Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Prevailing Wind]

Perhaps he misunderstood Trump's "Grab 'em by the pussy" comment.

[Brattinella]

Gah.

[peacheslatour]

"Uttin' on the iitttzzzz!"

[SoSueMe]

On 11/16/2016 at 3:52 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Speaking of music, Estee Lauder is using Lady Marmalade in their new ad. The original and not the cover from Moulin Rouge, but still. I'm like, Ya'll know that song is about a hooker, right?

I always thought that Estee Lauder considered itself tres classy, lol. Oh well. Could be the Trump effect. 

[peacheslatour]

22 minutes ago, SoSueMe said:

I always thought that Estee Lauder considered itself tres classy, lol. Oh well. Could be the Trump effect. 

The nominations for the Iggy award will be at the end of this month.

[Brattinella]

I don't have to wait until the end of the month.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

6 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

The nominations for the Iggy award will be at the end of this month.

What is the Iggy award? I've never heard of this.

[Brattinella]

59 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

What is the Iggy award? I've never heard of this.

YOU wouldn't have. :)

[proserpina65]

On ‎11‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 8:01 AM, Ubiquitous said:

My ex-boyfriend who wore makeup always said "if you can tell someone is wearing makeup, it was done wrong".

Besides which, L'Oreal had mascara with a ball instead of the standard brush for better lash coverage years ago.  It's their Telescopic line.  I wanted to try it, because my lashes are short and my lower ones almost non-existent, but at the time they didn't have brown-black in waterproof.  So not only is this particular spokesperson potentially a turn-off, but the product is hardly as ground-breaking as they're trying to make out.

[peacheslatour]

14 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

What is the Iggy award? I've never heard of this.

It's the award for the most inappropriate use of music in a commercial. Named for Iggy Pop and the use of his song (which is about heroin addiction) in a luxury cruise commercial.

[Brattinella]

38 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

It's the award for the most inappropriate use of music in a commercial. Named for Iggy Pop and the use of his song (which is about heroin addiction) in a luxury cruise commercial.

Oh dear, I was ascribing another meaning entirely. *blush*

[mmecorday]

I remember when Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" was used in a commercial for Chef Boyardi. And the kids in the commercial were singing it.

[callmebetty]

1 hour ago, mmecorday said:

I remember when Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" was used in a commercial for Chef Boyardi. And the kids in the commercial were singing it.

And the kids who were singing Sweet Child o' Mine" in some commercial that was out recently .  Or some other inappropriate song. Since I  can't remember what it was for or the song I can't look it up. 

Edited December 2, 2016 by callmebetty

[captain1]

I don't get the new Audi commercial at all.  The one where a guy is fishing in a lake in waders and a girl comes along and sticks the toe of her ice skate in the water and some boys are waiting to play ice hockey and the lake starts freezing up and then all these Audis drive across it - just WTF??

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/A_QZ/season-of-audi-sales-event-lake

[Silver Raven]

2 hours ago, captain1 said:

I don't get the new Audi commercial at all.  The one where a guy is fishing in a lake in waders and a girl comes along and sticks the toe of her ice skate in the water and some boys are waiting to play ice hockey and the lake starts freezing up and then all these Audis drive across it - just WTF??

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/A_QZ/season-of-audi-sales-event-lake

The Audis are bringing coolness?

[janie jones]

My interpretation is that the "season of Audi" is winter, so if the Audis are coming, they're bringing winter with them.

[Sandman87]

In that case I'm sending an itemized bill to Audi for all of my propane and firewood purchases.

[xaxat]

On 11/26/2016 at 0:51 AM, backformore said:

this commercial would be fine except for the  crotch shot at the beginning:

 

I don't understand this ad. First of all, I doubt three inches of separation for the speakers would give you stereo sound over ten meters away.

Secondly, even if it did, the sound would be so loud that someone would be smashing the crap out of his phone because it was annoying them.

[ennui]

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

My interpretation is that the "season of Audi" is winter, so if the Audis are coming, they're bringing winter with them.

I kind of liked it. I'd call it an effective ad, except for the poor fisherman, frozen in the lake.

[mojoween]

Damn selfish Audi owners.  Go do your winter sports somewhere else and leave the poor fisherman alone!

[captain1]

Maybe the Audis are fleeing the White Walkers?

[ennui]

I think of Elsa and Anna and Prince Hans and Kristoff and Sven and Olaf. I thought the girl's ice skate touching the water would cause it to freeze, not the Audis.

[SoSueMe]

On 12/2/2016 at 11:53 AM, peacheslatour said:

It's the award for the most inappropriate use of music in a commercial. Named for Iggy Pop and the use of his song (which is about heroin addiction) in a luxury cruise commercial.

