Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[funky-rat]

On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 5:55 PM, JacquelineAppleton said:

Indeed. Judith Barsi was her name. I have this strong feeling that the fact that Barsi was - and looked - Eastern European (both her parents were Hungarian) is why she hasn't stuck in the memory like blonde and blue eyed Heather O'Rourke.

She didn't have quite the accomplishments of O'Rourke.  Judith did some voice over, had a bunch of guest shots on some popular tv shows, and was in Jaws 3, but Heather was on Happy Days as a steady character, and 3 Poltergeist movies as the main character.  Judith did voice over in some popular movies, but it can be hard to make the connection on voice over actors because you don't see them personally.  What I found really sad was that it was a group of fans who did some long-term fundraising to get her a head stone.  :(

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎7‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 1:20 PM, Eliot said:

I still don't see how putting auto dealerships out of business is a good business strategy for an independent contractor whose livelihood depends on setting up shop in front of brick-and-mortar dealerships. Perhaps he will branch out to pizza joints.

But wasn't the car dealership flappy balloon guy working at ripping people off, which is why he was so distressed and bought a car from someone else before quitting and giving the crook the finger as he drove by?

 

There's a new ad for that beer Sylvester Stallone used to appear with featuring some guys at a cookout and I guess he cannot decide to which one to hand off his grill tongs. For some reason, I keep thinking he wants to stab one of the with that serrated sharp-looking part of the tongs.

[Eliot]

4 hours ago, Ubiquitous said:

But wasn't the car dealership flappy balloon guy working at ripping people off, which is why he was so distressed and bought a car from someone else before quitting and giving the crook the finger as he drove by?

He has a whole flappy balloon family to feed! Helium doesn’t grow on trees!

I don’t think he thought things through.

[meep.meep]

Well shouldn't he and the missus have thought of that before they had flappy balloon baby?  Is he going to expect the rest of us to provide him helium if he's too good to work at car dealerships?  The next thing you know, there'll be immigrant flappy balloon people coming in to take his job, because his scruples won't let him work.  And they'll not only bring a flappy balloon baby with them, but have another one as soon as they get here.   They'll have an American flappy balloon baby!  And our towns and strip malls will be overrun with flappy balloon people!

[QuinnInND]

https://youtu.be/6GznhT__PXs

We always call them this. 

[Brookside]

Can someone please tell me that I didn't just see an ad for KY jelly that ended with a large cactus being cut off at the base?

[Jamoche]

"leather on Willow" - we're in the Buffy Wishverse?

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Um, wow.
 

[supernatural666]

12 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Um, wow.
 

I guess it better he wore the box or bag thing instead of just wrapping it around him like a mummy,But still if these people are mistaking toilet paper for robes or bouncy castles maybe you should be worried about them.

[QuinnInND]

I love that ad, just for the look on the neighbors face. Perfect! 

[Eliot]

17 hours ago, QuinnInND said:

I love that ad, just for the look on the neighbors face. Perfect! 

That’s the same narrator Quilted Northern used for the Conductor Randy/Constable Bob masterpiece! I approve.

[Jacqs]

1980s era Australian child commercial actress Emily Leiding put up some of her old commercials on You Tube and some of therm are ripe for this thread: 

[Seelouis]

I don’t understand the Trivago ad where the driver is saying it’s hard to find some place for vacation that pleases everyone because his wife is dreaming of Hawaii, grandma likes the beach, and his kids want to be at the pool.  Aren’t there beaches and pools in Hawaii?  

Edited August 3, 2018 by Seelouis

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, Seelouis said:

Aren’t there beaches and pools in Hawaii?

The point is probably the need to find a hotel with a pool near a beach, versus something inland without a pool, but you ought to be able to do that with google maps.

