Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[ari333]

15 hours ago, OneWouldHope said:

I can't stand this ad for hair replacement for women - no idea of the company, so FAIL. But it starts - very modern - with two women texting. The first text the second (and you hear in voice-over): Remember that personal problem you had last year? And the second one, in voice-over, LAUGHS! Laughs?! "Oh yeah!" And it goes on from there. You laugh not only at your friend's distress but also at that awful personal problem you had (and I say awful only because that's the whole premise of the ad). But, really, more than anything, you laugh at your friend's distress? WTF? And I finally looked at the ad once and she actually texts "LOL!" So it's not just a bad acting choice! I really loathe this commercial.

The other thing I can't stand is that Liberty Mutual ad - and I'm not so het up about them as many are but this gets me - is the woman with the two kids who says, "Liberty Mutual stood with me..." Stood! Stood? What, were there no chairs around? I don't know... doesn't that sound wrong to anyone but me? Maybe I'm wrong...

I know, right? Losing hair is hard for both genders, but especially hard for women. Men can pull off that cool bald look and it is seen as sexy etc. If those women were really losing hair, it would be FAR from hilarious. GACK

"Stood with me." sounds just  odd to me too

12 hours ago, Moose135 said:

No we don't - sauce is red, gravy is brown.

Or sauce is also white? (Alfredo sauce?) Forgive me if I erred. :-) -- (I'm not Italian .)

[Jamoche]

2 hours ago, ari333 said:

 

Or sauce is also white? (Alfredo sauce?) Forgive me if I erred. :-) -- (I'm not Italian .)

Nope, you've looped right around to the start of the conversation - originally the ad with the red sauce on the pan was calling it "alfredo". Which is, yes, white.

[friendperidot]

well, there is white gravy. I make it with sausage and put it over biscuits. Ymmmm

[bilgistic]

From my first viewing of the Cascade commercial in question, I took it as the alfredo sauce was baked/burned on the bottom of the pan (not sure how that happened, but I didn't invent TV commercials), which would make it look rust-colored. Cascade purportedly removes "baked-on" foods.

[Brattinella]

52 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

well, there is white gravy. I make it with sausage and put it over biscuits. Ymmmm

That is a special kind of deliciousness right there. :)

[friendperidot]

I don't remember where I saw this discussed previously, but I just saw the ad for Swiffer with the little boy hair stylist. Mom just shrugs her shoulders, oh well, and gets the Swiffer out? WTH? 

[Brattinella]

10 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

I don't remember where I saw this discussed previously, but I just saw the ad for Swiffer with the little boy hair stylist. Mom just shrugs her shoulders, oh well, and gets the Swiffer out? WTH? 

This kind of ad, which seems to be getting more popular, extolls the virtue of being a doormat for one's children.  Like she only lives to clean up her rotten progeny's messes.   I hate them!

[BusyOctober]

8 hours ago, Brattinella said:

8 hours ago, friendperidot said:

I don't remember where I saw this discussed previously, but I just saw the ad for Swiffer with the little boy hair stylist. Mom just shrugs her shoulders, oh well, and gets the Swiffer out? WTH? 

This kind of ad, which seems to be getting more popular, extolls the virtue of being a doormat for one's children.  Like she only lives to clean up her rotten progeny's messes.   I hate them!

 Don't you know that merely incubating a precious life inside your body for nine months is not enough?  You must continue to incubate that special snowflake for the next 30+ years!  Every. Waking. Moment. of your day should be devoted to fostering your child's creativity! That's why Pintrest and Mommy Blogs were invented!  And NEVER criticize or discourage lest you break his independent spirit! Childhood must be magical at any cost!  Bento box lunches with carrots carved into his favorite super hero! Lavish themed birthday parties with individual organic, artisanal treats and traveling menageries!  Prom (or Kindergarten/8th grade graduation) gowns encrusted in Swarovski crystals with matching tiaras!

Swiffering up whatever detritus your spawn leaves in her/his wake is a small sacrifice if it means your amazing, gifted progeny garners more likes on their YouTube channel or paves the way for 15 minutes of fame on "Chopped Junior" or "Project Runway Junior" or "Shark Tank".

