Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Silver Raven]

13 hours ago, riley702 said:

I hate the one who doesn't know the difference between nationality and ethnicity. "People would always ask me what my nationality is and I would always say hispanic..." Gah! 

I really wonder who these people were wherever she was traveling that would ask such a stupid and invasive question.

[Brattinella]

Years ago, that used to be a common enough question.

[Silver Raven]

5 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

Years ago, that used to be a common enough question.

How many years ago?  I traveled in several countries in Europe in the 70s and nobody ever asked me what nationality I was.

[Brattinella]

20 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

How many years ago?  I traveled in several countries in Europe in the 70s and nobody ever asked me what nationality I was.

Maybe it was only in the United States.

[Silver Raven]

2 hours ago, Brattinella said:

Maybe it was only in the United States.

People would walk up to total strangers and ask them what ethnicity they were?

Edited October 4, 2017 by Silver Raven

[Brattinella]

In school.  Kids would ask other kids what nationality they were.  It wasn't odd at all.

[chessiegal]

Considering we are almost completely a country of immigrants, seems like a natural question. I hear people talking about what countries their ancestors came from all the time. I belong to a social club that has a genealogy interest group that is very popular with members.

[bilgistic]

I could be wrong, but I don't think it's rude to ask what one's ethnicity is if one is genuinely interested. But to say, "What ARE you??" is very rude and not usually because one wants to start a dialogue about one's heritage. That's just being obnoxious and usually racist. People assume my dark-haired, brown-eyed, olive-skinned niece is "Hispanic" when she is in fact mixed-race black and white. She's happy to discuss it if people ask her respectfully.

[Jamoche]

Not so much a head scratch as a ROFL: "ask your healthcare provider to get tested for Hep C". Now, maybe I might want to "ask them for a test", or be told to "get tested. Ask them!" But that's not what it says. I think my healthcare provider can manage their own healthcare without my input :D

[Annber03]

Ahahaha, nice catch :D! Yeah, that's some awkward phrasing right there...

[janie jones]

I agree that they should rephrase it, but I bet they were thinking "ask your doctor (in order) to get tested..."

[Silver Raven]

That's up there with "Report if you're allergic to your doctor."

[Jamoche]

56 minutes ago, janie jones said:

I agree that they should rephrase it, but I bet they were thinking "ask your doctor (in order) to get tested..."

Oh, sure. But this is why it's a shame that copy editors are a dying breed. It was text on the screen, too, so it's not like they had to cut any words for time.

[Sandman87]

38 minutes ago, Silver Raven said:

That's up there with "Report if you're allergic to your doctor."

"People with competent legal representation should not take Lausutephile™."

[bilgistic]

21 minutes ago, Jamoche said:

Oh, sure. But this is why it's a shame that copy editors are a dying breed. It was text on the screen, too, so it's not like they had to cut any words for time.

Editing isn't necessary, don't you know? Just ask my former boss. That's one reason of many why he's my former boss.

[proserpina65]

On ‎09‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 3:25 PM, bilgistic said:

Against my better instincts, I just watched that commercial. Good lord!! Halo Top Ice Cream is peeeepuuuulllll!!!!!!

Maybe that's why it tastes so bad.

[proserpina65]

On ‎10‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 10:09 AM, amass said:

They teach civics in 7th grade. Whether everyone learns and retains it is another story....

I had civics in 9th grade.  Still remember more from Schoolhouse Rock, though.

[mmecorday]

Quote

That's up there with "Report if you're allergic to your doctor."

Talk to your doctor about your medical history because your doctor probably doesn't keep good records.

[friendperidot]

Quote

Talk to your doctor about your medical history because your doctor probably doesn't keep good records.

Unfortunately, I do have to remind them, it's not that things are not in the records, it just there's so much and they have so many patients, they don't always review. I'm allergic to a lot of things with cortisone, but not all. It's miserable having ear drops that cause a rash inside your ear. There was one that I did ok with and the doctor had to go back through all my medications lists and we had discuss them until we found that one again.

Edited October 7, 2017 by friendperidot
spelling is important

[Prevailing Wind]

I used to keep a spreadsheet of all the drugs I was prescribed, for what, and my perpetual adverse reactions. Now I just refuse any pain meds or muscle relaxants the orthopedist wants to give me.  (But I *do* take my diabetes oral meds - took a while to get used to them & not have side effects.) If ibuprofen can't handle the pain, I'll need to be knocked out for days on morphine. No, thanks.

[little hermit]

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 8:20 AM, Haleth said:

For all the times that commercial has been linked here I have never clicked on it and I never will.  Just the still pic gives me the willies.

It makes me think of Soylent Green. That movie was so disturbing; whenever something triggers the memory of it makes me want to puke!

[little hermit]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 3:25 AM, topanga said:

I just watched a 23 and Me ad with a racially ambiguous-looking woman, and the commercial shows different international scenes along with captions stating that she's 46% West African, 12% Middle Eastern and 3% Scandinavian. Okay. What's the other 39%? If it's European, say European, dammit! Please don't list percentages for me if they don't add up to 100.  Gah! 

