Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Ohwell]

There's a Microsoft commercial where the woman says she started a blog "for people who look like me."  She just looks like an average 20 something woman who might, might be biracial, but even so, I don't understand what she means. 

[riley702]

I've been noticing a noxious trend for people to only solicit info from people who look and think like them. Don't turn off your brain! We only grow when we are exposed to other experiences.

[Ohwell]

Does she mean people who wear the same clothes, wear the same hairstyle as she does?  I just don't get it.  I think it's just a stupid commercial.

[Jacqs]

That PSA/advice to women to take a photo of their date's licence plate in order to protect themselves, won't actually work because if the guy wants to kill her, he will. Yes, he might be caught cause of the photo but he'll still have won as the woman will still be dead.

[LoneHaranguer]

2 hours ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

Yes, he might be caught cause of the photo but he'll still have won as the woman will still be dead

If a guy was planning something like that, wouldn't he use stolen plates?

[Moose135]

1 hour ago, JacquelineAppleton said:

That PSA/advice to women to take a photo of their date's licence plate in order to protect themselves, won't actually work because if the guy wants to kill her, he will. Yes, he might be caught cause of the photo but he'll still have won as the woman will still be dead.

My girlfriend and I met through a local photography group.  We had been out shooting a few times, mostly through the group, but had shot July 4th fireworks together with a few other friends.  Before we were dating, I invited her to join me and other (woman) group member for some star photography (the Milky Way and such) out on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the NC mountains.  She was interested in going, but was cautious - she found a photo of my Durango, showing the license plate, on my web site, and sent a copy to a friend, saying if she didn't come back, the friend should let the police know who she was out with...

[bilgistic]

Not that I've dated in a thousand years (well, four), but when I did, I would find out everything I could about the guy I would be meeting and tell it all to my sister. I would tell her that if I didn't text/call her by x time, to call the police with the guy's info.

People make it way too easy to find stuff about themselves online.

[Jacqs]

2 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Not that I've dated in a thousand years (well, four), but when I did, I would find out everything I could about the guy I would be meeting and tell it all to my sister. I would tell her that if I didn't text/call her by x time, to call the police with the guy's info.

People make it way too easy to find stuff about themselves online.

Like i said though, it's a faulty premise - even if the guy was caught through this, the woman would still be dead, so it wouldn't matter.

[bilgistic]

It would matter, because this theoretical murderer would be theoretically prosecuted and imprisoned, keeping him from murdering other theoretical women.

[peacheslatour]

17 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Not that I've dated in a thousand years (well, four), but when I did, I would find out everything I could about the guy I would be meeting and tell it all to my sister. I would tell her that if I didn't text/call her by x time, to call the police with the guy's info.

People make it way too easy to find stuff about themselves online.

You're right, that's why I've stayed far, far away from Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat et al.

[xls]

Sorry to say that the short version of this I first saw had me thinking Michael Phelps was talking about speech therapy, since his seemed much improved! ??? 

[Sandycat]

I don’t understand something about the commercial for the LG OLED TV in which the family lives in this gorgeous house and the man is asking questions and the TV is answering and he is amazed and laughing. I don’t get how that house could be anywhere near Greek restaurants in Manhattan. Where do they live? Is this some sort of penthouse apartment? It’s just weird.

[Bort]

I hate Dad’s amazed laugh at all the things his tv can do. Why are you so amazed? You paid for it, you had to know it did this stuff, otherwise you wouldn’t have spent 80 jillion dollars on a tv.

[QuinnInND]

7 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

I hate Dad’s amazed laugh at all the things his tv can do. Why are you so amazed? You paid for it, you had to know it did this stuff, otherwise you wouldn’t have spent 80 jillion dollars on a tv.

Probably were sold on the screen size and not much else. 

[bilgistic]

That reminded me of a commercial I haven't seen in a few months, but kept thinking I needed to dissect here.

It's for Ford, I think...I don't know, but that doesn't matter. It features a couple driving (and maybe there's another couple in the backseat?) on a city street, after having just left their home. The man driving tells the car to close the garage. The woman in the passenger seat is highly impressed with her husband/partner/whoever at what "her [car brand] can do!" She specifically says "her", as in, she owns the car, but her husband told the car to close the garage. Why didn't SHE do it? If it's her car, wouldn't it need to have HER voice recognition set up?

I'm also puzzled about the fact that less than 10 seconds after they drive away from their suburban home with a garage, they are driving on city streets in one uninterrupted trip. Where is this place?

