Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Ubiquitous]

On ‎8‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 11:24 PM, InDueTime said:

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

 

I assumed they were spoofing this musicvid:

[margol29]

Okay, there is a commercial for Seventh Generation Laundry soap. It is supposed to be all natural and made from plants. The lady hawking it at the end of the commercial says that it's a really big "dill". Now is she supposed to be saying "it's a really big deal" but can't pronounce it correctly or is she saying "dill" because it is made from plants? I just scratch my head every time I hear this.

[sempervivum]

The Audi ad involving a young woman who's being named 'most valuable employee' or something. She has a sort of bucket list of things she wants to accomplish, and has crossed out 'visit Machu Picchu' and 'become fluent in German' (?) and has now crossed out the last item 'work for my dream company' and written over it 'start my dream company'.  This ad has several variations, some of which omit the valuable employee award.  She walks out carrying her work stuff and is stared at with (apparent) awe/amazement by an oldish woman on a bus.

I dunno, she just looks kind of ungrateful or snotty, and all I can think is 'honey, you better get ready to downsize that Audi, because you're going to need all the capitol you can raise'. Also, key rule of job-quitting: don't burn bridges.

[Bort]

53 minutes ago, margol29 said:

Okay, there is a commercial for Seventh Generation Laundry soap. It is supposed to be all natural and made from plants. The lady hawking it at the end of the commercial says that it's a really big "dill". Now is she supposed to be saying "it's a really big deal" but can't pronounce it correctly or is she saying "dill" because it is made from plants? I just scratch my head every time I hear this.

If you notice, she's saying puns for her entire speech while she handles whatever vegetable applies to the pun. For instance, when she says "dill," she's holding pickles.

[Ubiquitous]

2 hours ago, margol29 said:

Okay, there is a commercial for Seventh Generation Laundry soap. It is supposed to be all natural and made from plants. The lady hawking it at the end of the commercial says that it's a really big "dill". Now is she supposed to be saying "it's a really big deal" but can't pronounce it correctly or is she saying "dill" because it is made from plants? I just scratch my head every time I hear this.

Didn't someone ask this last month? ha ha

[peacheslatour]

1 minute ago, Ubiquitous said:

Didn't someone ask this last month? ha ha

Yeah, that was me. I don't pay much attention to tv when I'm on the computer so I wasn't really listening. That line just kept jumping out at me, annoying as hell.

[Haleth]

20 hours ago, margol29 said:

The lady hawking it

Maya Rudolph.  She's kind of a big dill too.  (See what I did there?)

Edited August 16, 2018 by Haleth

[Brattinella]

4 hours ago, Haleth said:

Maya Rudolph.  She's kind of a big dill too.  (See what I did there?)

Yeah, she is one talented lady.

[Eliot]

Every time I see a Home Advisor or Angie’s List ad telling me how easy they make it to find “local pros,” I can’t help thinking that they’re trying to help me procure a hooker. 

Edited August 18, 2018 by Eliot

[MadMike]

Maybe I'm going to far, lol, but for fun.....   The recent "plug into the present .com" commercial for electric cars, makes use of the old jetson's theme and "car" noise to represent them.  But this bothered me, because the Jetsons vehicle WASN'T electric drive.  Just a muffled combustion engine, supposed to sound like it's in space.  In real outer space, there are actually no noises or any way for sound to travel..  The Jetsons vehicle it's also pictured with smoke puffs coming out of the muffler....

[peacheslatour]

17 hours ago, Eliot said:

Every time I see a Home Advisor or Angie’s List ad telling me how easy they make it to find “local pros,” I can’t help thinking that they’re trying to help me procure a hooker. 

Well, now I do too. ;-)

[Ubiquitous]

15 hours ago, MadMike said:

Maybe I'm going to far, lol, but for fun.....   The recent "plug into the present .com" commercial for electric cars, makes use of the old jetson's theme and "car" noise to represent them.  But this bothered me, because the Jetsons vehicle WASN'T electric drive.  Just a muffled combustion engine, supposed to sound like it's in space.  In real outer space, there are actually no noises or any way for sound to travel..  The Jetsons vehicle it's also pictured with smoke puffs coming out of the muffler....