[SoSueMe]

Okay, so I wasn't sure where to post this, here or annoying commercials. But then I realized I wasn't annoyed, just incredulous at first and then amused. I didn't think I really saw what I thought I saw at first, but yep, some executive type is stuffing his underwear with toilet paper :D

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/d1J8/dollar-shave-club-getting-ready-song-by-sammy-davis-jr

[QuinnInND]

On 8/3/2018 at 5:08 PM, SoSueMe said:

Okay, so I wasn't sure where to post this, here or annoying commercials. But then I realized I wasn't annoyed, just incredulous at first and then amused. I didn't think I really saw what I thought I saw at first, but yep, some executive type is stuffing his underwear with toilet paper :D

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/d1J8/dollar-shave-club-getting-ready-song-by-sammy-davis-jr

Wtf. That and the guy wiping his pits in the public restroom. Gag. 

[bilgistic]

The guying blowing a snot rocket makes me retch.

[Brattinella]

Okay, now I KNOW I'm not gonna click that link!

[Silver Raven]

I just saw a Life Alert ad that starts off with a warning on the screen and a narrator sonorously intoning, "The following is based on real life.  You may be offended." It then goes on to a reenactment of a woman who  has fallen and is crying out for help.  Why would that offend me?

[mmecorday]

I hate commercials that are made specifically to scare seniors out of their money. "If you don't have a Life Alert system, you will fall down the steps and no one will hear your cries for help! Mwah ha ha ha!" "The cost of an average funeral is 10 grand now!" "Your kids are going to put you in a home unless you get Bright Star care!"

[LoneHaranguer]

Why do the people in the Life Alert ads have to say where they've fallen (e.g. "I've fallen in the park...")? Doesn't the product have GPS?

[Prevailing Wind]

It's for the viewer (who can't tell it's a park) to let them know you're not housebound with that particular system. Because, y'know, old people don't know what parks look like.

[friendperidot]

The gym was never my favorite place and it has been nearly a million years since I've been in one, but do women really stand around drooling and hanging over some former football player who's working out or is this some male commercial writer's fantasy scenario?

There's an ad that runs mostly late at night on the cheap channels, both antenna and cable for some male enhancement product sold at GNC, stars a former football player and since I haven't watched football since the 70s, I have no clue who he is. But he's working out, the women are all standing around and drooling, even when they are with their husbands. Give me a freaking break! And I've been to strip clubs for women, there, it's perfectly fine and encouraged to openly stare and drool, but in a gym? Male writer fantasy. And the last time I went to a male strip show, all I could think was, "does your mother know what you do?" Somewhere I got to be too old for that stuff!

[Annber03]

I can't say I've ever stood around drooling over some football player, no. But then again, I don't follow sports and as such, have never crushed on any football players, be they famous or not, so...yeah :p. 

[Brattinella]

42 minutes ago, friendperidot said:

The gym was never my favorite place and it has been nearly a million years since I've been in one, but do women really stand around drooling and hanging over some former football player who's working out or is this some male commercial writer's fantasy scenario?

There's an ad that runs mostly late at night on the cheap channels, both antenna and cable for some male enhancement product sold at GNC, stars a former football player and since I haven't watched football since the 70s, I have no clue who he is. But he's working out, the women are all standing around and drooling, even when they are with their husbands. Give me a freaking break! And I've been to strip clubs for women, there, it's perfectly fine and encouraged to openly stare and drool, but in a gym? Male writer fantasy. And the last time I went to a male strip show, all I could think was, "does your mother know what you do?" Somewhere I got to be too old for that stuff!

I think I know the commercial you are referring to, and in my opinion, said football player is too portly to be drooling over.

[Bort]

It’s a baseball player. It’s Frank Thomas, he played for the White Sox. 

[Jacqs]

I don't know why kids do commercials. Compared to film and tv roles, the kids in commercials are treated like props during production.

[smittykins]

44 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

It’s a baseball player. It’s Frank Thomas, he played for the White Sox. 

I think it's interesting that he's shilling for a supplement that, if he were still playing,  would probably get him suspended. 

[Brattinella]

47 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

It’s a baseball player. It’s Frank Thomas, he played for the White Sox. 

Ah, thank you.  I had no idea which sport or team he belonged to.

