Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Watcher0363]

The woman in the room is Penelope Cruz, international sex figure. I don't know if the guy is supposed to be a reporter that has been limited to asking her three questions, or if the other woman who escorts him into the room is a genie who granted him three wishes, but that's the gist of the ad.

Actually if you have seen Nothing Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant that commercial mimics a scene from that movie.

[meep.meep]

That's what I thought.  Except that Hugh's character would have realized that the readers of Horse and Hound deserved an answer to a real question.  And he would have drunk tea.

 

But the commercial that has me scratching my head is one from Lincoln Financial (?)  that ends with the punchline that they are the company to contact when you are ready to put together "your senior living solution."  I know it's corporate speak, but it smacks a little too close to the Final Solution for me.  Who wants to have their final years referred to in this manner?

[xls]

...How are cutting gum out of your hair, resigning yourself to the arguing of your kids, and taking the last seat on the bus "being true to yourself"?

I guess they mean you just need to pick yourself up and push on. I can appreciate that their approach is different from those "just-use-our-product-and-instantly-your-life-is-perfect" commercials.

[bilgistic]

This makes me feel less than enthusiastic that the chosen health insurer at my new job is Cigna.

[Stella MD]

The Breyer's gelato commercial confuses me to the point of annoyance.

 

First of all, I get that you have to show the product, but the scene in which the kid catches his parents eating the ice cream is just weird. Both parents have full bowls, yet there's also a completely full container open on the counter in front of them. Where did their servings come from? Not the container in front of them, which is completely untouched right down to the caramel crispies. Do they have a second container? And either way, why is this container still sitting out on the counter, melting away, when they've already served themselves and are eating?

 

Second, why exactly can't the kid have some? There's obviously plenty - see above. Even if this is the last batch of this stuff ever sold, it is really too much to share a multiserving container with other people, especially if those people are your own offspring? I don't understand why advertisers love this weird selfish theme - it always makes the think the non-sharer has food addiction/hoarding problems, which hardly makes me think "ooh, I gotta go out and buy that!"

[Brooklynista]

For you folks smarter than me...why is Sharon Osbourne talking to rabbits and birds in those Atkins commercials? Is she delirious from hunger?

[Taylorh2]

Another thing about the Gelato ad that bugs me is  when the kid asked if he can have some ice cream, the mom says "it's not ice cream, it's Breyers Gelato"

In real life I doubt very seriously that people mention what brand a product is to their kids.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Taylorh2

[Maverick]

 What I want is the commercial where the kid asks if he can have some ice cream and mom, says, "It's not ice cream, it's frozen dairy desert.  They're legally prevented from calling it ice cream because the cheap, manipulative bastards that bought the company changed the recipe so much."   Somehow, I think I'll be waiting a long time for that one.

 What I want is the commercial where the kid asks if he can have some ice cream and mom, says, "It's not ice cream, it's frozen dairy desert.  They're legally prevented from calling it ice cream because the cheap, manipulative bastards that bought the company changed the recipe so much."   Somehow, I think I'll be waiting a long time for that one.

What I want is the commercial where the kid asks if he can have some ice cream and mom, says, "It's not ice cream, it's frozen dairy desert.  They're legally prevented from calling it ice cream because the cheap, manipulative bastards that bought the company changed the recipe so much."   Somehow, I think I'll be waiting a long time for that one.

[InDueTime]

The Breyer's gelato commercial confuses me to the point of annoyance.

 

First of all, I get that you have to show the product, but the scene in which the kid catches his parents eating the ice cream is just weird. Both parents have full bowls, yet there's also a completely full container open on the counter in front of them. Where did their servings come from? Not the container in front of them, which is completely untouched right down to the caramel crispies. Do they have a second container? And either way, why is this container still sitting out on the counter, melting away, when they've already served themselves and are eating?

 

Second, why exactly can't the kid have some? There's obviously plenty - see above. Even if this is the last batch of this stuff ever sold, it is really too much to share a multiserving container with other people, especially if those people are your own offspring? I don't understand why advertisers love this weird selfish theme - it always makes the think the non-sharer has food addiction/hoarding problems, which hardly makes me think "ooh, I gotta go out and buy that!"

 

I agree.  Having the characters being selfish with the food in question is not going to convince me that the food is extra special, good, or whatever they're going for in these ads.

 

 

For you folks smarter than me...why is Sharon Osbourne talking to rabbits and birds in those Atkins commercials? Is she delirious from hunger?

 Hahaha!! Maybe the Atkins products taste so bad that rabbits and birds are the only ones who'll eat them.

[Aquarius]

For you folks smarter than me...why is Sharon Osbourne talking to rabbits and birds in those Atkins commercials? Is she delirious from hunger?

 

Not if she's doing it right!  :-)

 

 

Maybe the Atkins products taste so bad that rabbits and birds are the only ones who'll eat them.

 

Although this is entirely possible!  Some of those products are dreadful.  Although there are a few that are pretty good.