I never thought their car ran on gasoline. I thought those little rings coming out were sonic waves or something.

 

The ad with the Salmon Sister confuses me because the song that plays makes me think they're going to play this one and it confuses me:

Edited August 18, 2018 by Ubiquitous

[peacheslatour]

I thought it ran on dilithium crystals.

[Brookside]

Lovesac.   What genius thought that was a good name for anything other then a condom?

[Silver Raven]

17 hours ago, MadMike said:

Maybe I'm going to far, lol, but for fun.....   The recent "plug into the present .com" commercial for electric cars, makes use of the old jetson's theme and "car" noise to represent them.  But this bothered me, because the Jetsons vehicle WASN'T electric drive.  Just a muffled combustion engine, supposed to sound like it's in space.  In real outer space, there are actually no noises or any way for sound to travel..  The Jetsons vehicle it's also pictured with smoke puffs coming out of the muffler....

It never occurred to me that their car flew in space.  I thought it was just a flying car.

[Prevailing Wind]

19 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

I thought it ran on dilithium crystals.

Is Scotty their mechanic? Because you know you can trust him when he says they're overloading and he canna do more.

[mattie0808]

On 8/13/2018 at 10:57 PM, 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?

 

On 8/14/2018 at 10:28 PM, theatremouse said:

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.

As someone who watches football and has played fantasy football (though not in a few years)...I agree this is what they were going for, but it still doesn’t make that much sense to me. The first time I saw it, I assumed he was saying “SECOND round,” which would indeed be bad enough to obsess over if you’re really into fantasy. But the seventh? You’ve got to pick a kicker at some point, and even if seventh is earlier than you wanted to, how is it so early that it’s bugging you throughout the holidays? Any other football fans/fantasy players agree?

 

(And this guy’s computer doesn’t have a touch-pad mouse at all? He couldn’t just jump on his phone rather than try to look for replacement batteries for his mouse?)

[Tom Holmberg]

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 6:02 PM, Brookside said:

What genius thought that was a good name for anything other then a condom?

Or jockstraps!

[LoneHaranguer]

On 8/18/2018 at 1:31 AM, MadMike said:

The recent "plug into the present .com" commercial for electric cars, makes use of the old jetson's theme and "car" noise to represent them.  But this bothered me, because the Jetsons vehicle WASN'T electric drive.

The thing that puzzles me about the ad is why they're zooming in on the dog when the song says "his boy Elroy".

[Brattinella]

On 8/19/2018 at 9:23 AM, mattie0808 said:

(And this guy’s computer doesn’t have a touch-pad mouse at all? He couldn’t just jump on his phone rather than try to look for replacement batteries for his mouse?)

I use a wireless mouse with my laptop, and have disabled all touch-pad functions.  It used to REALLY interfere with typing a post; I would reach a certain point and start typing in the middle of a previous word.  This works better for me.

[friendperidot]

Quote

The thing that puzzles me about the ad is why they're zooming in on the dog when the song says "his boy Elroy".

I'd be much more likely to name a male dog Elroy than a kid.

[Prevailing Wind]

When I was a kid, we had a family on our street that had a dog named Michael and a kid named Butch.

[spaceghostess]

On 8/7/2018 at 6:16 PM, smittykins said:

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

THIS. They have him acting like some hard-sell PED/under-the-counter Viagra dealer. I have, unfortunately, suffered prolonged exposure to these spots because of my addiction to MST3K and Rifftrax reruns on PlutoTV. If I had to choose among the three different ads with ol' Frank hawking these "supplements", the one I hate the least has F.T.'s image coming to life, first on a bus and then a billboard, in order to convince some hapless guy in a car that he NEEEEEDS to buy and take this ASAP in order to fix himself. As cheesy as the original ad is, what I actually find disturbing is that the name of the product rhymes with eugenics, FFS. Nobody involved with this campaign, including Frank Thomas's agent, realized this? Yeesh.