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

 Don't you know that merely incubating a precious life inside your body for nine months is not enough?  You must continue to incubate that special snowflake for the next 30+ years!  Every. Waking. Moment. of your day should be devoted to fostering your child's creativity! That's why Pintrest and Mommy Blogs were invented!  And NEVER criticize or discourage lest you break his independent spirit! Childhood must be magical at any cost!  Bento box lunches with carrots carved into his favorite super hero! Lavish themed birthday parties with individual organic, artisanal treats and traveling menageries!  Prom (or Kindergarten/8th grade graduation) gowns encrusted in Swarovski crystals with matching tiaras!

Swiffering up whatever detritus your spawn leaves in her/his wake is a small sacrifice if it means your amazing, gifted progeny garners more likes on their YouTube channel or paves the way for 15 minutes of fame on "Chopped Junior" or "Project Runway Junior" or "Shark Tank".

And who can forget the words made famous by the most coddled of them all; "Would you like fries with that?"

[mojoween]

I have GOT to be missing something in the Wendy's ads.  It says something like fresh not frozen beef is available in the contiguous USA, Alaska and Canada and it's not available in Alaska or Hawaii.  How can it be both available and not available in Alaska?

[peacheslatour]

14 minutes ago, mojoween said:

I have GOT to be missing something in the Wendy's ads.  It says something like fresh not frozen beef is available in the contiguous USA, Alaska and Canada and it's not available in Alaska or Hawaii.  How can it be both available and not available in Alaska?

Shrodinger's beef?

[ari333]

4 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Shrodinger's beef?

Hee *snort giggle*

[ennui]

21 hours ago, mojoween said:

I have GOT to be missing something in the Wendy's ads.  It says something like fresh not frozen beef is available in the contiguous USA, Alaska and Canada and it's not available in Alaska or Hawaii.  How can it be both available and not available in Alaska?

I counted seven Wendy's in Alaska, so maybe it varies by location.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

So there's this commercial for Chantix, the drug that's supposed to help you stop smoking. A guy named Thomas says that he had been trying to quit, that he broke out of his man shell and asked his doctor for a prescription, and it helped him give up cigarettes. Uh...man shell? Whut?

[Jaded]

Just now, Cobalt Stargazer said:

So there's this commercial for Chantix, the drug that's supposed to help you stop smoking. A guy named Thomas says that he had been trying to quit, that he broke out of his man shell and asked his doctor for a prescription, and it helped him give up cigarettes. Uh...man shell? Whut?

I saw that commercial for the first time today. I thought of turtle shells and then my mind went to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. 

[Brattinella]

MAN shell?  WTH is that?

[Prevailing Wind]

Perhaps it's what he lives in when he can't get to his MAN CAVE.  What the hell kind of asshats are we, as a culture, becoming?

[bilgistic]

OK, I didn't believe y'all, but sure enough, "man shell". I watched his mouth form the words in case I was hearing them wrong. Nope: man shell.

[Moose135]

There's a new series of commercials from Hyundai, showing people cleaning crap out of their garages and replacing it with a Hyundai.  So far, so good, but their tag line is "Out with the old, in with the better."  Aside from the faint praise of calling their car "better" than a garage full of crap, they can't even get the phrase right - it's "Out with the old, in with the new." What the hell is wrong with these people?  How do you not know how that is supposed to go?

[Silver Raven]

3 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

So there's this commercial for Chantix, the drug that's supposed to help you stop smoking. A guy named Thomas says that he had been trying to quit, that he broke out of his man shell and asked his doctor for a prescription, and it helped him give up cigarettes. Uh...man shell? Whut?

I think he's stereotyping men not liking to ask for help.

[bilgistic]

1 hour ago, Moose135 said:

There's a new series of commercials from Hyundai, showing people cleaning crap out of their garages and replacing it with a Hyundai.  So far, so good, but their tag line is "Out with the old, in with the better."  Aside from the faint praise of calling their car "better" than a garage full of crap, they can't even get the phrase right - it's "Out with the old, in with the new." What the hell is wrong with these people?  How do you not know how that is supposed to go?

It bothers me, too.

Everytime I see a commercial that's just senselessly stupid, I picture the smug boss of commercial writers saying something like, "No, that's not a good idea. Mine's better. It's not the woman's husband that offers her a taste of the new milk he bought because he cares about her digestive issues; the lady cow mascot on the carton is going to offer it to her. Oh, and the cow will make fart jokes the whole time. Hell, scrap the woman--make it two cartoon cows talking about farting! And the cows should be unnaturally hourglass shaped. I'm on fire today!"