Edited June 4, 2018 by bilgistic

[chessiegal]

12 hours ago, bilgistic said:

he specifically says "her", as in, she owns the car, but her husband told the car to close the garage. Why didn't SHE do it? If it's her car, wouldn't it need to have HER voice recognition set up?

I'm guessing you can set up more than 1 voice recognition, like you can set up more than 1 cell phone for Blue Tooth.

[bilgistic]

But why is SHE not learning the features of HER car? It just irritates me.

[SmithW6079]

On 5/27/2018 at 11:29 PM, DrSpaceman said:

Why would you send your parents a selfie from the beach, with your friends clearly in the background,  if you told them you are studying?

That commercial makes no sense at all. 

 

On 5/28/2018 at 7:46 AM, kariyaki said:

I thought he posted it on social media. Which is still stupid. 

Because teenagers are morons who think they won't get caught. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 6/5/2018 at 10:07 PM, SmithW6079 said:

 

Because teenagers are morons who think they won't get caught. 

He probably knows the kid who had an accident in an 'unreasonably narrow' drive-thru.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 6/3/2018 at 10:25 PM, bilgistic said:

I'm also puzzled about the fact that less than 10 seconds after they drive away from their suburban home with a garage, they are driving on city streets in one uninterrupted trip. Where is this place?

Here in New England, you can see that in a wealthy part of a city, or an upperclass town adjacent to a city. The residents have had enough clout to keep their zoning from changing, so there's a dramatic difference from what's just across the neighborhood/town line.

[bad things are bad]

Quote

(Heh. Google doesn't like the British spelling Favourite. Bite me, Google.)

 

My company's based in the UK so all our MS products are British English. They don't like favorite, or color, or aluminum...

[Jamoche]

Retro TV channel is running ads for "Murder, She Wrote" with a disclaimer that there may be disturbing scenes. Sure enough, the ad is mostly shots of murder victims lying in pools of blood. They've run it in all sorts of shows, including things like A-Team where you might assume you could park your kids and not worry. (That *is* a kid's show, right?)

Did it not occur to them that instead of putting up the disclaimer, they could just not show the dead bodies? I've seen countless ads for that show in the years since it first aired, and until now they've all played up the cozy charm of Jessica, not the graphic death scenes.

[stillhere1900]

Sonic:  One of the guys is shouting something and then he says to the other guy *something like...' if you can hear that, there's a problem'

What ?

[Maverick]

The Murder She Wrote ad is on COZI and it's supposed to be sarcastic.   The 'disclaimer' states that MSW contains graphic images of dead bodies, said 'graphic' images it proceeds to show...."like this guy, who lost a whole tablespoon of blood.".  The point is that the dead bodies on MSW are anything but graphic.  

[funky-rat]

4 hours ago, stillhere1900 said:

Sonic:  One of the guys is shouting something and then he says to the other guy *something like...' if you can hear that, there's a problem'

What ?

I agree it's stupid, but I always took it to mean the doofier of those two doofy guys has thought all this time that he was "talking in his head" but he was saying it out loud in reality.  Still stupid.

[CoderLady]

1 hour ago, funky-rat said:

I agree it's stupid, but I always took it to mean the doofier of those two doofy guys has thought all this time that he was "talking in his head" but he was saying it out loud in reality.  Still stupid.

Ah, thanks. A non sequitur makes my brain do that record scratch sound effect. Now this one makes sense.

Edited June 11, 2018 by CoderLady

[LoneHaranguer]

12 hours ago, Jamoche said:

They've run it in all sorts of shows, including things like A-Team where you might assume you could park your kids and not worry. (That *is* a kid's show, right?)

For all of the gunfire, explosions, and vehicles driving through walls on A-Team, you'd expect more characters to get hurt.

[Sandman87]

There's a Shick razor commercial running that describes moving the razor "to and fro, up and down." Now why does that sound familiar?:

Quote

Job 1:7 - And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

So they're basically selling a Satan razor. I bet it gives hellish razor burn.
 

[Jamoche]

6 hours ago, LoneHaranguer said:

For all of the gunfire, explosions, and vehicles driving through walls on A-Team, you'd expect more characters to get hurt.

I remember Mr T complaining about the movie version because people actually got hurt, where they went out of their way to avoid it on the original. So that's why I'm leaning towards "kid's show". That, and watching it on the retro channels - never saw it during its first run ;)

12 hours ago, Maverick said:

The Murder She Wrote ad is on COZI and it's supposed to be sarcastic.   The 'disclaimer' states that MSW contains graphic images of dead bodies, said 'graphic' images it proceeds to show...."like this guy, who lost a whole tablespoon of blood.".  The point is that the dead bodies on MSW are anything but graphic.  