Heh, one of the 15-second spots came on as I wrote this post.

[Brattinella]

3 hours ago, spaceghostess said:

what I actually find disturbing is that the name of the product rhymes with eugenics, FFS. Nobody involved with this campaign, including Frank Thomas's agent, realized this? Yeesh.

Seriously, that bothers me too.

[Ashforth]

WTF with the Applebee's ad using Melissa Etheridge's "Come to my window" to hawk their curbside delivery? I've always hated the song, but seriously, am I the only one old enough to remember the video for the song? With Juliette Lewis in a mental institution? Not a "thanks for the sack full of fried food!" moment.

[proserpina65]

15 hours ago, Ashforth said:

WTF with the Applebee's ad using Melissa Etheridge's "Come to my window" to hawk their curbside delivery? I've always hated the song, but seriously, am I the only one old enough to remember the video for the song? With Juliette Lewis in a mental institution? Not a "thanks for the sack full of fried food!" moment.

I think most people seeing that commercial have no memory of the video.  I'm more than old enough to remember when the song came out, and I've never seen the video.  I actually like it for that commercial.

[KLovestoShop]

I just saw a new commercial for Esurance and the guy in the commercial looked kind of familiar but I just couldn’t figure out who it was. After listening closely, it was Dennis Quaid.  Holy cow.  Did he ever have some bad plastic surgery, and it was his voice that gave him away.  Why does a guy who has always been good looking, even when he’s aged, go and get surgery and ruin his looks.  

[Prevailing Wind]

Maybe it was because his ex's turned out so well. </sarcasm>

[Rinaldo]

On 8/23/2018 at 6:57 PM, KLovestoShop said:

I just saw a new commercial for Esurance and the guy in the commercial looked kind of familiar but I just couldn’t figure out who it was. After listening closely, it was Dennis Quaid.

One doesn't have to listen that closely -- he identifies himself by name, and other people use it repeatedly, "Thanks, Dennis Quaid." I actually like this commercial. In 30 seconds it mocks the use of celebrity spokespeople just because they seem "likable," the cliché of having them wander through real (but actually highly staged) vignettes being amazingly helpful, and then walking off into the sunset while the "easy to remember" tag line appears.  No doubt this will become over-familiar given enough time and repetition, but for now it seems fresh.

[Amethyst]

On 8/20/2018 at 2:44 PM, Brattinella said:

I use a wireless mouse with my laptop, and have disabled all touch-pad functions.  It used to REALLY interfere with typing a post; I would reach a certain point and start typing in the middle of a previous word.  This works better for me.

2 years ago, I had my laptop repaired for viruses, and this “typing in the middle of a previous word” thing has been happening ever since!  It’s like the cursor just jumps to a random word and starts typing. It drives me crazy, and I might disable my touchpad because of it.

[MushMarch]

On 3/31/2014 at 10:06 AM, smittykins said:

There's an MLB network promo concerning things that happened on Opening Day, and one line is(paraphrased):  "And a brave first basement stepped out onto Ebbets Field and broke baseball's color barrier."

I thought Jackie Robinson played second base?

He had to play first base at first since his teammate Eddie Stanky was already the regular second baseman for the 1947 Brooklyn Dodgers.  He started becoming a regular second baseman during the next season, 1948.

[MichelleAK]

On 8/19/2018 at 6:23 AM, mattie0808 said:

 

As someone who watches football and has played fantasy football (though not in a few years)...I agree this is what they were going for, but it still doesn’t make that much sense to me. The first time I saw it, I assumed he was saying “SECOND round,” which would indeed be bad enough to obsess over if you’re really into fantasy. But the seventh? You’ve got to pick a kicker at some point, and even if seventh is earlier than you wanted to, how is it so early that it’s bugging you throughout the holidays? Any other football fans/fantasy players agree?

 

(And this guy’s computer doesn’t have a touch-pad mouse at all? He couldn’t just jump on his phone rather than try to look for replacement batteries for his mouse?)

