Holiday and Seasonal Commercials

[CarpeDiem54]

Ugh, I wish Honey Baked Ham would come up with a new commercial.  How many years have we heard, "Tastes better than the ham your mama cooked."?

But they're correct. My poor Mom always just dried out hams.

[smittykins]

The Lexuses(Lexi?)with the big-ass bows are back. Le sigh.

[xls]

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett for Barnes & Noble

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k04K8mND5GU

I love that one!

Edited November 21, 2015 by xls

[Haleth]

They need to put out a Christmas cd together.

[Trini]

They need to put out a Christmas cd together.

 

They haven't? I thought that was the only reason they're in that ad together.

[MaryPatShelby]

My least favorite Christmas commercial from last year is back, for Merci chocolates. "You didn't have to blank me like you did, but you did and Iiiiiiiiiiii thank you"; can't find a link to it, but the blanks are help/teach (which yeah, teachers do HAVE TO teach)/host. In trying to figure out why I hate it so much, I think it's the repetitive singing.

[Bort]

They haven't? I thought that was the only reason they're in that ad together.

Nope, just a commercial. I would totally buy the Lady Gaga/Tony Bennett version of that song if they put one out, though, it sounds great.

[Rick Kitchen]

There's a Lady Gaga/Joseph Gordon Levitt version:

 

 

The Lady Gaga/Tony Bennett album is a collection of old standards.  Tony will be performing at her upcoming wedding.  They are good friends.

[CoderLady]

Dear Advertisers,

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, not the entire month of November.

When you call every sale "Black Friday" you're not fooling anybody, you're just making the term meaningless through repeated misapplication. By the time the actual day comes around you're going to have to practically give merchandise away to get anyone's attention and it will be your own damn fault.

I hate to tell you this because you don't learn from your mistakes, but Black Friday has been moved to the day after Christmas. Good luck ruining that one next.

Signed,

An Annoyed Consumer

Edited November 22, 2015 by CoderLady

[DeLurker]

My least favorite Christmas commercial from last year is back, for Merci chocolates. "You didn't have to blank me like you did, but you did and Iiiiiiiiiiii thank you"; can't find a link to it, but the blanks are help/teach (which yeah, teachers do HAVE TO teach)/host. In trying to figure out why I hate it so much, I think it's the repetitive singing.

And to my very untrained ears, the "singing" is rather bad and falls off (insert musical term here).  I can almost sing better than that and my singing can sterilize frogs in a 5 block radius.

 

Dear Advertisers,

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, not the entire month of November.

When you call every sale "Black Friday" you're not fooling anybody, you're just making the term meaningless through repeated misapplication. By the time the actual day comes around you're going to have to practically give merchandise away to get anyone's attention and it will be your own damn fault.

I hate to tell you this because you don't learn from your mistakes, but Black Friday has been moved to the day after Christmas. Good luck ruining that one next.

Signed,

An Annoyed Consumer

I want a Black Out Friday commercial from a liquor store.

[St. Claire]

Hallmark has moved away from the schmaltz, and I love them for it.

 

[CarpeDiem54]

Hallmark has moved away from the schmaltz, and I love them for it.

 

https://youtu.be/2lE1ZVxAnzg

Love it!

[Aquarius]

Hallmark has moved away from the schmaltz, and I love them for it.

 

 

Hee.  "You need money?  Is it a money thing?"  Love it.

[InDueTime]

I see that Kay Jewelers brought back the ad with the gold-digging Gentoo penguin.

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7sGg/kay-jewelers-diamonds-in-rhythm-penguin-kiss

 

The Volkswagen "Sign Then Drive" ads with the people dragging out the test drive with the salesperson in tow.

 

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/AwNG/volkswagen-sign-then-drive-event-gifts-for-the-family

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/AwNg/volkswagen-sign-then-drive-event-christmas-tree-farm

 

How much longer can these "customers" jerk the salespeople around on signing the contract before this turns into theft; and in the case of the second ad, possibly negligent homicide?

[mojoween]

GMC, you're the parent to my beloved Chevys, but you're annoying. I don't understand how you can equate people going out to buy Christmas gifts for OTHER PEOPLE to buying a GMC for YOURSELF. They aren't the same thing!

You know, maybe that penguin LIKED the pebble. Get bent, Kay. The smart penguin is the one who got the pebble, not the one who shelled out thousands of dollars for a hunk of shiny rock.