I've usually got it on mute by then, so I'm looking at the blood, not hearing about it. And there was more than a tablespoon.

[KLovestoShop]

Does anyone understand those Gucci Guilty commercials?  Heck, for that matter, I've never understood any Gucci commercial.  

[Sandman87]

8 hours ago, KLovestoShop said:

Does anyone understand those Gucci Guilty commercials?

Perfume/cologne commercials aren't designed to make sense; they're just supposed to evoke vaguely positive emotional responses. That's why they all look like bad art-house films.

[proserpina65]

On ‎06‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 4:59 AM, Jamoche said:

They've run it in all sorts of shows, including things like A-Team where you might assume you could park your kids and not worry. (That *is* a kid's show, right?)

Um, no.

[Silver Raven]

"Fage Yogurt is now non-GMO Project verified." Are we supposed to know what non-GMO Project means?

[mmecorday]

Since when does yogurt have a menacing voice? "I know what you did!"

[Silver Raven]

3 minutes ago, mmecorday said:

Since when does yogurt have a menacing voice? "I know what you did!"

I love the ad where the guy is talking to the disembodied voice and then yells, "Honey, I'm hearing voices again!"

[Jamoche]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Um, no.

I was being snarky, but seriously, the target audience seems to be about 12. Nobody gets seriously hurt or killed, the good guys always win and get away in the end, even though their van is only slightly less obvious than the Mystery Van, and the plots are about on the same level as Scooby Doo too.

[KWalkerInc]

On 6/11/2018 at 7:24 AM, stillhere1900 said:

Sonic:  One of the guys is shouting something and then he says to the other guy *something like...' if you can hear that, there's a problem'

What ?

Is that the one where they're doing a "double take" over one of Sonic's deals?  The dumber guy jerks his neck back and forth in the process and there is a cracking noise, and his friend hears it and says that it was kind of loud.  Then the first guy comments on the fact that his friend could hear the noise (which probably means the guy has hurt himself).  The cracking noise really isn't very loud though.  Maybe they thought that if they used a louder sound effect, it would leave people disgusted.

[arejay]

In the new-ish Ford spots, "Roll On" equals "Go Long".  For me, anyway.   

[proserpina65]

22 hours ago, Jamoche said:

I was being snarky, but seriously, the target audience seems to be about 12. Nobody gets seriously hurt or killed, the good guys always win and get away in the end, even though their van is only slightly less obvious than the Mystery Van, and the plots are about on the same level as Scooby Doo too.

It seems that way now, but it definitely wasn't a kids' show back in the day.  It was pretty violent for the time.

[peacheslatour]

Who the fuck puts a giant mud puddle at the end of a slide?

[QuinnInND]

17 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Who the fuck puts a giant mud puddle at the end of a slide?

Preteen boys, from my experience. The muddier the better. 

[chessiegal]

17 minutes ago, QuinnInND said:

Preteen boys, from my experience. The muddier the better. 

We just got back from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It amused me no end to see little boys happily jumping in puddles in all 3 countries.

[Gam2]

 I’ve seen a commercial 3 times today. Guilty Gucci. Or Gucci Guilty. It was so stupid and confusing that I can’t even remember which one it was. At any rate, I wouldn’t buy that stuff if it was the only thing on the market. If I have to ask “HUH?”  About your product, your commercial is a real loser.

[PugMum]

Quote

That Guilty Gucci commercial (which looks like soft core porn) is from the school of "We're so cool and artistic most of you peons won't figure us out" school of advertising. Pretentious nonsense.

 

[meep.meep]

Why does the Sprint guy's Aunt Katie look younger than he is?

[Duke2801]

8 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Why does the Sprint guy's Aunt Katie look younger than he is?

Lol she definitely doesn’t look 55 that’s for sure! 

[mmecorday]

Quote

Why does the Sprint guy's Aunt Katie look younger than he is?

They appear to be about the same age. And it looks more like one of those "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" commercials.

[LoneHaranguer]

23 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Why does the Sprint guy's Aunt Katie look younger than he is?

That kind of thing can happen if your grandparents started their family when they were young and spaced out having kids, or your grandfather got remarried to a younger woman (making the aunt in question your parent's much-younger half-sister).

[meep.meep]

Yeah, or you can just hire someone who looks older than the "nephew" and eliminate the whole problem.

[Haleth]

On 6/18/2018 at 1:36 PM, meep.meep said:

Why does the Sprint guy's Aunt Katie look younger than he is?

I looked up the Sprint guy-- Paul Marcarelli is 48.  (His bio on Wiki is actually pretty interesting.)  So he isn't that much younger than 55yo "Aunt Katie."