I think the ZZ Top song in the Geico motorcycle insurance commercial is about a bordello (putting it gently).  

[ari333]

On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 11:26 AM, bilgistic said:

Does that commercial actually sell any perfume anymore? It only serves me as a reminder to mock the commercial. Who wears White Diamonds other than your great-grandmother?

The money from the sales goes to AIDS research IIRC. People buy it for that reason.

[ivygirl]

I can't tell if this is an intended or unintended message. 

In the ads for those Samsung VR thingys, they use the Pixies' "Where is My Mind?"

Lyrics:

Quote

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground
Try this trick and spin it, yeah
Your head will collapse
If there's nothing in it
And you'll ask yourself

Except that the song stops right before the lyrics "where is my mind?" 

Why leave that out? Are they assuming that the US population knows "where is my mind?" and will say, "ooh, that VR thingy must be *mind blowing*"? Or did they decide, "yeah, the line about your head collapsing is *fine*, but we don't want to outright *say* 'where is my mind?'"

[theatremouse]

9 hours ago, ivygirl said:

Why leave that out? Are they assuming that the US population knows "where is my mind?" and will say, "ooh, that VR thingy must be *mind blowing*"? Or did they decide, "yeah, the line about your head collapsing is *fine*, but we don't want to outright *say* 'where is my mind?'"

Haven't seen exactly what you're referring to but based on the above venturing to guess that they either only had so much time within the ad to play the song and/or were only playing to pay the song for X long, and given the amount of time they had, were more interested in including some specific lyrics, rather than particularly aiming to avoid others. That's an educated guess though.

Edited December 4, 2016 by theatremouse

[ivygirl]

48 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

Haven't seen exactly what you're referring to but based on the above venturing to guess that they either only had so much time within the ad to play the song and/or were only playing to pay the song for X long, and given the amount of time they had, were more interested in including some specific lyrics, rather than particularly aiming to avoid others. That's an educated guess though.

That's what's odd. They definitely play the song long enough, and if you know the song you know the missing phrase. It's almost as though they want it to be an inside joke.

And the phrase "where is my mind?" seems appropriate for VR and the effect they're going for in the ad.

Edited December 4, 2016 by ivygirl

[revbfc]

Ladies and gentlemen, the only lady in the world who carries around a bag of prunes in her purse, and her friends who don't think that's weird:

Edited December 5, 2016 by revbfc

[Brattinella]

Maybe I am nitpicking here, but the Quaker Oaks ad has a jingle that goes: "Owf you go, owf you go".  HOW did this pronunciation become okay?

[OmegaX123]

5 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

Maybe I am nitpicking here, but the Quaker Oaks ad has a jingle that goes: "Owf you go, owf you go".  HOW did this pronunciation become okay?

I just looked it up, it's "An' off you go", not "Owf you go".

[Brattinella]

Sorry, that's how I hear it.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, OmegaX123 said:

I just looked it up, it's "An' off you go", not "Owf you go".

That's how I hear it. Two syllables/words at the beginning.

Edited December 5, 2016 by chessiegal

[proserpina65]

On ‎12‎/‎02‎/‎2016 at 6:38 PM, janie jones said:

My interpretation is that the "season of Audi" is winter, so if the Audis are coming, they're bringing winter with them.

Audis are White Walkers!!!!

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 6:54 PM, SoSueMe said:

I think the ZZ Top song in the Geico motorcycle insurance commercial is about a bordello (putting it gently).  

Totally

[Jamoche]

19 hours ago, revbfc said:

Ladies and gentlemen, the only lady in the world who carries around a bag of prunes in her purse, and her friends who don't think that's weird:

She needs to team up with the lady who asks total strangers on open-topped busses if they have constipation.

[Brattinella]

20 hours ago, revbfc said:

Ladies and gentlemen, the only lady in the world who carries around a bag of prunes in her purse, and her friends who don't think that's weird:

Those prunes are OUTSTANDING, btw!  Such a delicious treat, I wish I could eat more of them.  I don't know why so many people think they are horrible.  Growing up around orchards gave me an advantage. I think.

[Automne]

On 11/27/2016 at 0:00 AM, kat165 said:

Speaking of perfume ads & a long shelf life the other day I saw a White Diamonds commercial with a 50ish  looking Elizabeth Taylor in it. "These have always brought me luck." Is that commercial like 30 yrs old?