I wonder who can get access to your DNA and for what nefarious purposes. I briefly saw something about that on the news but didn't catch the whole story.

[halopub]

On 10/4/2017 at 10:09 AM, amass said:

They teach civics in 7th grade. Whether everyone learns and retains it is another story....

I'm much younger than Livie and I have no problem believing that the difference between nationality and ethnicity wasn't taught during her school days. Maybe not even until college. My US Social Studies class in 8th grade did a decent job of covering the superficial basics per my state's standards, but the perspective didn't exactly allow for critical examination of different immigrant experiences. It was all - America's a wonderful melting pot and that's all you need to know. Ethnicity as a concept never got mentioned until discussions of America's dark treatment of minorities in AP American History.

In Livie's case, she professes to be a frequent traveler, though and one would think she has known the difference for decades - if only because she would have had to fill out arrival cards on planes.

 

On 10/4/2017 at 1:10 AM, riley702 said:

I hate the one who doesn't know the difference between nationality and ethnicity. "People would always ask me what my nationality is and I would always say hispanic..." Gah! 

Interestingly, Ancestry is much more careful about this in their blog post about the commercial. Clearly they know the difference - so why couldn't they correct Livie before releasing the commercial? Why can't they ADR her line now and cut a new version of the ad? Discovering one's ethnic history is their test's premise, after all.

Plus the story is actually more interesting that the commercial suggests. Livie had a great-great-great-grandmother who was Saudi Arabian and decided it would be easier to settle in Mexico than the States.

[Rachel81]

On 10/5/2017 at 8:09 PM, Silver Raven said:

That's up there with "Report if you're allergic to your doctor."

"Do not take [drug] if you are allergic to [drug] or any of its ingredients."

That one always upsets me! I'm sure they have to say such stupid things for liability reasons because people are appallingly stupid. But as someone who was sick as a dog for a week before spending 3 nights in the hospital for a drug allergy, I really question why this needs to be said! Not only do I avoid that drug, I avoid the whole family, and anything related to it because why on earth would anyone willingly/knowingly put themselves through that!

[BookWitch]

The Subaru ad where the woman keeps bringing her dog around the boyfriend and the dog doesn't like him. She seems oblivious to the whole thing while Butch growls everytime he sees him.  At the end, the boyfriend puts a coat around her and Butch seems ok with it. You here stories of how animals can sense evil and they end up being right! He could be a pervert! Butch knows!

[janie jones]

14 hours ago, BookWitch said:

The Subaru ad where the woman keeps bringing her dog around the boyfriend and the dog doesn't like him. She seems oblivious to the whole thing while Butch growls everytime he sees him.  At the end, the boyfriend puts a coat around her and Butch seems ok with it. You here stories of how animals can sense evil and they end up being right! He could be a pervert! Butch knows!

She seems to think it's funny!  Butch is sitting in the front seat growling at the guy, and she just sits there with a shit-eating grin on her face. 

But the part that really irritates me in the commercial is at the end, after he puts the jacket across her shoulders, then he's sitting next to her and pulling the jacket tight.  Are her goddamn arms broken?  Why can't she adjust her own jacket?  I used to think that  it was kind of patronizing of the guy that he feels he needs to swaddle her, but in light of how she lets Butch treat him, I think she probably told him to adjust the jacket.

I don't think Butch is sensing evil.  I think Butch and the woman are evil themselves.

Oh, also, his line about how Butch is an old soul that hates his guts is not funny.  I hate that she laughs at it.

Edited October 8, 2017 by janie jones

[theatremouse]

I'm really glad Gal Godot's SNL is over because all of last week every time the promo came on it sounded like the announcer was saying "Galaga Duck" would be on SNL and every time I did a double take. Enunciate, bro.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 10/3/2017 at 3:57 PM, peacheslatour said:

What drives me nuts is when they say stuff like "Product X has half the calories, more protein, less salt, etc. Half the calories of WHAT?  More protein than WHAT?

"Six is greater than one."

Sorry.

[Sandman87]

On 10/7/2017 at 5:59 PM, BookWitch said:

You here stories of how animals can sense evil and they end up being right! He could be a pervert! Butch knows!

Butch doesn't know; Butch is jealous. Dogs and cats do that.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 10/6/2017 at 4:05 PM, mmecorday said:

Talk to your doctor about your medical history because your doctor probably doesn't keep good records.

Some people go to multiple doctors so that they can get more drugs; none of those doctors would have a complete history.

On 10/4/2017 at 1:10 AM, riley702 said:

I hate the one who doesn't know the difference between nationality and ethnicity. "People would always ask me what my nationality is and I would always say hispanic..." Gah!

Until recently, the government considered hispanic to be a race.

On 10/9/2017 at 11:53 AM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

"Six is greater than one."

Unless you're playing golf; then one is really great, and six not so much.

[Sandman87]

On 10/9/2017 at 8:53 AM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

"Six is greater than one."

