Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[stillhere1900]

Commercial with a little boy about 3/5 yrs old getting out of bed (Xmas morning ?) looking out his window and seeing an empty driveway. Then he's a few yrs older, them he's a teen and finally he's an adult and it's Xmas day and in the driveway is a brand new Mercedes.

Finally his Xmas wish has come true.

My "scratch my head" moment is why would a little kid care about a new car for Xmas ?

[Moose135]

29 minutes ago, stillhere1900 said:

My "scratch my head" moment is why would a little kid care about a new car for Xmas ?

I could see why a little kid would want a car, but not necessarily a Mercedes - some sports car or muscle car, maybe.

[Ubiquitous]

What's the deal with the sudden increase in commercials for the FarmersOnly dating site? I don't think north Florida is that rural!

[peacheslatour]

Something just hit me regarding the Cologuard commercial. "No need for time off...." because we should never take time off, ever. We must all be wage slaves for corporations until we drop dead in our traces.  Fuck that.

[Tunia]

3 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Something just hit me regarding the Cologuard commercial. "No need for time off...." because we should never take time off, ever. We must all be wage slaves for corporations until we drop dead in our traces.  Fuck that.

This reminds me of that Laser Spine Institute ad that implies you can toddle in for their back surgery and then just hop on back to work.  Mmmmm - no.  When you read the fine print, you find that they strongly recommend you book a hotel room near their facility in the event you need further care, and - oh, yeah - they require you bring along another person to assist you after the surgery.  So, it's time off work X 2, airline reservations X 2, hotel booking X 2, meals and ground transportation X 2, plus the cost of surgery.  Not quite as simple as advertised.

[crazycatlady58]

4 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Something just hit me regarding the Cologuard commercial. "No need for time off...." because we should never take time off, ever. We must all be wage slaves for corporations until we drop dead in our traces.  Fuck that.

I agree with you  but I prefer  not to spend  my time off sitting on the pot most of the day.

[smittykins]

Not to mention trying to get the prep solution down without puking.

[mojoween]

On 12/11/2017 at 8:14 AM, Haleth said:

I saw their commercial last night with helpers in bright colored vests guiding customers to the fastest check out lane.  Fat chance in my town.  They don't employ enough people to man the check outs let alone extra employees to guide customers to the fastest.

And at least around here, if they DID have Lane Helpers or whatever they are called, it wouldn’t matter because every single person is in line at the self-checkout, regardless how many items they have in their cart.

[friendperidot]

Quote

Where is this mythical WalMart? Where everyone is smiling and the checkout lanes aren't an exercise in hand to hand combat?

Quote

  ON 12/11/2017 AT 7:14 AM, HALETH SAID:

I saw their commercial last night with helpers in bright colored vests guiding customers to the fastest check out lane.  Fat chance in my town.  They don't employ enough people to man the check outs let alone extra employees to guide customers to the fastest.

And at least around here, if they DID have Lane Helpers or whatever they are called, it wouldn’t matter because every single person is in line at the self-checkout, regardless how many items they have in their cart.

I really hate that I have to say something good about Walmart. But it's about the only shopping I can do since I have been without a car for the past year. About 2 years ago, the one I go to now shut down for "remodeling", I figured it would never open again since it's on the poor side of town and they have had shootings and gang fights in there. But it did, and I have found since it reopened, the employees are so kind and helpful. I noticed it last summer, I was wondering around the Garden Shop, and I guess I had "that look", an employee stopped and asked me if he could help, I told him what I was looking for, he asked me to wait for a second while he finished what he was doing, then he took me to another department and helped me look, then he asked another employee in that department to help me. Since then, I've had several employees help find various things, move around a bunch of juice bottles to get to the flavor I wanted. Today, I watched another employee stop and help another customer. I've reported several acts of kindness and helpfulness to the manager. And when it's been really busy, they do have lane directors. The self checkout aren't so popular here and I never use them unless I have to, I'd rather have a human checker and I have several that I enjoy going thru their lanes. On the bad side, I lost my driver's license a couple of months ago and I rather suspect it was when I put something in lay away, it was that or down the drain in the washing machine and that would be a difficult feat for this particular washing machine. But on the good side of that, I went to the Tag Agency (don't ask, this is Oklahoma) got my license replaced in just a few minutes, it was less than a year until it needed renewal and it is now good until 2021 or 2022, (I'm too lazy to pull it out and look) and since I'm over "that age" it was a free replacement and renewal. I did call Walmart and checked in the store on the license when I discovered it was gone.

