Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[janie jones]

"Go back to your room, Susan Lucci."

[docmatt]

The Schick Hydro Silk has incredible tits!  You know, for a razor.

[peacheslatour]

Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to have that klutzy moron Jessica Simpson acting like a klutzy moron and then putting her behind the wheel of a two ton death machine?

[Gam2]

I've watched a commercial for AllState several times. Mom and Dad are in bed, teenage son comes in to tell them about his incredibly minor accident, they have accident forgiveness insurance, etc. Mom says no car for 4 weeks and then he says something that I cannot understand to save my life. Can anyone understand what this kid is saying? Otherwise, I think it's a cute commercial.

[Brattinella]

6 minutes ago, Gam2 said:

I've watched a commercial for AllState several times. Mom and Dad are in bed, teenage son comes in to tell them about his incredibly minor accident, they have accident forgiveness insurance, etc. Mom says no car for 4 weeks and then he says something that I cannot understand to save my life. Can anyone understand what this kid is saying? Otherwise, I think it's a cute commercial.

I've only seen this ad once, and IIRC he says something like "That's fair".  Feel free to correct me, all!

[Haleth]

Yeah, it's something like "okyupgoodnight."  Funny commercial.

(edited to get it correct)

Edited May 15, 2017 by Haleth

[Gam2]

Thank you!

[LoneHaranguer]

On 5/13/2017 at 5:46 PM, peacheslatour said:

Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to have that klutzy moron Jessica Simpson acting like a klutzy moron and then putting her behind the wheel of a two ton death machine?

Unless they're about to reveal that their vehicles come equipped with all those new driver-assist features like auto-braking and lane warnings, I don't see the point either.

[meep.meep]

On 5/10/2017 at 8:15 PM, mojoween said:

Ok so I don't really need a full-on anatomy lesson, but I am curious anyways.

While I can kinda sorta understand that if you have a malodorous waft going on down there and you're doing yoga, Summer's Eve might help if you're into that sort of thing.

But what do thongs and skinny jeans have to do with the equation?

Because skinny jeans are pure evil?

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 10:18 PM, bilgistic said:

Anthropomorphized child-sized teddy bears are a no go for me. I don't care if they're shilling cakes "healthy treats". That is nightmare fuel akin to the clown in Poltergeist.

That's the reaction I had the first time I saw the Snuggles spokesbear.

On ‎5‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 6:23 PM, ennui said:

Hand held air compressor: "With the Air Hawk, flat balls are no longer a problem." I'm not normally 12, but that caught my attention.

Yeah, I wondered about that, then thought about how super beta prostate would have prevented that.

On ‎5‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 0:57 AM, Sandman87 said:

The point of that (for those who don't already know) is that the old fashioned treatment for a black eye is to use a steak as a cold compress to reduce the swelling. Stallone is basically saying "Here, use this for your eye instead of grilling it", and Alvarez's response is essentially "I'll suck up the pain and eat the steak instead. Because I'm bold."

Incidentally, this makes Stallone an idiot, because getting blood and bacteria from uncooked beef in your eye is a really bad idea.

Yeah, I remember seeing that as a home remedy but fail to see how that is bold or grilling it is even bolder.

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 5:46 PM, peacheslatour said:

Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to have that klutzy moron Jessica Simpson acting like a klutzy moron and then putting her behind the wheel of a two ton death machine?

Is that who that was? I thought it was Heidi Klume!

[peacheslatour]

Quote

Is that who that was? I thought it was Heidi Klume!

Lol! Heidi Klum is German, I doubt she has a southern accent.

[friendperidot]

Quote

Hand held air compressor: "With the Air Hawk, flat balls are no longer a problem." I'm not normally 12, but that caught my attention.

Yeah, I wondered about that, then thought about how super beta prostate would have prevented that.

If not super beta prostate, there's some new testosterone ads with a guy with a really deep voice shilling, I don't know the name, but he keeps talking about that men today have a lower testosterone rate than their fathers and grandfathers and how it needs to be changed. I don't really give a whit, but the ads are obnoxious.

[Sandman87]

I wasn't really paying attention during a commercial break just now, and heard someone on my TV announcing the Denny's Bacon Hooter Burger. He was saying "gouda", but that's not what it sounds like. And advertising it as "classy" does not convince me that Denny's is the place to go for haute cuisine.

[Jamoche]

3 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

I wasn't really paying attention during a commercial break just now, and heard someone on my TV announcing the Denny's Bacon Hooter Burger. He was saying "gouda", but that's not what it sounds like. And advertising it as "classy" does not convince me that Denny's is the place to go for haute cuisine.

The closest Denny's gets to "classy" is when they're the only restaurant in town - they're "classiest" by default.

Coincidentally, that's the only time they're a decent restaurant - when they're the one all the truckers eat at. The larger the town, the worse the Denny's. I've seen one in the heart of a San Francisco Bay Area suburb - it has to be utter hell.