 

As a committed life-long Atkins-er, it amuses me no end that RABBITS and BIRDS are the ones they picked for these commercials.  I get the whole "you don't have to eat like a bird or eat rabbit food on this diet" message . . . but the bulk of the food you eat on Atkins is not likely to appeal to birds, and especially not rabbits. 

[Skittl1321]

 

I never got any innuendo from it. To me it's all about the daughter having graduated to the front seat and the mother getting nostalgic but not explaining why she's giving her daughter that sappy look. But that's because I really like Subarus (my second car after the obligatory rusted-out ancient VW Beetle) so I'm just lookin' for the good.

 

I think this might say that you are Subaru's intended audience... since you heard it like they meant it.

 

My Dad used to tell me (when IBM was running some crazy weird commercials) that I didn't understand the commercial because it wasn't meant for me.  So anytime I see a bizarre commercial (like the Hamsters driving cars?) I just assume that the company has no interest in ME owning that product. 

[Jamoche]

The problem with the Subaru commercial is that they obviously didn't consider that most people don't pay full attention to them. If you're watching from the beginning and getting warm fuzzies from the little girl, you've got the context for the statement. If you're half-listening and suddenly hear "grew up in the back seat", well...

[janie jones]

Maybe it's because fooling around in the backs of cars wasn't on my radar in my teenage years, but even if I only saw the ending, I don't think I'd take "grew up in the back seat" as having a sexual meaning.

[FormerMod-a1]

Me neither, it's not like the phrase "became a woman".  I just might think it odd.  That said, given the number of people that did think that, it's still kind of a fail, I'd say.

[MyLisa]

The DIRECTV campaign that uses marionettes to depict family members who worry that Dad doesn't love them anymore because of their wires completely squicks me out.  I get the concept, but the end results are just creepy and gross: 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmP73eAHB8

[Lola16]

Yea, we discuss those in the annoying commercial thread.  What is extra stupid about this ad series is that you do need wires for the first box.

[Lola16]

In Dish TV's new "mommy mind" commercial, I thought the stupid kangaroo was saying 'ricotta' and I was like - what does lumpy cheese have to do with DVRs?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka1jdqsop4U

[Lola16]

Ever watch a commercial and feel it just missed the mark?  That it almost got it right?  But something didn't quite fit or work?

 

That's how I feel when I see United Airlines new commercial for international travel:

 

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

 

The hero is learning phrases in many languages and when he gets home to the USA, he orders dessert.  Pecan Pie.  PEE-CANNE.  The waitress is puzzled by his pronunciation and asks PEE-KAHN? 

 

Eyeroll.  Bitch would see that reflected in her tip.TIHP.

 

 

[Rick Kitchen]

Several years ago a group from my office, in Virginia, went on a business trip to Massachusetts, we ate dinner together and the waitress asked us if we wanted chad as a vegetable.  We all looked at each other blankly.  "Chad?"  And she said, "You know, Swiss chad?"  One of the group said, "Oh!  Chard!"

[AimingforYoko]

Quote

Captain Morgan's White Rum has a reggae-type jingle (no idea if it's a real song)

It's MIA:

[Lola16]

Several years ago a group from my office, in Virginia, went on a business trip to Massachusetts, we ate dinner together and the waitress asked us if we wanted chad as a vegetable.  We all looked at each other blankly.  "Chad?"  And she said, "You know, Swiss chad?"  One of the group said, "Oh!  Chard!"

Ha.  Those Boston accents are killer.  In high school, I had to take some tests there at the Prudential Center.  Now, I'm from Long Island, I'm used to accents.  We got a little lost and had to ask for directions.  This guys says: make a right at the gahdun onto stalwart drive.  Thank dog I'm a hockey fan and realized that he meant to take a right turn after the Boston Garden arena.  Stalwart was Starret.  As an adult I have an easier time with accents, but that Boston accent is rough.

[InDueTime]

Hardee's has an ad where roosters are all flocking there to get the sandwich with the big chicken breasts.  While a little funny, it's also disturbing that these roosters are getting all hot and bothered over the disembodied, cooked breasts of dead hens.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlQDl4mg9sM

[Cobalt Stargazer]

It's not shown much these days, but the commercial for Aciphex (for acid reflux disease) always sounds like they're saying "Ass effects."  Of which I don't want to know about anyone.  Even me.

  

Hmmm...let's ask Jamie Lee Curtis & her Activia about that...

 

Or the Super Beta Prostate guy.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

 

People running around with milk shooting out of their asses does NOT make me want to drink milk.

Wait, WHAT?!

[90PercentGravity]

http://www.marketmenot.com/milk-life-walking-the-dogs-commercial/

 

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7BiR/milk-life-make-the-most-of-your-morning-with-milk

[callie lee 29]

The Tina Fey American Express ad just drives me nuts!! Specifically when she's at the register to pay for whatever and she slides the card through the reader the strip isn't in the machine!!!! I know it's so the AmEx logo can be seen, but if they didn't have a stupid see though card it wouldn't be so obvious. So basically Tina is stealing all the stuff. It's just such a huge flub I can't focus on anything else.

[riley702]

90%, at the second link, there is a comment that proclaims, "would be better if this were an ad for chocolate milk....", and I laughed my head off!