[Brattinella]

30 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

I went to the Tag Agency (don't ask, this is Oklahoma) got my license replaced in just a few minutes,

Gotta love Oklahoma!

[tanyak]

On 12/11/2017 at 8:14 AM, Haleth said:

I saw their commercial last night with helpers in bright colored vests guiding customers to the fastest check out lane.  Fat chance in my town.  They don't employ enough people to man the check outs let alone extra employees to guide customers to the fastest.

Ah, yes,. The Holiday Helpers. I once worked for an agency that does some work for Walmart including creating materials for these various campaigns. And the whole time, I would role my eyes and think how in actuality, that particular campaign was not going to run like it runs in the test stores in Arkansas. I also cannot think of a single time EVER at Walmart that someone pulled me out of line to go to a shorter line or asked me if I was ready to check out. That happens all the time at Target, though.

That said, I do agree with ChessieGirl on one point. The Walmart in my rural hometown in really the only game in town. The only other national big box is a Home Depot. That Walmart is always clean and you get through the line relatively quickly. I wouldn't say the associates are always smiling like fools like they are in the commercials, but they are pleasant enough. Certainly better than the four Walmarts and two or three Neighborhood Markets in my mid-size city (the NMs are better than the flagship stores). 

[Madding crowd]

On 12/11/2017 at 1:24 PM, Ubiquitous said:

What's the deal with the sudden increase in commercials for the FarmersOnly dating site? I don't think north Florida is that rural!

I'm in Chicago and we see them all the time. My college student son thinks they are a secret cult of some kind-lol!

On 12/11/2017 at 6:21 PM, Tunia said:

This reminds me of that Laser Spine Institute ad that implies you can toddle in for their back surgery and then just hop on back to work.  Mmmmm - no.  When you read the fine print, you find that they strongly recommend you book a hotel room near their facility in the event you need further care, and - oh, yeah - they require you bring along another person to assist you after the surgery.  So, it's time off work X 2, airline reservations X 2, hotel booking X 2, meals and ground transportation X 2, plus the cost of surgery.  Not quite as simple as advertised.

I have spine problems and looked into this. Not good reviews, very expensive and they only do a tiny part of the spine so you have t come back. I wouldn't go near the place.

[QuinnInND]

I've seen the holiday helpers at our Walmart. And I've actually been pulled out of line to go to a shorter one. Amazing, I know.  I do prefer Target for a lot of reasons, but I will go to Walmart if I need to. But I've never seen one that clean and organized during the holidays as seen in the ads. 

[Tunia]

11 minutes ago, Madding crowd said:

I have spine problems and looked into this. Not good reviews, very expensive and they only do a tiny part of the spine so you have t come back. I wouldn't go near the place.

Ditto.  Their reviews are scary.  During a discussion with my "orthopedic guy", I mentioned to him that I had a good laugh when looking up LSI.  He asked me what I learned from looking them up, and I told him I learned not to go there.  He smiled and shook my hand. :-)

[Brattinella]

Our small town has one supercenter walmart, and one united supermarket.  The Walmart is approx 3 blocks from our house, and never go across town to United.  I have been pulled out of line numerous times by an employee, the store is spotless, and the employees are always helpful and polite.  We are very lucky!

[bigskygirl]

On ‎12‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 3:04 PM, smittykins said:

Not to mention trying to get the prep solution down without puking.

The drugs they use to put you under are great. I had a colonoscopy and another test done at the same time. I had a bad reaction to the prep drink to the point of shaking and causing my sensitivity to the one thyroid med I am on to act up. It took me a while to shake off the lovely side effects from the prep drink, plus the fact I went into hypothyroid mode within a couple of weeks after the two tests. All I remember is the doctor and nurses talking in the room where the two tests were done, and the next thing I remember is slowly waking up and trying to figure out where I was at. *lol* I can understand why they want someone to take you home because I felt like a walking zombie.