I did see the Hershey's bells last week, but tonight it's really the Christmas season because I saw Liz and her White Diamonds.

[OSM Mom]

Anyone who gives me a car for Christmas had better paid in full for it, and be paying the insurance and the yearly plates on it forever. Otherwise, take it back.

[bigskygirl]

I saw the M-Ms candy commercial with Santa. He is real, they are real! Santa!

[Haleth]

Omigosh, that Hallmark commercial is hilarious.  

"If your mother were alive she'd roll over in her grave."

 

"I wish I could eat it."  

"Me too."

 

I saw Liz and her White Diamonds.

 

I am shocked that this one is still around.

[DeLurker]

Anyone who gives me a car for Christmas had better paid in full for it, and be paying the insurance and the yearly plates on it forever. Otherwise, take it back.

A woman I worked with in the old days was "given" a new Jag for Christmas - big bow and all.

 

She loathed it from the first minute since she was obligated to act happy and make a big deal about it.  She would have much preferred a BMW or Mercedes.  Plus, since it was leased and she made the lion's share of the income, she felt she was going to be the one paying for a car she did not choose.  That Jag was turned in the minute the lease was up.  I think the marriage ended about the same time.

[Dirtybubble]

 

Dear Advertisers,

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, not the entire month of November.

When you call every sale "Black Friday" you're not fooling anybody, you're just making the term meaningless through repeated misapplication. By the time the actual day comes around you're going to have to practically give merchandise away to get anyone's attention and it will be your own damn fault.

I hate to tell you this because you don't learn from your mistakes, but Black Friday has been moved to the day after Christmas. Good luck ruining that one next.

Signed,
An Annoyed Consumer

 

ITA!  In fact I had read last year retailers had a slump in Black Friday sales because of this starting the sales so early.  And since a lot of stores open on at 4 or 6 on Thanksgiving Day now--well is it Black Thursday now? 

 

But I do like the commercials for small business Saturday.  The concept is terrific and I like that it's a thing now.  My only concern is that the general public doesn't spend all their money on Thanksgiving and the Friday after so that there is nothing left come Saturday.  And I'm not preachy preachy here because I am so guilty of spending all my money during the holidays and the day after so come Saturday there's nothing left =(

[janie jones]

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, not the entire month of November.

They're not just doing it for Black Friday, though.  They'll have Veteran's Day or Fourth of July sales that last three weeks too.

Edited November 24, 2015 by janie jones

[photo fox]

That Hallmark ad is adorable, but it annoys me for two reasons:
 

1. It just seems a little mean to spring such a big change on an elderly person. Like, would it kill you to have a small ham so he could have a little? Since he's completely surprised, it doesn't seem like they're normally a vegan family, so I'm assuming they don't have long-held strong moral objections. So let the old man have some meat on Christmas!
2. I also hate the implication that vegan = weird and bizarre. There's middle ground between ham and "kelp and lavender", or whatever she said. There are actually some really tasty "meatless meat" products out there* that would allow them to still be vegan while serving something her father would recognize. For that matter, why would all the sides have to change? Just substitute margarine for the butter and soy beverage for the milk.

 

*Even I realize this, and I'm as far from vegan as you can be (raised on a livestock farm). There are really good meat alternatives out there now! This kind of thinking is so 1980s.

[proserpina65]

For that matter, why would all the sides have to change? Just substitute margarine for the butter and soy beverage for the milk.

 

I'm cool with the margarine, since that's pretty much all my mother has used for many decades, but soy beverage?  Egads, no!  Soy 'milk' tastes nothing like milk, and would completely and utterly be an abomination in my mashed potatoes.  (Needless to say, vegans need never darken my door at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I've got enough problems working around a friend's gluten allergies, which I do because it really does make her very ill to eat gluten.)

 

That said, I like the commercial.

[beadgirl]

All milk substitutes are wrong and gross (in my opinion), which is why I loathe those almond milk commercials -- some are like drinking candy! -- but that's for another thread.  I liked how grumpy he was about the meal (I'd be, too, although I'd keep it to myself), and how the family took it in stride, and how he joked about the ornament.

 

 

A woman I worked with in the old days was "given" a new Jag for Christmas - big bow and all.