[Moose135]

9 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

make it two cartoon cows talking about farting!

The 12-year-old in me would find that commercial funny, no matter what they were selling!

[bilgistic]

It's real.

[Brattinella]

I love the hourglass blue cow!

[bilgistic]

I sheepishly admit I laughed the first time I saw it.

[Moose135]

13 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

I sheepishly admit I laughed the first time I saw it.

You're a 12-year-old boy too? Because I laughed my butt off!

[LoneHaranguer]

13 hours ago, Moose135 said:

There's a new series of commercials from Hyundai, showing people cleaning crap out of their garages and replacing it with a Hyundai.  So far, so good, but their tag line is "Out with the old, in with the better."  Aside from the faint praise of calling their car "better" than a garage full of crap, they can't even get the phrase right - it's "Out with the old, in with the new."

Putting aside for the moment the empty garage making their car look dinky, one of the ads has them moving out exercise equipment; how is the car going to be "better" at keeping you in shape?

[mmecorday]

Quote

I saw that and thought, "Italian people call tomato sauce 'gravy', so she must be Italian."

Or Eastern European.

[ennui]

3 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Putting aside for the moment the empty garage making their car look dinky, one of the ads has them moving out exercise equipment; how is the car going to be "better" at keeping you in shape?

Honda is having a Dream Garage Sales Event, so I guess "garage" is the theme this year. Not to mention that Hyundai and Honda are similar enough to confuse people. They should complain to their ad agencies.

[theatremouse]

17 hours ago, Moose135 said:

their tag line is "Out with the old, in with the better."  Aside from the faint praise of calling their car "better" than a garage full of crap, they can't even get the phrase right - it's "Out with the old, in with the new." What the hell is wrong with these people?  How do you not know how that is supposed to go?

I don't think they're unaware of the idiom. I think they're trying (but failing) to make the point that "don't just buy any new car, buy ours, because it's better" but do so without indicating how or why that is the case. They think they've put their own cute little spin on the turn of phrase, when they're actually just spouting nonsense.

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, ennui said:

Not to mention that Hyundai and Honda are similar enough to confuse people. They should complain to their ad agencies.

That's what happens when you make your logo the first letter of your name; one has their "H" in italics but who remembers which if they don't own one pf them?. They must use the same agency that once talked NBC into switching from the peacock to an "N".

[ennui]

Btw, I learned today that the singing disembodied heads in Honda Clarity commercial are supposed to be hydrogen atoms. It's a good thing that atoms are small and can't be heard in real life because all that singing and mugging would get on my nerves.

[ivygirl]

So OfferUp is yet another app where you can sell things locally. But for the ads, they've decided to position their app as for young couples who move in together and want to make friends in their neighborhood. All while buying and selling stuff.

I can hear the conversations -- "hey, milennials love apps! They probably met their SO's via an app. So let's sell them our app with the angle that you can sell and buy stuff locally and make 'OfferUp friends.'" "Genius!"

I wonder about the genesis of this "OfferUp friend" business. Are these supposed to be positioned against the people selling stuff on Facebook Marketplace (where your current friends are)? Is it to counteract the sometimes-shady feel of Craigslist--like, "OfferUp people aren't creepers and won't stalk you"? 

Maybe I'm just old but if I were to dump my random stuff online, the tipping point wouldn't be "make friends as you sell your crap."  I know people who have made friends through their Etsy businesses, but that's a little different imo.

[Silver Raven]

"Caesar on a Caesar salad" in the Geico ad sounds just like Reverend Jim from "Taxi".  Is that what they were going for?

[mattie0808]

On 3/12/2017 at 4:02 PM, janie jones said:

That it still smells like it was just washed weeks after it was washed.  I think smelling like "her" is smelling like her detergent.

That's...weird. But I've never really understood that commercial. Him wailing, "How's a guy supposed to move on?!" Um. If it smells freshly washed or like Gain detergent, should be pretty easy to do so, no? I've never considered the idea that I or anyone I know would smell like laundry detergent -- if anything, that would get rid of most personal smells (like perfume/cologne, lotion, deodorant, etc.)?