[chessiegal]

24 minutes ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

I don't know why kids do commercials. Compared to film and tv roles, the kids in commercials are treated like props during production.

We had a neighbor whose son started out doing commercials, which led him to theater. His career took off and they moved to NYC, where last I saw he was in Broadway shows. Commercials were the start of his career.

[friendperidot]

Quote

It’s a baseball player. It’s Frank Thomas, he played for the White Sox. 

Football/baseball? What do I know? Obviously I didn't care that much or I might have looked it up. I just assumed football. And we all know what assume means.

[Rinaldo]

3 hours ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

I don't know why kids do commercials. Compared to film and tv roles, the kids in commercials are treated like props during production.

For the same reason adults do commercials -- they pay insanely well for the amount of time they take to do. 

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎8‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 11:46 AM, Blergh said:

I'll just say this annoys rather than irritates me: I know that Smartphones were completely anachronistic. However; if they were going to use them in an ad highlighting how convenient the Louisiana Purchase would have been with their ap, why did Capitol One make it appear that it was depicting the Continental Congress in 1775 rather than U. S. Capital Building in 1803?

I thought it was just me who felt that they were waiting for a call confirming the last guy had signed the Declaration of Independence, not the bank loan for the Louisiana Purchase had been approved.

18 hours ago, friendperidot said:

There's an ad that runs mostly late at night on the cheap channels, both antenna and cable for some male enhancement product sold at GNC, stars a former football player and since I haven't watched football since the 70s, I have no clue who he is. But he's working out, the women are all standing around and drooling, even when they are with their husbands. Give me a freaking break! And I've been to strip clubs for women, there, it's perfectly fine and encouraged to openly stare and drool, but in a gym? Male writer fantasy. And the last time I went to a male strip show, all I could think was, "does your mother know what you do?" Somewhere I got to be too old for that stuff!

If that's the ad I am thinking of, I think it's funny that that the women are more excited about him shilling supplements than being a former professional athlete.

[funky-rat]

1 hour ago, Ubiquitous said:

If that's the ad I am thinking of, I think it's funny that that the women are more excited about him shilling supplements than being a former professional athlete.

The blonde in that ad (who does most of the talking) reminds me of someone, and I can't put my finger on it, and that drives me as nuts as the ad does for it's stupidity.

[Red Bridey]

The Purple Mattress ad with the bearded guy so confused me at first.  Not the bearded guy, but the blond man being dropped on the mattress with the eggs.  For the longest time, I wondered why he was dressed like Prince Valiant or Prince Charming.  Come to realize it's the protective jumpsuit and the harness he's wearing that make the sleeves puff out and looks like a medieval bodkin.  Am I alone in this?  The previous Purple Mattress commercial with the girl has her costumed like Goldilocks, so I was trying to figure out the fairy tale connection.

[friendperidot]

I don't remember the earlier Purple Mattress ads, but the Goldilocks story is her trying out things, "oh, that's too hard" "oh that's too soft" "oh that's just right." So maybe the Purple Mattress is just right. Or it could be the Princess and the Pea where a bunch of mattresses stacked on top of each other with a pea at the bottom and she could feel the pea. 

[LoneHaranguer]

20 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

For the same reason adults do commercials -- they pay insanely well for the amount of time they take to do.

As well as the possibility it could lead to something bigger, like Sarah Michelle Gellar's Burger King ads.

[Jacqs]

8 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

As well as the possibility it could lead to something bigger, like Sarah Michelle Gellar's Burger King ads.

the "children are just props" rationale came from Ellen Hamilton Latzen (who was in Fatal Attraction and Christmas Vacation)'s mother. It's why she instructed Ellen's agent that Ellen wasn't to audition for commercials.

[proserpina65]

9 hours ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

the "children are just props" rationale came from Ellen Hamilton Latzen (who was in Fatal Attraction and Christmas Vacation)'s mother. It's why she instructed Ellen's agent that Ellen wasn't to audition for commercials.

