Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Stella MD]

 

That's kind of the message in a lot of commercials: To be a better person, use our product.

Or the converse (inverse? reverse?): If you don't use our product, you're hopelessly behind the times, and people will laugh/mock/vilify you for your idiocy.

 

The ads from the Geico competitor use the same premise with the doddering elderly who play Candy Crush with actual peppermints or "unfriend" live people in the room, while spouting Geico's famous 15-minute tagline. Don't be a fool and use Geico like these clueless dunderheads when you can do it in half the time like the cool kids, the ad wants us to internalize. Though it says something about the efficacy of the strategy that I can't recall the name of any product other than Geico!

 

The chair-using guy who's too slow and stupid to know about Kayak is so over-the-top with his cluelessness, I'm surprised he doesn't appear in black-and-white like a "before" shot in an infomercial.

 

Meanwhile, I too loathe Jimmy, but are we sure that's his mother? From his asshat behavior, I always assumed it was his MIL (ie, other "grandma").

[Aquarius]

You've won PTV today, Aquarius.

 

Oooh!  Yippee!  I hope the prize is a lifetime supply of Yoplait!

[Muffyn]

The chair-using guy who's too slow and stupid to know about Kayak is so over-the-top with his cluelessness, I'm surprised he doesn't appear in black-and-white like a "before" shot in an infomercial.

I would love that so much.  Then he could spill spaghetti on the floor while trying to drain it, fail at cracking an egg, be unable to turn on a light . . . . so much ineptitude happens in black and white.  

 

Oooh!  Yippee!  I hope the prize is a lifetime supply of Yoplait!

That would be a mighty small supply.  

[BW Manilowe]

Good point on that Kayak commercial. The only message I got from it was douchetastic adult son was more concerned with getting a good price on airfare than the wellbeing of his Mom. And since wifey didn't say anything either I was left with a bad taste in my mouth from both of them and Kayak. Way to promote yourself Kayak.

I didn't say it in so many words, but I feel the same way you do: Some of the commercial's implication is the douchebag son was so concerned with making his reservation he couldn't be bothered to be considerate to his disabled Mom & let her use the damn lift for, like, 5 minutes.

*Nobody* needs to make a plane reservation so badly they can't take a freakin' 5-minute break while comparison shopping among airfares! I know Kayak's trying to get users, & that's fine, but also nobody needs to be on a website to the exclusion of anything else or long enough to inconvenience others with whom they're sharing space.

What if dear old Mom needed to go to the bathroom, or get her meds, or something else "time-sensitive", she couldn't do it anywhere else but upstairs &, of course, she wanted to be independent & do it herself & she had to use the lift or she couldn't do it? She's SOL 'cause she wouldn't put her foot down & make her douchebag son get off the lift (which is another part of the problem I see with the family depicted in the ad).

The (apparent) wife actually did say something in the ad, at the end. After the douchebag son/husband finishes bitching about how much trouble he's having with the reservations, 'cause he's checking among different websites & apparently too damn dumb to either remember or make written note of the figures given on each separate site, so he has to keep checking back & forth to compare figures, the (apparent) wife--who seems to be doing something in the kitchen/another room--calls to him from offscreen, "You shoulda used Kayak!"... like it's a site he supposedly knew about before he needed to do this stuff, but forgot about when he actually could've used it (& probably gotten his reservation made in less than 10 minutes if he had).

This ad really makes me *not* wanna use Kayak to compare fares, if I ever go on another plane trip.

[janie jones]

I always interpreted the commercial with Jimmy like this:  The other guy has their State Farm insurance agent teleport, and Jimmy feels like he looks bad for not having his agent teleport, but he does manage to get his grandma to teleport with his insurance person on hold.  When she says that she's on hold, he still feels like he has inferior insurance, and what she's "not helping" is making him look like he has quality insurance. 

 

Not that he needs to be snotty about it.

Edited March 12, 2015 by janie jones

[riley702]

I think he's just an ass.

[Brattinella]

The Subaru Legacy commercial features a small blond boy who appears to be perishing of consumption. :(

[Bastet]

Yeah, I'd probably find the commercial rather amusing (a rarity for commercials with children) if I wasn't so distracted by his sickly face, especially his eyes.  The kid looks like he won't live to see driving age.

[Moose135]

Yeah, I'd probably find the commercial rather amusing (a rarity for commercials with children) if I wasn't so distracted by his sickly face, especially his eyes.  The kid looks like he won't live to see driving age.