 

I agree, it might be a couple of rounds early, but not ridiculously early. Yes, in the second round, that would be a dumb mistake. As an example, the league I'm in, we have two running backs, two wide receivers, a QB, 2 "flex" players (tight end/RB/WR), a kicker, and defense, plus 8 bench players. You definitely want to get your RBs, WRs, and QB set first. But a really good kicker can get you some points, especially if your scoring is set up to allow for bonus points for longer field goals. I've had kickers get me more points than my QB a couple of times, since a 50+ yard field goal is worth 6 points, and a 40+ FG is worth 5 in my league.

And I have my fantasy football app on my phone, so I could definitely finish my draft using it, if something went wrong with my computer.

[EighteenTwelve]

I have two problems with that ad: seventh round isn't early for a kicker, and Justin Tucker (the kicker in question) is very good, so why wouldn't you want him?

[Red Bridey]

Who are the Salmon Sister and why do we care that they need a notebook?

[Stella Rose]

I have been seeing a WalMart commercial for nearly a month now that confuzzled the piss out of me.  People order online and go to will-call to pick up their order.  A song is playing and I swear to Gaia I hear "Anne Boelyn, Anne Boelyn, Anne Boelyn".

It was not until I pointed this out to Mr. Rose that he informed me they were "singing"   "And run in and run in...."

I mean, the first one made way more sense.  I damn near lose my head every ____ing time I go to WallHell.

[Bort]

On 8/29/2018 at 6:33 PM, Stella Rose said:

I have been seeing a WalMart commercial for nearly a month now that confuzzled the piss out of me.  People order online and go to will-call to pick up their order.  A song is playing and I swear to Gaia I hear "Anne Boelyn, Anne Boelyn, Anne Boelyn".

It was not until I pointed this out to Mr. Rose that he informed me they were "singing"   "And run in and run in...."

I mean, the first one made way more sense.  I damn near lose my head every ____ing time I go to WallHell.

It's "Let's Get It Started" by The Black Eyed Peas

[peacheslatour]

I have a feeling that if she weren't being paid a buttload of money "the very serious" Rhonda Rousey would have punched the lights out of anyone who stuck a Twizzler in her face.

Edited August 31, 2018 by peacheslatour

[Bort]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

 

I have a feeling that if she weren't being paid a buttload of money "the very serious" Rhonda Rousey would have punched the lights out of anyone who stuck a Twizzler in her face.

 

I had to google who “the very serious Rhonda Rousey” was, because I had no clue. 

[Browncoat]

Every time I hear the Purdue University Global ad, it sounds like the announcer is saying, “Purdue University Blowhole”.  At least it catches my attention, I guess.

[LoneHaranguer]

I've just started seeing a longer version of the Dominos pothole ad, showing somebody driving home with a pizza box on the passenger's seat. Why would you do that, rather than put it on the floor? Even if the roads are smooth, it'll go flying if you have to stop fast. Also, Dominos doesn't use those round disks that some pizza places put under the pizza, so you'll be greasing up the upholstery and the car will smell like pizza for days.

[theatremouse]

I never put the pizza box on the floor in my car. It never occurred to me to put it on the floor. I usually put the box on the table for people to serve themselves and I would't want something that had been on the floor on the table. But even if I ignore that, at best, it won't actually fit on the floor in my car in front of any seat. At worst, it'll slide under the seat.

[spiderpig]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 7:17 PM, Rinaldo said:

One doesn't have to listen that closely -- he identifies himself by name, and other people use it repeatedly, "Thanks, Dennis Quaid." I actually like this commercial. In 30 seconds it mocks the use of celebrity spokespeople just because they seem "likable," the cliché of having them wander through real (but actually highly staged) vignettes being amazingly helpful, and then walking off into the sunset while the "easy to remember" tag line appears.  No doubt this will become over-familiar given enough time and repetition, but for now it seems fresh.

I agree, Rinaldo.  I like this commercial too.  It's tongue-in-cheek and most important - makes you remember the product.  It's run about 400 times a day but still doesn't make me want to smash my TV.