Unless you're watching The Prisoner, where Six is One.

[CoderLady]

6 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

Some people go to multiple doctors so that they can get more drugs; none of those doctors would have a complete history.

When you use the same insurance for all your prescriptions regardless of how many doctors you visit the insurance company tracks what you're getting. I absolutely positively had to pick up a prescription the day before a surgery and had to get it at a different pharmacy than the one I always went to because the regular one was out of it. It got flagged by my insurance as problematic because of another prescription I regularly filled at my usual pharmacy. I was mildly freaked out that they knew about the two drugs but explained to the pharmacist that the surgeon had had me stop taking the other drug two weeks before the surgery.

I suppose if someone wanted to pay full price for drugs they could get around this, but nearly all that stuff is expensive.

[Jamoche]

7 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Unless you're watching The Prisoner, where Six is One.

*Points in vague direction of avatar* :)

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 0:35 AM, WritinMan said:

I hate this commercial for Samsung:

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wSO_/samsung-galaxy-note8-i-love-you

Tries to be cute but just reinforces the idea of how so many people don't actually talk as much anymore. And the overly dramatic music at the end is terrible.

Am I the only one who thinks she's drawing a big blue penis on his picture at the beginning of that one scene?

 

On ‎10‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 10:09 AM, amass said:

They teach civics in 7th grade. Whether everyone learns and retains it is another story....

I took civics in 7th grade but remember hearing it was no longer taught in public school, explaining a lot to me.

[Sandman87]

23 hours ago, Jamoche said:

*Points in vague direction of avatar* :)

You're a river in Thailand?

[Jamoche]

3 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

You're a river in Thailand?

Computer joke. NaN is shorthand for Not A Number - an undefined result of a math operation.

[Sandman87]

I know, but I couldn't resist.

[Silver Raven]

Six Flags in Northern California is running ads for their Halloween scary times with a line about "over seven spooky rides".  So, eight, then?

[LoneHaranguer]

13 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

Six Flags in Northern California is running ads for their Halloween scary times with a line about "over seven spooky rides".  So, eight, then?

I expect that they'll dress up at least one or two more than that so there'll still be "over seven" for a customer if something needs to be shut down. That means you could see nine or ten "spooky" rides if everything's working when you visit, but they can't promise that.

Edited October 13, 2017 by LoneHaranguer

[smittykins]

“Order your kid now at ancestryDNA.com”

???

Oh, your KIT...

[Sandman87]

9 hours ago, smittykins said:

“Order your kid now at ancestryDNA.com”

I've always wanted to get some clones of my ancestors...

[Cobalt Stargazer]

WTF does "Feed your phenomenal" even mean?

[xaxat]

It's a really well done ad, so I feel kind of bad trashing it, but

"Why don't you and the kids move into our spectacular country manor? We've got plenty of room and we really don't want to move into a ground floor condo in the noisy city. We can even get ponies for the kids."

[CoderLady]

2 hours ago, xaxat said:

It's a really well done ad, so I feel kind of bad trashing it, but

"Why don't you and the kids move into our spectacular country manor? We've got plenty of room and we really don't want to move into a ground floor condo in the noisy city. We can even get ponies for the kids."

Agree 100%. The grown kids must have strong Emotional Blackmail-Fu to be able to get their parents to give up all that lovely green, peaceful space to live in the big city as unpaid child care for their grandkids, which is what seems to be the point of it all. I hope they kept the country property -- they may need it.

[Maverick]

 In the birth control commercials where the women have reactions to rival a character in an SNL skit there's  head scratcher.  One of the women meets her boyfriend for dinner, hugs him goes in like she's going to kiss him but then just rubs cheeks with him.  I mean, if you can't even kiss him hello do you really need to be worrying about birth control?  

[bilgistic]

I post only in this and the annoying commercial thread, so I decided to put this commercial here. I don't want to start following a new thread. Nyah.

I'll tie it into the theme of the thread by saying that when it started (I saw it online, and it didn't have the intro), I was, like, "What is this?" for a half second, and then I cracked up. Anyone who has seen even one of the cooking/baking videos this is mocking will "get it". Enjoy.

[Prevailing Wind]

OMG - there's a series of 'em!  I have NO idea what that's got to do with GEICO insurance, but, they certainly are weirdly funny! THANKS.

[peacheslatour]

I cannot parse this sentence from the AARP ad: "I am nowhere near ready to retire and AARP has been a tremendous resource for that."

[Jamoche]

48 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I cannot parse this sentence from the AARP ad: "I am nowhere near ready to retire and AARP has been a tremendous resource for that."

"I'm old enough to retire but don't have the funds"?  Or their usual "You don't have to be retired to join AARP, just over 50"? Probably the latter - the ads I see are pushing the "here are cool things like concerts you can get through AARP, we aren't just for retired people" line. 

[bilgistic]

I have the distinct memory of my mother writing across an AARP mailer "I AM ONLY 38!!!" and stuffing it in the postage-paid return envelope. I'm pretty sure she never got another piece of mail from them after that.