[Jaded]

24 minutes ago, Jamoche said:

The closest Denny's gets to "classy" is when they're the only restaurant in town - they're "classiest" by default.

Coincidentally, that's the only time they're a decent restaurant - when they're the one all the truckers eat at. The larger the town, the worse the Denny's. I've seen one in the heart of a San Francisco Bay Area suburb - it has to be utter hell.

There's a Denny's on the next exit off the interstate from where I am. It's attached to a truck stop and it's utterly disgusting. The Yelp reviews are horrendous too.

[Prevailing Wind]

But...but...you get a FREE meal on your birthday!  Last time I ate at a Denny's, it wasn't SO bad, but I had a bad cold & loved the giant glass of OJ.

[Jamoche]

14 hours ago, Jaded said:

There's a Denny's on the next exit off the interstate from where I am. It's attached to a truck stop and it's utterly disgusting. The Yelp reviews are horrendous too.

There's probably a "only town for 100 miles" factor in there as well :)

[Jaded]

There was another Denny's a town over but it was right across from the beach. During a hurricane over 10 yrs ago the storm surge and wind destroyed it. The truck stop one turned into Denny's about 5 or 6 yrs ago and was previously a Cookery Restaurant & Buffet.  The Denny's I went to growning up in AL closed a couple years ago. It was a former Sambo's. I don't think that place ever changed decor wise after that original conversion. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by Jaded

[Bastet]

On 5/13/2017 at 3:39 PM, Gam2 said:

I've watched a commercial for AllState several times. Mom and Dad are in bed, teenage son comes in to tell them about his incredibly minor accident, they have accident forgiveness insurance, etc. Mom says no car for 4 weeks and then he says something that I cannot understand to save my life. Can anyone understand what this kid is saying? Otherwise, I think it's a cute commercial.

"Okay, yep, goodnight."

[Jamoche]

Jeep ad echos XKCD strip: https://www.xkcd.com/1837/

It's not on ispot yet: we see people stuck in traffic, with their GPS giving them directions to the airport. Oops, missed the flight. So they decide to go on a road trip, but they don't turn the GPS off. "Recalculating... recalculating... recalculating..."

Seriously, real people would go for the death car.

[Ubiquitous]

I forgot the exact details of the commercial, but I saw one with a (male?) meter maid writing a parking ticket and then stopping before finishing it with a "never mind". That's not how it works!

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, Ubiquitous said:

I forgot the exact details of the commercial, but I saw one with a (male?) meter maid writing a parking ticket and then stopping before finishing it with a "never mind". That's not how it works!

That's not how any of this works. :)

[Sandman87]

Subaru is running an ad where a woman is riding in the car with her husband while gazing out the window and imagining that they're both riding in the empty boxcar of the train that's traveling alongside the road. I guess riding in a Subaru is bad enough to make you wish that you were riding like a hobo instead.

[ennui]

On 5/13/2017 at 3:39 PM, Gam2 said:

I've watched a commercial for AllState several times. Mom and Dad are in bed, teenage son comes in to tell them about his incredibly minor accident, they have accident forgiveness insurance, etc. Mom says no car for 4 weeks and then he says something that I cannot understand to save my life. Can anyone understand what this kid is saying? Otherwise, I think it's a cute commercial.

This ad bothers me. I have a feeling that in the real world, the parents would leap out of bed and yell at the kid for mucking about with their insurance without talking to them first. There are people in this world who would rather repair minor damage out of pocket than report it to the insurance company. Also, was another driver involved? Who was at fault? Part of me is skeptical about this accident forgiveness stuff. 

[Sandman87]

I suspect that Accident Forgiveness involves charging consumers a higher rate from the get-go, so that no increase is necessary after their first accident.

[OSM Mom]

So independence has a scent...um..ok??  Whatever. I'm obviously missing something. 

 

[Sandman87]

5 hours ago, OSM Mom said:

So independence has a scent...um..ok??

Based on the current "runaway bride" commercial, I thought maybe it smelled like Orbit gum.

[cynicat]

I'm not quite sure where to post this--what happened to the Trivago guy?

[Jaded]

16 minutes ago, cynicat said:

I'm not quite sure where to post this--what happened to the Trivago guy?

On his Facebook page when asked he's said "Others need fun too..." and "Just you wait...". He recorded a CD/Album so maybe he's wanting to do some other stuff along with the commercials? Ladies were having cows on his FB pages when he wasn't answering them. I think he runs a Trivago Guy Facebook page too. It seems like him doing it anyway. I know the one linked to below is his official fan page.

https://www.facebook.com/timwilliamsofficial/
 

[theatremouse]

There's this "hey look how great our internet speeds are" ad with a family basically doing parkour around their entire house. I've seen it dozens of times, but today for the first time I noticed that, while all the rooms/halls in that house appear to have wood (or possibly wood-look-laminate) floors, every room has a different colored floor. The first shot shows super pale floors, swings into a living-roomish looking space and it's darker like cherry, upstairs looks more like oak. Now I can't unsee it. I know not everyone has the same flooring everywhere, but this was so disparate it makes no sense.