 

Maybe he'll join the dead kid from the Nationwide ad.

[peeayebee]

This one?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFvqpAT9YQk

 

I see what you mean about his eyes, but I don't care. I love this commercial. He's a good little actor.

[riley702]

Some of us can't help the pale skin and circles under our eyes. It's genetic. Unless we want to go with the troweled-on makeup. And I don't.

Edited March 13, 2015 by riley702

[BW Manilowe]

OK I have another commercial that makes me scratch my head. The current 1 for Petsmart/their Pet Adoption program.

A couple apparently adopts a couple of puppies through the program, brings them home & is enjoying them when, all of a sudden, the mother of 1 of the people in the couple shows up unexpectedly (she says she climbed in through a window--which is rude, to start with) & then arbitrarily gives the puppies names *she's* chosen for them, which is even more rude (I forget the first 1, but it's something like "Highway", I think--somehow the first name made me think of Freeway, the dog on Hart to Hart, when I heard it; & the second name is "Snake Finder"), even/especially after the man in the couple who bought the puppies tells her they've already named the dogs when she says her first name for them. But we never hear the names the man in the couple says they gave the puppies. Presumably, they're way better, more normal, dog names than "Highway" (or whatever) & "Snake Finder".

"Highway" I actually don't mind for a dog's name--I watched Hart to Hart, back in the day, & am rewatching it now that it's on the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel, & I always thought their dog Freeway (& his successor, Freeway Jr., aka "Junior", in the reunion TV movies) was cute. But whoever decided on "Snake Finder" for the other name is loopy--& I get the dog's names are supposed to indicate how loopy the mother is supposed to be, along with her just climbing through their open window unannounced.

I don't think this commercial's as egregiously weird--nor does it press my buttons as badly--as the Kayak commercial, but I do wonder if it was created by the same ad agency as the Kayak ad, it's just loopy enough. I seriously do support finding good, loving homes for pets (the underlying reason for the ad) though.

[riley702]

That's Jennifer Coolidge, basically doing her character, Sophie, from 2 Broke Girls. And her name for the first dog is Expressway.

 

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7JaB/petsmart-the-new-parents-featuring-jennifer-coolidge

[BW Manilowe]

That's Jennifer Coolidge, basically doing her character, Sophie, from 2 Broke Girls. And her name for the first dog is Expressway.

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7JaB/petsmart-the-new-parents-featuring-jennifer-coolidge

Thanks for the correction on the first puppy's name. At least I was close--& it *is* reminiscent of the dog's name in Hart to Hart (Freeway), like I said.

I guess I've seen fairly little of Jennifer Coolidge's work. I avoid 2 Broke Girls like the plague--I've just never thought it was funny (at least what I consider funny), & I can't for the life of me figure out how it just got renewed, yesterday or the day before, for its upcoming fifth season (CBS can announce renewals for sitcoms I've either never watched or have watched & don't particularly find funny--Mom & Mike & Molly were the other 2, & The Big Bang Theory was previously renewed for *2* more seasons--& they can also renew Scorpion, NCIS New Orleans & Madam Secretary, but they keep those of us awaiting the fate of Hawaii Five-0's possible [hopefully probable] S6 hanging [blows raspberry at CBS Programming Department]...Just saying).

And I still think the mother in the ad was rude, both for basically breaking into the house & for giving the puppies different names than their actual owners gave them.

Edited March 13, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[Stella MD]

Glad I haven't seen that commercial yet. I detest Jennifer Coolidge, or at least the stereotyped ditzy/trashy/drunk/high/meth-addled annoyingness of literally every character I've ever seen her play.

[SmithW6079]

OK, the old lady walking up the stairs while the son goes up the chair lift made me laugh. I guess I'm evil.

Edited March 15, 2015 by SmithW6079

[Sandman87]

Some of us can't help the pale skin and circles under our eyes. It's genetic.

I've found that looking like a member of the Addams Family can be handy when I want to intimidate someone.

[ABay]

Personally, I aspire to fish-belly white.

[riley702]

I've found that looking like a member of the Addams Family can be handy when I want to intimidate someone.

 

Or if your Halloween costume is either a ghost, someone who's drowned, or Typhoid Mary. I'll have to try that intimidation thing if I can keep a straight face while doing it.

 

Personally, I aspire to fish-belly white.

 

That's hilarious. I have, on more than one occasion, described myself as a member of the fish-belly white tribe.