 

 

This is the time of year where commercials that were made 20 years ago make their annual return. Like the Campbell's Soup commercial with the boy (who looks like Sarah Polley in her Ramona days) who comes in as a snowman and slowly melts as he eats a bowl of chicken noodle, the Hershey Kisses "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" where the kisses act as bells, and the cheese commercial with a little ginger girl who says, "I didn't leave [Santa] cookies; I left him cheese."

I guess when you make holiday-specific commercials, you run with them as long as you can.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Automne

[peacheslatour]

Quote

Like the Campbell's Soup commercial with the boy (who looks like Sarah Polley in her Ramona days) who comes in as a snowman and slowly melts as he eats a bowl of chicken noodle,

I love that commercial. My son was about the same age when it came out. It made me feel warm and fuzzy.

[revbfc]

4 hours ago, Brattinella said:

Those prunes are OUTSTANDING, btw!  Such a delicious treat, I wish I could eat more of them.  I don't know why so many people think they are horrible.  Growing up around orchards gave me an advantage. I think.

Level with me.  You're the lady in the commercial, aren't you?

;)

[Brattinella]

24 minutes ago, revbfc said:

Level with me.  You're the lady in the commercial, aren't you?

;)

No, I just speak well. 

[Sandman87]

On Sunday, December 04, 2016 at 3:52 PM, revbfc said:

Ladies and gentlemen, the only lady in the world who carries around a bag of prunes in her purse, and her friends who don't think that's weird:

 

6 hours ago, Jamoche said:

She needs to team up with the lady who asks total strangers on open-topped busses if they have constipation.

Put them both together with the woman who asks strangers about the cleanliness of their bums, and the whole process is covered.

[smittykins]

Are they still showing the "I left him cheeeeeeeese?" ad? I haven't seen it in ages.

[peacheslatour]

15 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

 

Put them both together with the woman who asks strangers about the cleanliness of their bums, and the whole process is covered.

The circle of life......

[LoneHaranguer]

I saw some runnings of a Barbie ad saying that a girl can grow up to be whatever she wants to be, which they illustrated with a girl acting like a teacher. Why so dated? I thought they had a whole line of "career" Barbies with non-traditional jobs like pilot and firefighter.

[theatremouse]

I might not be thinking of the same ad you're talking about but there was one where the girl was, I think a physics professor? Possibly chemistry. (as well as doctor, paleontologist, and some other stuff) but if the "teacher" bit stuck out to you, I think university-level science professor is different enough from classroom teacher that it's not so dated. But I do agree with the general premise if the tagline is "any career you want" it makes sense to highlight as many careers as possible that do not have a ton of women in the field, or that most people don't think of as having a ton of women in the field.

[LoneHaranguer]

The girl was talking about brains in a way that suggested it was biology, on the very short list where you might traditionally have found a woman teaching science at an upper level. After some more googling, it appears that what I saw was a very short version of a much longer ad that does cover a variety of careers, but is too long for most ad breaks. There are probably other cut-downs I'll eventually see.

[Ubiquitous]

You know, if the woman with the portable wedding business collected her money BEFORE she married people, she wouldn't have to awkwardly ask them for her money at the reception or on their honeymoon.

[friendperidot]

Quote

Those prunes are OUTSTANDING, btw!  Such a delicious treat, I wish I could eat more of them.  I don't know why so many people think they are horrible.  Growing up around orchards gave me an advantage. I think.

I love prunes! Grew up eating them. Of course you can't eat too many at once. I love plums also. And shredded wheat and raisin bran, if more of us ate like this, constipation wouldn't be such a problem. But then there wouldn't need to be medications and then there wouldn't need to be commercials for medications and lots of people would be out of work. Ok, I guess prunes are bad for the economy. But I still love prunes and shredded wheat and raisin bran. 

[Prevailing Wind]

I buy just plain ol' bran flakes and put as many or a few raisins as I like. When Kellogg's says "there's two scoops of raisins in every box" - does that mean there are, say, 500 raisins in the small box as well as 500 raisins in the GIANT box? Or do they use proportionally sized scoops?  That's why I dole out my own raisins. I'm not relying on a Kellogg's dubious promise of two scoops.

[riley702]

I never thought about it that way before!

[peacheslatour]

6 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I buy just plain ol' bran flakes and put as many or a few raisins as I like. When Kellogg's says "there's two scoops of raisins in every box" - does that mean there are, say, 500 raisins in the small box as well as 500 raisins in the GIANT box? Or do they use proportionally sized scoops?  That's why I dole out my own raisins. I'm not relying on a Kellogg's dubious promise of two scoops.

And exactly how big are these "scoops"? A cup? Two cups? An ice cream scoop? I've never read a recipe that called for 2 "scoops".

/The word scoop starts to look weirder the more you type it.