I've never understood the car Christmas present thing at all.  Don't people wait until they need a car to get it, whenever in the year that happens?  Don't people heavily research safety and needs and prices and extras when deciding what car to get? Don't people spend time working out the financing and payment structures?  And would you really want to take on a new monthly payment during the month you will most likely be spending more than usual?

Edited November 24, 2015 by beadgirl

[merylinkid]

 

Don't people heavily research safety and needs and prices and extras when deciding what car to get?

 

Torque ratios.   Then 3 spread sheets later, you finally get the car and drive it right into a ditch.

 

Sorry, you know somebody had to say it.

[janie jones]

That Hallmark ad is adorable, but it annoys me for two reasons:

 

1. It just seems a little mean to spring such a big change on an elderly person. Like, would it kill you to have a small ham so he could have a little? Since he's completely surprised, it doesn't seem like they're normally a vegan family, so I'm assuming they don't have long-held strong moral objections. So let the old man have some meat on Christmas!
2. I also hate the implication that vegan = weird and bizarre. There's middle ground between ham and "kelp and lavender", or whatever she said. There are actually some really tasty "meatless meat" products out there* that would allow them to still be vegan while serving something her father would recognize. For that matter, why would all the sides have to change? Just substitute margarine for the butter and soy beverage for the milk.

 

*Even I realize this, and I'm as far from vegan as you can be (raised on a livestock farm). There are really good meat alternatives out there now! This kind of thinking is so 1980s.

I agree!  And also, I think it's weird that they didn't mention it to him before then.  You think it might have come up.  And then, when he opens the refrigerator, it's completely full of vegetables.  Shouldn't it be half empty since the fridge was probably holding most of the food that's currently on the table?

[Dirtybubble]

It just seems a little mean to spring such a big change on an elderly person. Like, would it kill you to have a small ham so he could have a little? Since he's completely surprised, it doesn't seem like they're normally a vegan family, so I'm assuming they don't have long-held strong moral objections. So let the old man have some meat on Christmas!

 

 

While the commercial is funny and I think the punchline is meant to be the old man being stuck in his ways and not "getting it" it would not be funny if it was happening in real life I think.  My sister and her boyfriend are vegans and so for Turkey Day we have both turkey and a meatless type of meat.  That way no one suffers through something they don't like.  Oh and YES the meatless meat that is served is DELICIOUS!  I can't remember what it is but it is sooo flavorful and not tofu-ish like you would think.

 

[Bastet]

I have the same two issues with the Hallmark commercial, which does make me laugh at the end. 

 

She says they’ve decided as a family to eat vegan, so this is obviously new and not something they’ve previously told him.  You’re hosting a holiday dinner and don’t give a heads up that it will be a completely different menu this year, one that many people – especially an old man – may find off-putting?

 

He doesn’t even try any of what’s in front of him, instead immediately jumping to, “I’ll just stick to the ham.”  I hate tofu, so I feel him on giving that a pass, but there seem to be plenty of vegetables to choose from.  Yeah, he’ll feel like he’s eating a bunch of side dishes with no main course, but he can eat.  Does he normally sit there and just eat ham?

[Dirtybubble]

 

Yeah to spring this on the old man with no warning is harsh.  Also the family should have known that he wouldn't be cool with this and would want something to eat that he's used to.  It seems like a total disrespect to him.  But like I said I think that's part of the joke.  Nothing funny about being fully informed and willing to compromise =)  The joke is him not willing to....enh like I said before funny in the commercial but not in real life. 

Edited November 24, 2015 by Dirtybubble

[CoyoteBlue]

I was surprised that they managed to keep it funny without actually mocking anyone. Grandpa seemed more bemused by the lack of ham than being an asshole cranky old man. The hosts seemed to be interested in fresh, healthy food without being yogurt-eating Portlandia types. That's kinda rare in commercials any more.

[Prevailing Wind]

I have a friend on FB who wants to call it Black Furday and we all go out & adopt rescue pets, preferably black ones, as they're usually the last to find homes.

 

I'm with David Sedaris, who calls the day "You're Welcome Day" -- what *else* would you say after a day of "Thank You"?

[CarpeDiem54]

I have a friend on FB who wants to call it Black Furday and we all go out & adopt rescue pets, preferably black ones, as they're usually the last to find homes.

 

That's a great idea!

[beadgirl]

 

Torque ratios.   Then 3 spread sheets later, you finally get the car and drive it right into a ditch.