Edited March 15, 2015 by riley702

[Crisopera]

I personally use the term "under-belly of slug white."  It's from the old book One-upmanship, and it perfectly describes my skin tone.

[Rick Kitchen]

So Arnold Palmer, Kevin Nealon (talk about relevant!) and Brian Vickers are doing a commercial for Xarelto.  So why do all three of them pronounce the product as "Xaralto"?

[Sandman87]

There's an ad I never noticed before for a gadget that basically lets you hang upside down to alleviate back pain. You strap yourself to a board and lean back, and it rotates you to an upside down position. They keep touting the benefits of the "inversion" one gets from the machine, and I wonder if they're aware that "inversion" is an old psychological term for homosexuality.

[Haleth]

My husband has one of those.  Should I be worried?

[Ubiquitous]

I thought it was stupid that either the guy didn't call the phone number first, or the owners didn't have their number on the tag.

Why didn't the owners update the tags to show their new address? Still, it seemed weird for the man to put the strange "lost" dog in his car and drive it back.

 

I am skeptical of the dangers of "second-hand smoke", especially after seeing all those hysterical Chicken Little ads from the 1990's. I can see it if you're i a car with someone chain smoking, but if you live in the apartment next door? No way.

[Rick Kitchen]

 

I am skeptical of the dangers of "second-hand smoke", especially after seeing all those hysterical Chicken Little ads from the 1990's. I can see it if you're i a car with someone chain smoking, but if you live in the apartment next door? No way.

 

I lived next door to the apartment of a chain smoker.  I visited his apartment one time and the walls were literally yellow from the smoke.  His smoke was always wafting its way through his windows into my apartment.

[xaxat]

I see Jabari Parker now has an ad for Gatorade about his current rehab from injury.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9ftHL7oRg

 

I wish him the best, but aren't they aware that similar ads haven't had a history of happy endings?

Edited March 19, 2015 by xaxat

[riley702]

So Arnold Palmer, Kevin Nealon (talk about relevant!) and Brian Vickers are doing a commercial for Xarelto.  So why do all three of them pronounce the product as "Xaralto"?

I saw that yesterday. At first, Arnie says it right, but by the end of the commerical, he's saying Xaralto, too. Weird.

[BW Manilowe]

I had the honor of being the March of Dimes' National Poster Girl when I was 8 years old (1972). At the time, Arnold Palmer was their Honorary National Chairman & I got to go to his Bay Hill (Golf) Club & Lodge in Orlando to do all sorts of--mostly video & photographic--fundraising-related materials for "my" year (fundraising films & a short film where he "introduced" me as the National Poster Child, video for Public Service Announcements, & photos for print materials used in fundraising & publicity, among other things).

The thing about him is, he's a *very* nice guy; all the positive stuff you might've ever heard about him *is true*. But it tends to take him awhile (& a number of takes) to get through filming stuff like we did together & stuff like commercials for whatever he's endorsing at the time. Even with cue cards.

Maybe I shouldn't have told that on him, but there you go. And I needed to mention it to explain why I thought they used a take of the ad with obvious mispronunciations of the product name.

I can't speak to whether or not Kevin Nealon & Brian Vickers have the same issues with projects like this as Arnold Palmer does/did when I worked with him. I've never met, or worked with, them.

But if they were going into overtime trying to get a usable take of the commercial, they might have just decided that was the best 1 they had & gone with it, or they might've needed to go with it 'cause of when the ad campaign was supposed to start airing, mispronunciations of the product name be damned. Which at least used to not "fly", as it were, you used to have to get the product name correct, above all else (unless mispronouncing it is, somehow, the point of the ad campaign), but whatever.

They might've also only been able to get the 3 men together, in the same place at the same time, within a certain timeframe (& I'm assuming they were filmed together & no editing trickery was used later so it looked like they were together when they weren't) due to their individual schedules. So they, again, might've been "stuck" with the take they used as the best available by the time they needed it, mispronunciations & all.

It's entirely possible--& obvious--nobody caught the mispronunciations at the time of filming &, by the time they were caught, they couldn't do a "reshoot" or get the men into an audio studio for an ADR/"looping" session where the men could just correct that single word, because of their schedules &/or a deadline by when the ad had to start airing.

[Prevailing Wind]

Or...Xarelto was named by the same folks who named Humira & decided to pronounce it Hyoo mair uh.