Edited December 15, 2017 by bigskygirl

[crazycatlady58]

1 hour ago, bigskygirl said:

The drugs they use to put you under are great. I had a colonoscopy and another test done at the same time. I had a bad reaction to the prep drink to the point of shaking and causing my sensitivity to the one thyroid med I am on to act up. It took me a while to shake off the lovely side effects from the prep drink, plus the fact I went into hypothyroid mode within a couple of weeks after the two tests. All I remember is the doctor and nurses talking in the room where the two tests were done, and the next thing I remember is slowly waking up and trying to figure out where I was at. *lol* I can understand why they want someone to take you home because I felt like a walking zombie.

I will admit  the drugs are good. It was the same with me, laying  there looking  at the screen , next thing I know I'm in another  room. I wanted to ask them if I could  have some to take  home but I didn't  think that would  go over very well. I am not sure why some of  my words are underlined .  That was not my intention . 

[Prevailing Wind]

They don't look underlined to me.

Yeah, the drugs are good, but, really, they're supposed to metabolize quickly. I once had an upper GI scope done with those drugs and my elderly mom was along as my driver. I recovered so well, *I* drove us to Waffle House before we went home.  I did take a nap after that, but I wasn't a zombie.  And that, friends, is a miracle. I'm *very* susceptible to "may produce drowsiness" side effects - even Claritin, which isn't supposed to make you drowsy, puts me to sleep.

[bigskygirl]

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

They don't look underlined to me.

Yeah, the drugs are good, but, really, they're supposed to metabolize quickly. I once had an upper GI scope done with those drugs and my elderly mom was along as my driver. I recovered so well, *I* drove us to Waffle House before we went home.  I did take a nap after that, but I wasn't a zombie.  And that, friends, is a miracle. I'm *very* susceptible to "may produce drowsiness" side effects - even Claritin, which isn't supposed to make you drowsy, puts me to sleep.

My husband was the same way. He probably could have drove himself home with no problems, and the nasty drink stuff did not bother him at all

I cannot take over the counter pain medication like Tylenol because it can make me sleepy within half a hour. I also have severe sleep apnea, but I have no clue if this is a part of it since I remember getting sleepy from Tylenol and Advil for years before being diagnosed with sleep apnea two years ago.

Edited December 15, 2017 by bigskygirl

[Ubiquitous]

17 hours ago, Annber03 said:

On the note of helpful organizations and volunteers, I keep seeing a commercial on ION where it starts off with a family happily celebrating the holidays in their house while "Auld Lang Syne" is playing in the background...and then it flashes out the window and across the street to a family tearfully standing outside watching their house burn as the firefighters arrive. The commercial's a reminder to help those who've been struggling this year because of all the natural disasters and whatnot, and it's a good message to send out, obviously. But the commercial's just so creepy and haunting. Powerful, but haunting. 

Every time I watch that ad, I wonder why the family across the street is totally oblivious to their neighbor's house burning down.

[proserpina65]

On ‎12‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 5:53 PM, Brattinella said:

Our small town has one supercenter walmart, and one united supermarket.  The Walmart is approx 3 blocks from our house, and never go across town to United.  I have been pulled out of line numerous times by an employee, the store is spotless, and the employees are always helpful and polite.  We are very lucky!

You guys are lucky.  There are two Walmarts in my small rural county.  While the person stationed at the self-checkout will direct customers to open spots, that's it.  No one is at the end of the lines, no one pulls customers out of one line to send them to another.  And unfortunately the closer Walmart just got renovated, and almost none of the employees know where anything is.

[Brattinella]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

You guys are lucky.  There are two Walmarts in my small rural county.  While the person stationed at the self-checkout will direct customers to open spots, that's it.  No one is at the end of the lines, no one pulls customers out of one line to send them to another.  And unfortunately the closer Walmart just got renovated, and almost none of the employees know where anything is.

I'm sorry.  I tried looking up "Walmart floor plans" for you, but there are none to be found.  Hopefully they will at least put up the signs over the aisles so you can find stuff.

[Sandman87]

On 12/9/2017 at 10:57 AM, bilgistic said:

It also had a huge rusted hole in the rear right floorboard through which one could see the road. My dad bolted in a slab of sheet metal. Problem solved!

That wasn't a rusted hole, that was there so the passengers could help brake the car in an emergency.