Perhaps she should have researched how to drive.

 

 

I'm with David Sedaris, who calls the day "You're Welcome Day" -- what *else* would you say after a day of "Thank You"?

That's awesome!

[DeLurker]

Torque ratios.   Then 3 spread sheets later, you finally get the car and drive it right into a ditch.

 

Sorry, you know somebody had to say it.

Then stand in front of the Statue of Liberty snottily talking about the unfairness of insurance for making a little boo boo.

[Guest]

Ugh, I wish Honey Baked Ham would come up with a new commercial.  How many years have we heard, "Tastes better than the ham your mama cooked."?

 

To this day I call Honey Baked Ham " that ham my mama made me stand in line for two hours in the freezing rain to pick up."

 

Some people have 'I walked 5 miles to school in the snow'. 

 

I have 'when I was young, there were only a handful of Honey Baked Ham stores and they were tiny with only one, maybe two employees and everyone in town wanted one of those hams and the lines went out the door and weaved through the parking lot and farther and they didn't have these new fangled tents to keep you dry.  You had to want that ham.  You had to need that ham.  You had to earn that ham.  You had to risk pneumonia to get that ham. "

[hjmugillecuty]

I really like the P&G commercial from the last page. My parents had Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers that looked just like the candles in the commercial, so it gives me nostalgia vibes.

[bigskygirl]

The Sears Black Friday commercial is starting to get on my nerves. How many times do they need to show it.

[proserpina65]

I really like the P&G commercial from the last page. My parents had Pilgrim salt and pepper shakers that looked just like the candles in the commercial, so it gives me nostalgia vibes.

My mother had those candles, back when there was actually room on the dining table for decor and not just food.

[meep.meep]

Whoever is now calling the holiday "Thanksgetting" can go bankrupt as far as I'm concerned.  I think it's Target.

[Rick Kitchen]

Whoever is now calling the holiday "Thanksgetting" can go bankrupt as far as I'm concerned.  I think it's Target.

 

It's Verizon.

 

Talk about jumping the gun.  I just saw an H&R Block ad.

[Trini]

Talk about jumping the gun.  I just saw an H&R Block ad.

 

TOO SOON! Isn't it enough those ads are wall-to-wall January through April??

[meep.meep]

It's Verizon.

 

Talk about jumping the gun.  I just saw an H&R Block ad.

Thanks!

 

Actually the last month of the year is a good time to think about your taxes and any actions you need to take.  Sorry to be a grownup......

[riley702]

ITA!  In fact I had read last year retailers had a slump in Black Friday sales because of this starting the sales so early.  And since a lot of stores open on at 4 or 6 on Thanksgiving Day now--well is it Black Thursday now? 

 

Just saw a Target ad going on about Black Friday starting at 3PM Thursday! With no mention of it being Thanksgiving.

 

My Dad wouldn't eat turkey, so we had ham AND turkey on Thanksgiving. I love both, so it was great!

Edited November 27, 2015 by riley702

[sofaslug]

Hallmark has moved away from the schmaltz, and I love them for it.

https://youtu.be/2lE1ZVxAnzg

"If your mother were alive she'd be rolling over in her grave.". :-D

[mojoween]

Fucking hell I'm just trying to watch Friendsgiving and every single break features a medley of Big Lots, Kmart and Walmart and I'm going to rip off my ears and stuff them in the couch.

[InDueTime]

The way the guy at the end of the Coffee-Mate ad slurps his coffee bugs the crap out of me.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAZl3VZMppg

[riley702]

The way the guy at the end of the Coffee-Mate ad slurps his coffee bugs the crap out of me.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAZl3VZMppg

 

The weird way his head is wrinkled bugs the crap out of me.

[Prairie Fire]

The best....

 

 

and the worst....

 

[topanga]

The Lexuses(Lexi?)with the big-ass bows are back. Le sigh.

Those stupid commercials make me want to go into debt so I can buy a shiny new Lexus that I don't really need, or they make me feel worthless for not having a spouse who would surprise me with a Lexus for Christmas. So I guess the commercials are doing their job, right? 

 

Sigh again. 

[CarpeDiem54]

The best....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kUkbtKJdV8

 

and the worst....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYXZqKoP0s8

Awww! The bear almost made me cry. That's a lovely ad. But the cat made me laugh. ;-)