[riley702]

Or the Super Beta Prostate guy.

That comment never got old at TWoP. Seriously. I was so bummed when misterbfd got banned. Hmm, I wonder if he's here? I find myself missing a member list.

[Lola16]

The Tina Fey American Express ad just drives me nuts!! Specifically when she's at the register to pay for whatever and she slides the card through the reader the strip isn't in the machine!!!! I know it's so the AmEx logo can be seen, but if they didn't have a stupid see though card it wouldn't be so obvious. So basically Tina is stealing all the stuff. It's just such a huge flub I can't focus on anything else.

It's an unfortunate habit many of the credit card companies do.  Chase & BofA always swipe their cards upside down on TV. 

[GaT]

 

it's also disturbing that these roosters are getting all hot and bothered over the disembodied, cooked breasts of dead hens.

Men, whether they have feathers or not, they're all the same.

[RedZoneTuba]

Hey, not all men would get turned on by a dead female's breasts!   Unless they were, like, flaunting it, ya know?*

 

* (for the easily offended, this was a joke.  So unbunch your undies. - RZT)

[OSM Mom]

And they swipe them slowly. You do that IRL and the machine won't read it.

[janie jones]

It would be funny if they showed the checker telling them turn it around.

[janie jones]

It did get old at TWoP.

[scarletine]

It did get old at TWoP.

 

It sure did. I actually left the commercial forums there for a while so I didn't have to read it anymore. I hope it doesn't catch on here.

[Eliot]

Don't get me wrong. As a lady rapidly approaching that Certain Age, I'm glad to know there are medications out there that will make sex less painful for post-menopausal women. Good idea.

 

What's NOT a good idea is that highly disturbing ad for said medication (can't remember the  name) that shows all these ladies rolling around in some sort of mid-to-post-coital haze, having the time of their lives with nary a man in sight. What's the message here? "Have less painful intercourse with your dildo?"

[Eliot]

My people! I thought I was the only one who thought that.

 

Topic: I can no longer view the Gary Busey ad without hearing "Amazon Fart." And I laugh and laugh.

Edited June 15, 2014 by Eliot

[Jamoche]

It would be funny if they showed the checker telling them turn it around.

And that would fit the tone of the Fey ads.

 

(I still wouldn't find any of the ad funny, but I'd admit that humor was being applied correctly.)

[Watcher0363]

And they swipe them slowly. You do that IRL and the machine won't read it.

Okay this is a side note. I always slide my card through slowly with no problems at all. In fact, I often wonder what traumatic experience with debit/charge cards cause people to swype their cards as if they are snatching life from the jaws of death. Maybe the Tina Fey ads could double as a public service ad on how to swype your card in a less dramatic way.

[Prevailing Wind]

It's the gas pumps.  They keep telling us to remove it quickly.

[bilgistic]

This weekend, I had to re-swipe very quickly in one of those "Square" readers that plug into a smartphone, FWIW.

[Rick Kitchen]

The Buick ad where two women are trying to meet up and they're talking on their cell phones.  Woman 1 says, "I'm outside, where are you?"  And Woman 2 says, "I'm right here, in the Buick."  No you're not, you're standing beside it.

[Jamoche]

I thought it was the woman outside the Buick who was saying "I'm outside, where are you" - the point being that you wouldn't recognize a Buick even if you were right on top of it.

[Taylorh2]

Eliot,   I totally agree.

[St. Claire]

What I don't get about those Buick commercials is exchange with "That's not a Buick!" "That's what I told him!" I mean, I get that they are trying to indicate that Buick is not the old, stodgy car everyone associates with the brand but (a) all the owner has to do to convince you that it really is a Buick is show you the logo, so there is no point trying to convince the owner that he/she doesn't know the brand, and (2) the style of the new Buicks isn't that much sportier than the stereotypical middle aged lady car that they are trying to disassociate with. (Full disclosure, I used to drive a Buick LeSabre. I was not yet a middle aged lady, but my husband insisted upon calling it my middle-aged lady car. That car was awesome, with the dual climate controls and the smooth ride and cushy seat. Now that I'm a middle aged lady, I drive an SUV instead of a luxury sedan. Go figure.)

[St. Claire]

What's NOT a good idea is that highly disturbing ad for said medication (can't remember the  name) that shows all these ladies rolling around in some sort of mid-to-post-coital haze, having the time of their lives with nary a man in sight.

 

The men aren't there because they had to go take another dose of Cialis.

[90PercentGravity]

Or maybe it's just a bunch of old ladies fisting each other.

[riley702]

Ack! Brain bleach, please.

[Proclone]

In Dish TV's new "mommy mind" commercial, I thought the stupid kangaroo was saying 'ricotta' and I was like - what does lumpy cheese have to do with DVRs?

Thank god I'm not the only one. I heard "I put your kids' ricotta cheese on their tablets." My reaction was, sounds like a good way to ruin a tablet.

[ironclown]

 

The men aren't there because they had to go take another dose of Cialis.

...and then subsequently immerse their junk in the bathtub to relieve the chafing?