[Rachel81]

Speaking of Walmart, who decided that the song "It's Raining Men" was a wise choice? I'm so baffled that I can't finish any sentence I try to start about it.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ws_U/walmart-last-minute-gifts-song-by-the-weather-girls?autoplay=1

[Annber03]

I've wondered about that, too. Odd song pick, to say the very least. 

[Jaded]

Walmart has used quite a few songs that have seemed like weird choices  for their current crop of holiday commercials. My theory is they've been using songs that were popular when a lot of people who have kids now were young to get their attention. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Jaded

[Cobalt Stargazer]

22 minutes ago, Rachel81 said:

Speaking of Walmart, who decided that the song "It's Raining Men" was a wise choice? I'm so baffled that I can't finish any sentence I try to start about it.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ws_U/walmart-last-minute-gifts-song-by-the-weather-girls?autoplay=1

Yeah, that's right up there with High Voltage by Electric Six for milk.

[Annber03]

On the note of odd songs for commercials, there's that one ad out now for one of those floor cleaner roomba type things-if I recall rightly, it's a Samsung Powerbot,-that has some peppy '80s-esque song playing in the background. I don't know what the name of the song is (if it has one), or who does it, aside from the fact it's a woman singing. I just think the really bouncy song playing against images of this little machine cleaning floors is kind of weirdly hilarious. 

[Brattinella]

My favorite "odd music in a commercial" has to be Werewolves of London for.... Raisin Bran.

[mythoughtis]

On 12/11/2017 at 11:45 AM, stillhere1900 said:

Commercial with a little boy about 3/5 yrs old getting out of bed (Xmas morning ?) looking out his window and seeing an empty driveway. Then he's a few yrs older, them he's a teen and finally he's an adult and it's Xmas day and in the driveway is a brand new Mercedes.

Finally his Xmas wish has come true.

My "scratch my head" moment is why would a little kid care about a new car for Xmas ?

My question is how is one spouse getting a car loan without the other one finding out? And if it happened, wouldn’t spouse be a little upset about the extra debt without discussion? 

[Sandman87]

14 minutes ago, mythoughtis said:

My question is how is one spouse getting a car loan without the other one finding out?

Maybe they're wealthy enough not to need a loan?

[mythoughtis]

8 minutes ago, Sandman87 said:

Maybe they're wealthy enough not to need a loan?

Pretty sure the majority of new cars are sold to people who get a loan somewhere, even if not thru the dealership financing  person. Commercials are geared toward the masses, not the few.  

[Prevailing Wind]

11 hours ago, Rachel81 said:

Speaking of Walmart, who decided that the song "It's Raining Men" was a wise choice? I'm so baffled that I can't finish any sentence I try to start about it.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ws_U/walmart-last-minute-gifts-song-by-the-weather-girls?autoplay=1

Either it's because they think only men do last-minute shopping online or somebody likes Paul Shaffer & wants him to get royalties for using the song.

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Either it's because they think only men do last-minute shopping online

I assume it was used because men in general, online or in store, are usually last minute shoppers, so it is "raining men" as they all come rushing in to the store.

Edited December 18, 2017 by Moose135

[proserpina65]

On ‎12‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 3:09 PM, Brattinella said:

I'm sorry.  I tried looking up "Walmart floor plans" for you, but there are none to be found.  Hopefully they will at least put up the signs over the aisles so you can find stuff.

They have general signs, but that's only so helpful when you're looking for something specific.  It was worse during the actual renovation - stuff changed locations and entire aisles were relocated over night.  I was there yesterday afternoon and it wasn't too bad, crowd-wise; no one directing customers to shorter lines, but the lines weren't that long.  Now, trying to find someone on the floor to answer a question was a whole 'nother matter.

[janie jones]

2 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Either it's because they think only men do last-minute shopping online or somebody likes Paul Shaffer & wants him to get royalties for using the song.

I'm not the person who originally brought up the song, but the reason I find it to be a bit strange of a song choice is that it strikes me as being a bit too vulgar for a TV commercial, what with the line about looking to get "absolutely soaking wet" -- don't anyone try to convince me that that line is strictly referring to precipitation falling from the sky.

[Jamoche]

16 minutes ago, janie jones said:

a bit too vulgar for a TV commercial

Ad agencies have never cared about that. If the most memorable line of the song suits their purpose, they don't care what's in the rest of it. "Raining Men" is positively tame compared to other songs I've seen mentioned here.