Good for her, but it is a starting point in the business for a lot of child actors, so I can see why they would do it.

[Jacqs]

On 8/1/2018 at 5:26 AM, funky-rat said:

She didn't have quite the accomplishments of O'Rourke.  Judith did some voice over, had a bunch of guest shots on some popular tv shows, and was in Jaws 3, but Heather was on Happy Days as a steady character, and 3 Poltergeist movies as the main character.  Judith did voice over in some popular movies, but it can be hard to make the connection on voice over actors because you don't see them personally.  What I found really sad was that it was a group of fans who did some long-term fundraising to get her a head stone.  :(

@funky-rat Judith Barsi's TV Tropes page is here (and by the way what the double hockey sticks did Turner Classic Movies mean when they described Judith as "waif-like"? She's not Young Cosette from Les Mis)

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/JudithBarsi

[funky-rat]

27 minutes ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

@funky-rat Judith Barsi's TV Tropes page is here (and by the way what the double hockey sticks did Turner Classic Movies mean when they described Judith as "waif-like"? She's not Young Cosette from Les Mis)

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/JudithBarsi

She did work for sure, but was more voice over and commercials.  I wasn't downing her accomplishments at all.  I just think that Heather gets remembered more because she had a steady role on a popular TV show, and starred in 3 movies in a popular franchise.

[mmecorday]

OK, help out a gal who knows practically nothing about fantasy football leagues (or football for that matter.) There's a Duracell commercial with a guy who's all bummed out because his failing battery-powered mouse caused him to autodraft a kicker in the seventh round. Why is this such a bad thing? And why would it ruin every holiday for him?

[InDueTime]

Uh...Is she trying to dance on the minivan or trying to hump it? Cringy either way.

[Jamoche]

6 minutes ago, InDueTime said:

Uh...Is she trying to dance on the minivan or trying to hump it? Cringy either way.

I grew up with the 80s hair band videos she's - well, not parodying, because that involves talent. Hump it, definitely.

And that hood *warped* when she tried to climb it. If for some reason I felt compelled to climb on any part of my car, it would come to a dead stop when things started to warp.

[Tom Holmberg]

11 hours ago, InDueTime said:

Uh...Is she trying to dance on the minivan or trying to hump it? Cringy either way.

Something made me wish the automatic sliding door would cut her in half when she was hanging half in and half out.  Now THAT would be a commercial!

[Jacqs]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Something made me wish the automatic sliding door would cut her in half when she was hanging half in and half out.  Now THAT would be a commercial!

Didn't something like that happen in one of the Scream films?

[Brattinella]

1 hour ago, Tom Holmberg said:

Something made me wish the automatic sliding door would cut her in half when she was hanging half in and half out.  Now THAT would be a commercial!

Sick puppy.  I like it!

[peacheslatour]

14 minutes ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

Didn't something like that happen in one of the Scream films?

It did in one of the Final Destination movies.

[LoneHaranguer]

5 hours ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

Didn't something like that happen in one of the Scream films?

It did in the first Scream, but the door wasn't strong enough to actually cut the victim into two pieces.

[theatremouse]

23 hours ago, mmecorday said:

OK, help out a gal who knows practically nothing about fantasy football leagues (or football for that matter.) There's a Duracell commercial with a guy who's all bummed out because his failing battery-powered mouse caused him to autodraft a kicker in the seventh round. Why is this such a bad thing? And why would it ruin every holiday for him?

A kicker is a player every team needs to have, and one that sucks is bad, but it's a very specialized position that only comes into play at certain, specific (brief) parts of the game. I'm not super into fantasy but i thought part of how you win is basically...whatever your players did in their respective real games, you get credit for in your fake compilation team. Or possibly just...how the players do in do real life has certain overall values assigned? Basically it's unlikely a kicker's going to be valuable enough to make a giant impact on a fantasy team. Or something like that. It's kinda like if you were picking weapons in a videogame and you get up to 10 and you accidentally chose a spoon, which is a real option, and can be used, but, like, you probably wanted a sword there.