BTW, I find Dennis Quaid highly likeable.  (If you're old enough to remember when celebrity spokespersons were rated on their "Q" factor, James Garner was the champ for a long time.)

[Haleth]

DENNIS QUAID IS HERE!

[Duke2801]

On 8/15/2018 at 9:43 AM, Ubiquitous said:

I assumed they were spoofing this musicvid:

 

 

On 8/18/2018 at 7:39 PM, stewedsquash said:

I love the ad! And I am down a rabbit hole now with her other ads for the Pacifica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlye69pf8H4 

There are several  (I only linked one to keep from going off topic) and each one is funny to me. The head scratcher for me is in your ad, is are they doing a play on those Carl Jr ads?

 

I like it too—I’m a Kathryn Hahn fan, though. They seem to be parodying WhiteSnake’s “Here I Go Again” video from above. That song and video was everything back in my junior high days! 

On 8/24/2018 at 10:17 PM, Rinaldo said:

One doesn't have to listen that closely -- he identifies himself by name, and other people use it repeatedly, "Thanks, Dennis Quaid." I actually like this commercial. In 30 seconds it mocks the use of celebrity spokespeople just because they seem "likable," the cliché of having them wander through real (but actually highly staged) vignettes being amazingly helpful, and then walking off into the sunset while the "easy to remember" tag line appears.  No doubt this will become over-familiar given enough time and repetition, but for now it seems fresh.

Haha yes his identity in the commercial wasn’t exactly shrouded in mystery! I like this one too. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Duke2801

[Duke2801]

On 8/15/2018 at 11:52 AM, margol29 said:

Okay, there is a commercial for Seventh Generation Laundry soap. It is supposed to be all natural and made from plants. The lady hawking it at the end of the commercial says that it's a really big "dill". Now is she supposed to be saying "it's a really big deal" but can't pronounce it correctly or is she saying "dill" because it is made from plants? I just scratch my head every time I hear this.

She’s literally holding up a bunch of dill when she says “it’s kind of a big dill.” So yes I’d say they’re going for the pun, and not that Maya can’t pronounce “deal.” 

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wvNo/seventh-generation-big-dill-featuring-maya-rudolph

[PrincessPurrsALot]

On ‎8‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 4:39 PM, stewedsquash said:

I love the ad! And I am down a rabbit hole now with her other ads for the Pacifica

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlye69pf8H4 

There are several  (I only linked one to keep from going off topic) and each one is funny to me. The head scratcher for me is in your ad, is are they doing a play on those Carl Jr ads?

As said above, it is spoof on Tawny Kitaen's car hood gyrations in the White Snake video.  I hadn't seen this commercial until this thread.  Had me laughing, but part of that is evoking the original video. 

On ‎8‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 3:13 PM, peacheslatour said:

I have a feeling that if she weren't being paid a buttload of money "the very serious" Rhonda Rousey would have punched the lights out of anyone who stuck a Twizzler in her face.

Want to ensure I don't buy something? Use Rhonda Rousey to sell it.  I don't see her finding it charming that someone is poking her in the face with a Twizzler. 

[funky-rat]

20 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Want to ensure I don't buy something? Use Rhonda Rousey to sell it.  I don't see her finding it charming that someone is poking her in the face with a Twizzler. 

I just don't care for her.  I think it's compounded by the fact that my husband watches WWE (and complains about it, yet still watches it) and she's the new flavor of the month there, and I'm just sick of seeing her face.  Twizzler in it or not.

[BK1978]

I have not run across this commercial in some time, there was a car commercial that used to run rather frequently a couple of months ago where this couple goes into this diner and ask for directions to some cliffs.  An old blindman comes forward and says he'll direct them to the cliffs. 

What the what?

How could a blind person possibly navigate in a car?  I mean walking is one thing, because they would know exactly where to go, but in a car?  The last thing I would want is an old blind man directing me to drive somewhere, especially if that location has a cliff. 

[Brookside]

 

This is either hilarious or disturbing, depending on what you think about something popping in and out of your underwear.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Brookside

[smittykins]

How would mangoes(or anything else, really)know what they’re supposed to taste like?