[Sandman87]

24 minutes ago, Jamoche said:

"Raining Men" is positively tame compared to other songs I've seen mentioned here.

Like "Lust for Life" in a cruise-line commercial, ferinstance?

[chessiegal]

18 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

My question is how is one spouse getting a car loan without the other one finding out? And if it happened, wouldn’t spouse be a little upset about the extra debt without discussion? 

Why would the spouse have to know about it? I've taken a car loan out on my own name - granted, spouse knew about it, but I could have done it without him knowing about it. I make the assumption on this commercial husband knew wife wanted a new car.

[ebk57]

12 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Either it's because they think only men do last-minute shopping online or somebody likes Paul Shaffer & wants him to get royalties for using the song.

I love Paul Shaffer, but I'm going with A.  Especially since the woman behind the counter seems so surprised, then happy that there is actually a woman in line at the end.

[bilgistic]

For the past decade or so, every time I've seen Pitbull on TV, I've wondered why Paul Shaffer was suddenly a big hit with the kids.

[bad things are bad]

"It's Raining Men"  reminds me of the Friends ep where Monica and Chandler go to Vegas to invite his dad to their wedding. It's a song in his drag revue "Viva Las Gaygas".

I can't imagine that I'm the only one who thinks of that, or that was the ad's intent. 

[janie jones]

On 12/18/2017 at 9:50 AM, Jamoche said:

Ad agencies have never cared about that. If the most memorable line of the song suits their purpose, they don't care what's in the rest of it. "Raining Men" is positively tame compared to other songs I've seen mentioned here.

I didn't say I thought they cared, I said I thought it was a strange choice. :)

[chessiegal]

What's the deal with WiFi on GM vehicles? Do you have to pay a monthly fee like in-home WiFi? And whatever happened to On Star? I use my phone for directions sometimes and have to use my cellular data to do it. I'm guessing the few times I do that would not be worth WiFi in my car,

[Moose135]

I don't know about GM, but my Dodge has a couple of similar options.  They have a version of OnStar (which GM still has), where you can call for help, directions, etc., but you can also get a WiFi hot spot subscription - it works through cellular signal to the vehicle, then to your device.  I looked in to that a couple of years ago when I was taking a long road trip and wanted to be able to get internet on my iPad, but for the price and signal, I decided to just use my iPhone.

[knitorpurl]

For a few years I worked at a Harry and David shop (yes, the one with the pears) and each Christmas we would watch, amused, from about Dec 22-24 as the men would come pouring in. It was as if they just realized Christmas was actually happening. So that commercial cracks me up.

But to the point about the song choice I think in the mind of the agencies as long as they don't at the questionable part of a song then they can act as if it doesn't exist.

[janie jones]

9 hours ago, knitorpurl said:

For a few years I worked at a Harry and David shop (yes, the one with the pears) and each Christmas we would watch, amused, from about Dec 22-24 as the men would come pouring in. It was as if they just realized Christmas was actually happening. So that commercial cracks me up.

I had a customer last week for whom I offered to order an item that we didn't have in stock.  "...Unless you need it right away," I said.  He said that 3-5 business days was fine for shipping because he was just trying to do some "early Christmas shopping."  WTF?  If a week and a half before Christmas is "early," then what does he call shopping in October?

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, janie jones said:

If a week and a half before Christmas is "early," then what does he call shopping in October?

Who is thinking about Christmas shopping in October?  No guy I ever knew.

[peacheslatour]

8 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Who is thinking about Christmas shopping in October?  No guy I ever knew.

My DH starts in January, no lie. He's just that crazy about Christmas. First he hits the after Christmas sales (we got our artificial tree for half price plus twenty percent in store discount), he then continues shopping catalogs by having me circle stuff I like. He personally writes cards to about one hundred of his clients, he does this in July while watching the wretched Hallmark Christmas in July hogwash and on it goes until now when he just kicks back and relaxes. He's crazy, I know.

Edited December 20, 2017 by peacheslatour

[janie jones]

19 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Who is thinking about Christmas shopping in October?  No guy I ever knew.

Probably anyone who happens to step foot into a store with pre-Black Friday sales and Christmas merchandise.  Whether they are actually doing the shopping is another matter.