ads has probably made them the most frequently mentioned insurance company here.

    Last fall, I dropped by the Liberty Mutual Facebook page for a bit of research I was doing for an insurance job. I seriously LOL'd at all the comments from people complaining about the stupidity of their TV commercials. "I hate hate HATE these ads, and I'M NEVER BUYING FROM YOU BECAUSE OF THEM!"

    Sooo good. 🙂

    • LOL 1
    • Love 8

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    1 minute ago, LoneHaranguer said:

    They probably should have picked a different name. When you see or hear an unusual word, it's normal to think of similar words. That works for "gecko" and "Geico", but "Limu" gets you "lame-o", so viewers are biased against the ad.

    I just assumed this was another play for Millennials who often shorten their favorite celebs' names. For example, Jennifer Lawrence becomes J-Law. Kristen Stewart becomes K-Stew.

    But how a 1970s "Starsky & Hutch" vibe jibes with that age group, I have no idea.

    • Love 3

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    2 hours ago, Dirtybubble said:

    Sorry if this has been mentioned but the Liberty commercial with the "fitness junkie" and his creepy AF calves is just stupid!  Fitness junkie I think not, not with that squishy gut...

    These ads--and the new "LiMu Emu & Dave" ads--are spectacularly stupid. I'd be embarrassed for LiMu and its agency except I'm sure they're blissfully and cluelessly proud of themselves.

    • Love 3

    Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

    in Commercials

    · Edited by TheCrankyCreative

    On 2/2/2019 at 5:35 PM, chessiegal said:

    I don't understand Liberty Mutual's new pitch that you can customize your coverage for what you need. Don't all insurance companies do that? We've had State Farm forever. My husband realized my 15 year old car was over insured and had it changed.

    After the last round of (ANNOYING) Liberty Mutual commercials that essentially suggested the company INCLUDES add-on coverages such as accident forgiveness, new-car replacement, etc., in its standard policies -- NOW the company is saying "Hey! You pay less cuz you can get only what you need!"

    Totally shady. Plus, this new volley of weapons-grade stupid is even MORE obnoxious than the prior ads. It's got me so riled, I wrote a scathing review of the campaign on my blog -- click my profile pic and follow the website URL if you're interested.

    Edit: Checked the TOS and I think it's OK to link to my post: https://thecrankycreative.com/liberty-mutual-commercials-no-safe-harbor-bad-ads/

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