[janie jones]

But when you're near them, you'll smell the smell of their laundry detergent on their clothes.  (I'm not saying it isn't dumb.)

[arejay]

Sorry.

Edited April 6, 2017 by arejay
because I didn't read far enough back.

[Gam2]

I hate that commercial and the guy who yells "How am I supposed to move ONNNNNN!" Annoying as hell.

[Silver Raven]

4 minutes ago, Gam2 said:

I hate that commercial and the guy who yells "How am I supposed to move ONNNNNN!" Annoying as hell.

He's playing the character he plays on "Modern Family."

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎3‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 5:21 PM, Prevailing Wind said:

I got a chip, called my insurer (Progressive at the time) and by Saturday, SafeLite had sent me an email with a picture of the dude they were sending out. He came out, fixed the windshield & went on his merry way and I paid nothing. I wonder what Liberty Mutual could do with that?

"How do they expect me to drive with 3/4 of a windshield?".

 

Why is the guy who doesn't like Burger King's chicken sandwiches surprised to discoverer the sandwich he likes came from BK when he's sitting in a BK?

[frenchtoast]

10 hours ago, Ubiquitous said:

Why is the guy who doesn't like Burger King's chicken sandwiches surprised to discoverer the sandwich he likes came from BK when he's sitting in a BK?

Have you been listening in at my house? Sadly, we've discussed that issue length. "Even if he was brought in blindfolded, it still smells like BK." 

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎3‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 4:17 PM, Silver Raven said:

Carl's Jr./Hardee's has a new ad out talking about how they're changing their ads to get rid of the bikini babes image.

 

Is Junior old enough for them to have been doing those bikini babes ads? They've been doing them for more than ten years, haven't they?

[Jamoche]

https://consumerist.com/2017/04/12/this-burger-king-ad-forces-your-google-home-device-to-tell-you-about-whoppers/

One step closer to people giving up on their Google Home - BK has an ad that tells Google Home to tell you about burgers. As opposed to all the times ads did so accidentally.

(I actually like my home automation. Because it's automated. Lights come on when I get home, go off when the room's empty, I don't have to tell Siri anything.)

[Silver Raven]

The Burger King Google Home ad was reciting the Whopper's ingredients from its Wikipedia page.  So people were going to the Wikipedia page and editing it to add ingredients such as toenails.  The page has since been locked down, and Google has modified the Google Home so that it will no longer respond to the ad.

http://gizmodo.com/burger-kings-dystopian-new-ad-campaign-is-already-a-cya-1794261931

[Sandman87]

On Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 6:20 PM, Ubiquitous said:

Why is the guy who doesn't like Burger King's chicken sandwiches surprised to discoverer the sandwich he likes came from BK when he's sitting in a BK?

Because BK's ideal customer has the IQ of dryer lint.

[ebk57]

On 4/12/2017 at 5:56 PM, Silver Raven said:

The Burger King Google Home ad was reciting the Whopper's ingredients from its Wikipedia page.  So people were going to the Wikipedia page and editing it to add ingredients such as toenails.  The page has since been locked down, and Google has modified the Google Home so that it will no longer respond to the ad.

http://gizmodo.com/burger-kings-dystopian-new-ad-campaign-is-already-a-cya-1794261931

This made me laugh so hard I couldn't even read it to Mr ebk when he asked me why I was laughing so hard.

[Brattinella]

6 minutes ago, ebk57 said:

This made me laugh so hard I couldn't even read it to Mr ebk when he asked me why I was laughing so hard.

Same here.  I got to the word "toenails" and I was just snorting!

[ebk57]

1 minute ago, Brattinella said:

Same here.  I got to the word "toenails" and I was just snorting!

That is exactly the word I couldn't get through!  I tried to read that sentence at least 6 times to him and couldn't say "toenail" - I just laughed.  He thinks I'm nutz.  He may be right.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

So there is a Stella Artois ad that ran frequently this past weekend and it begins with someone counting in French---un, deux, trois...but I swear, I don't hear "trois" I hear, "twat." Every. Single. Time.  I can't be the only one.

[mojoween]

Putting aside the fact that "the place where Coke tastes so good" is actually an imaginary place because Coke is sewage, am I supposed to know exactly which place they are talking about?  Or do I just wander around to random restaurants asking if they are selling Coke for a buck?