[ennui]

Another thing about the AllState bedroom kid, he says he had a fender bender with a fast food lane. Bad driver!!  

[Silver Raven]

3 hours ago, ennui said:

Another thing about the AllState bedroom kid, he says he had a fender bender with a fast food lane. Bad driver!!  

an unreasonably narrow fast food lane.

[docmatt]

There's a Zillow commercial with a father and son, the mother has apparently recently died and the son keeps looking out the window to decide which star she is. They move to a new house closer to the grandparents and the son has a bedroom with a skylight where he can say goodnight to the star he has decided is his mother. It's actually very sweet. 

But how does something that heartbreaking sell anything?

[chessiegal]

21 minutes ago, docmatt said:

There's a Zillow commercial with a father and son, the mother has apparently recently died and the son keeps looking out the window to decide which star she is. They move to a new house closer to the grandparents and the son has a bedroom with a skylight where he can say goodnight to the star he has decided is his mother. It's actually very sweet. 

But how does something that heartbreaking sell anything?

Home is where your heart is. And Zillow can help find you that home.

[theatremouse]

I hate that commercial. Clearly the mother died recently, so the dad's immediate reaction is to pack up and move. And I mean, I get it, if they were far from the grandparents, they may need the support system and to be closer, but that kind of upheaval is probably horrible for the kid unless by some chance they previously moved frequently and he happened to already be used to not getting attached to his own house.

[Pickles]

The Ford Edge ad. The wife is on the phone telling the husband she misses him. She is on some sort of business trip miles away. The husband suddenly loads up the dog and various home items and it is road trip time! The wife opens the hotel room door after being away all day at work and there is the dog, a guitar, and the husband is hanging family pictures on the wall! What?? Who let them in the room? The desk clerk is just going to take your word that you are the husband and let you into the room? And the hotel is pet friendly? And who in the world is going to nail family pictures to the hotel wall?? Is that even possible?

[janie jones]

I feel the exact same way.

[ennui]

19 hours ago, theatremouse said:

Clearly the mother died recently, so the dad's immediate reaction is to pack up and move.

Maybe mom also worked, and without the second income, they couldn't afford to keep the house. It happens more than we like to think.

[theatremouse]

My beef has never been about the logistics (although if mom didn't have life insurance and did have a child, that's both parents' bad). My complaint is about the emotional upheaval for the child. Sometimes practical/neccessary? Sure. But the ad is clearly trying to tug at our heartstrings, not at our logic strings. So i quibble with their approach to my heartstrings. The company clearly thinks it's sweet. I do not.

[ennui]

One of the Geico closer look ads, with the pigeons. It made me laugh. "Fire at Will!" "Bye, Will!"

[xaxat]

https://ispot.tv/a/wduB

So this ad for Chipotle tells me to bring an appetite. OK, I get that part. But then it tells me to "bring money". Huh?

Did they think I was going to roll in and demand free food?

Or are they telling me to "bring cash" after they recently revealed that credit card data had been stolen from their stores.

(Does anyone know how to embed ispot.tv videos?)

[proserpina65]

On ‎05‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 0:48 AM, theatremouse said:

I hate that commercial. Clearly the mother died recently, so the dad's immediate reaction is to pack up and move. And I mean, I get it, if they were far from the grandparents, they may need the support system and to be closer, but that kind of upheaval is probably horrible for the kid unless by some chance they previously moved frequently and he happened to already be used to not getting attached to his own house.

Maybe they had to move for financial reasons?  Idk, just an idea.

[Sandman87]

What I get from the 5 Gum ads: "Chew our gum just before you do something stupid that you'll regret for the rest of your life."

[Silver Raven]

Er, wha? In her new Lazy Boy ad, Brooke Shields talks about the "dad chair" in her house, that kids could sit in till Dad came home and then it became his chair.  I didn't think Brooke had a Dad?  Her parents divorced when she was about four months old, and her mother raised her by herself, didn't she?

[ennui]

3 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

I didn't think Brooke had a Dad?

ok, n/m

Edited June 8, 2017 by ennui

[Silver Raven]

14 minutes ago, ennui said:

She's married to a Dad, though.

Yeah, but she's talking in the ad about when she was growing up.

[Aquarius]

1 hour ago, Silver Raven said:

Er, wha? In her new Lazy Boy ad, Brooke Shields talks about the "dad chair" in her house, that kids could sit in till Dad came home and then it became his chair.  I didn't think Brooke had a Dad?  Her parents divorced when she was about four months old, and her mother raised her by herself, didn't she?

I thought she said it was at her friend's house.  I always took it to mean "Dad" as their father.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Aquarius said:

I thought she said it was at her friend's house.  I always took it to mean "Dad" as their father.

That is what she said.

[Silver Raven]

Ha.  Somehow I missed that.

[Ubiquitous]

Supercuts has this ad with a young man getting a haircut before working on his "bucket list". Does that mean he's terminally ill? :-(