[Bastet]

I've heard Xarelto pronounced "-alto" so many times I didn't even thing about the spokespeople's pronunciation being wrong - despite the spelling - until the VO kicked in and the narrator consistently pronounced it "-elto."

[Shriekingeel]

Okay, I'm still trying to figure out what the "Invisible Mindy" campaign has to do with insurance.

[CoderLady]

Or...Xarelto was named by the same folks who named Humira & decided to pronounce it Hyoo mair uh.

 

I wondered about the strange made-up names new drugs get so I Googled the practice. Seems like pharmaceutical companies need to give their new drugs FDA-approved names different enough from existing drugs to avoid mix-ups when ordering. This does not reassure me because that means there's a listening and comprehension problem out there in the drug supply chain and because even with nominally unique drug names people still get creative with pronunciation, which seems to defeat the purpose.

[Sandman87]

Seems like pharmaceutical companies need to give their new drugs FDA-approved names...

The government is involved in the naming process? That explains a lot.

[Moose135]

So Arnold Palmer, Kevin Nealon (talk about relevant!) and Brian Vickers are doing a commercial for Xarelto. 

 

I hadn't seen this commercial before today - it aired during the NASCAR Sprint Cup race from California.  The same race that Vickers had to withdraw from because of a re-occurrence of blood clots in his lungs two days ago. Somewhat ironic ad placement, don't you think?

[Lola16]

Yeah, you're going to pay for what you buy anyway, so what's the point, other than over complicating your cash back reward?

The working theory at the bank is that it will make the borrower pay it back faster.  Plus you normally won't get it if you pay late.

[Brattinella]

Ok, I just saw The Humira ad.  I looked it up.

 

 

Humera is a common misspelling of Humira (adalimumab)

 

Well, I WONDER WHY???  That's what they CALL it in the ad!

[90PercentGravity]

What's daring about a Cadillac anyway? Dare to drive an old lady car?

[RedZoneTuba]

What's daring about a Cadillac anyway? Dare to drive an old lady car?

Did you ever try parking one of those battleships? 

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

redzone, newer Caddys are not the battleships of old. They're definitely not styled to be old ladies' cars.

 

Which is why they're daring...some people need a three pointed star or a Lexus L to show the world how wonderful their car choices are (not that they care about actual driving or anything...) and wouldn't even dream of a Cadillac (or a luxury Hyundai or VW for that matter) because they wouldn't want to go outside of their perceived "luxury" brand definition. 

[DeLurker]

I agree they've changed their styling and don't look like an old lady car.  They've gone from distinctive to generic, except for the Cadillac B̶e̶h̶e̶m̶o̶t̶h  Escalade.  Daring?  Perhaps.  Interesting?  Not to me.

[Stella MD]

Cadillac can restyle all it wants to, I'll never not picture Jack Klompus behind the wheel.

Same thing with Buick, which should probably just give up and start over with a different name.

[Lola16]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGhaOV0BPmA

 

Cadillac's new ad.  Dare to. 

 

Dare to drive a gas guzzler?  Dare to drive an old status symbol?  Dare to air a commercial with french music?

 

Dunno.

[Sandman87]

The latest one I'm scratching my head over is the Orbit gum commercial which has a guy arguing with a slice of pizza. First of all, the guy comes off like a douche: "Yeah, I used you, but I got what I wanted. Now go away." Secondly, why did they feel a need to give the pizza slice bouncing breasts? Is this talking cheese-and-crust abomination supposed to make me horny? Or am I supposed to infer that this is the aftermath of an American Pie moment?

[riley702]

OMG, there are three of them! And I have to admit, they're kind of funny.

 

 

 

[Prevailing Wind]

To hell with the gum; it isn't even 8:30 in the morning and now I'm wanting pizza...

[peeayebee]

Those are pretty funny.

[Ubiquitous]

Why is Patrick Stewart being forced to hide his face behind that company's award?

[riley702]

Just so he can make that hilarious look of disgust?

[cynicat]

They have the same commercial for Extra with Ashton Kutcher for what I gather is Hispanic TV.  The most surprising thing is I had no idea they were the same gum. It says Orbit on the video, but the tagline says "Extra".

 

[merylinkid]

The Deadbeat Rob Lowe commercial is bugging me.   First when he is gambling away what is presumed to be the child support money, that is okay.   But then he says "I saved 200 bucks by having hotel room surgery."   That's not being a deadbeat, that's being a cheapskate.   A deadbeat doesn't pay anything.   It's just one of the more stupid versions of that campaign.