Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Rick Kitchen]

The Staples ad's shopping cart dance is now a contest.  Send in a video of you doing the shopping cart dance and the winner gets a spot in a Staples ad.

[xls]

The Instant Breakfast Essentials commercial; It sounds like she's saying  "mix the powder with breast milk"

(I know-fresh milk)

 

Edited September 2, 2014 by xls

[Sandman87]

After all this time I've finally seen an ad for Super Beta Prostate. It must be amazing stuff, because they tell me to use it if I'm suffering from the effects of my Asian prostate. I didn't even know that I had an Asian prostate.

After some thought, I decided that they were saying "aging" rather than "Asian."

[xls]

Sorry, but when I see the commercial for Trans America, I think of the movie with Felicity Huffman!

[Rick Kitchen]

The hell?

 

[Brattinella]

Hmm.  If that ad is for those cat treats, our two would eat those until they got tired! 

[xls]

Hmm.  If that ad is for those cat treats, our two would eat those until they got tired! 

Or until they got you exhausted from throwing them!

[SoSueMe]

After all this time I've finally seen an ad for Super Beta Prostate. It must be amazing stuff, because they tell me to use it if I'm suffering from the effects of my Asian prostate. I didn't even know that I had an Asian prostate.

After some thought, I decided that they were saying "aging" rather than "Asian."

I can't begin to explain why, but the Super Beta Prostate commercials always remind me of this:

 

[Muffyn]

After all this time I've finally seen an ad for Super Beta Prostate. It must be amazing stuff, because they tell me to use it if I'm suffering from the effects of my Asian prostate. I didn't even know that I had an Asian prostate.

After some thought, I decided that they were saying "aging" rather than "Asian."

A new disease, prostate dysphoria - when the race of the prostate does not match the person's race, most common among non-Asian men who have Asian prostates.  I hear Super Beta Prostate can cure this.  Unless of course you're Asian and have prostate of a different race.  Super Beta Prostate is only prepared for Asian-prostate dysphoria.    

[Bastet]

The valet in the Buick commercial confuses me, not because he doesn't recognize the Buick, but because he's looking for it in the first place.  The customer hands him the valet ticket (and says, "It's the Buick"), and he must go over to the stand to retrieve the keys, because he has them in his hands as he's running through the lot looking for a Buick (which he doesn't recognize, because Buick isn't the stodgy car it used to be, per the ad campaign).  So why, when he did that, did he not pay attention to which slot the keys were in, which would tell him what parking spot the car is in?  

 

Also, Buick, you're implying so few people drive your cars there will only be one Buick of any kind in the entire lot.  I don't think that's the message you want to send. 

[theatremouse]

Also, Buick, you're essentially saying your own logo has no brand recognition, since in most of that series of ads, the people not recognizing the Buick are standing close enough to it that they should be able to easily see the decal on the grille. So even if the car doesn't look like the stodgy grandma Buick of yore, it's still got the damn logo on it, as well as, somewhere, the word Buick. 

Edited September 6, 2014 by theatremouse

[friendperidot]

xls, I'm so glad someone else hear "breast milk" in that ad, it's all I hear and cannot hear "fresh milk".

[EighteenTwelve]

I wonder if the person who picked the movie clips in the Samsung curved TV ad knows the next line from the Back to the Future clip: "It MEANS that this DAMN THING doesn't work at all!"  Which of course is all I can think of when I see that ad, and then I wonder why I would want to buy a TV that doesn't work.

[xls]

A new disease, prostate dysphoria - when the race of the prostate does not match the person's race, most common among non-Asian men who have Asian prostates.  I hear Super Beta Prostate can cure this.  Unless of course you're Asian and have prostate of a different race.  Super Beta Prostate is only prepared for Asian-prostate dysphoria.    

Don't give those drug makers any ideas!

 

A few months later the law firm adds follow:"If you, or a loved one, has died or developed female breasts while taking Super Beta Prostate..."

[Stella MD]

I simply don't understand the concept of the Little Caesar's ads. For whom is a phone call or online order so frightening/inaccessible that it's preferable to eat a pizza that's been sitting under a heat lamp for an indeterminate amount of time??

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I simply don't understand the concept of the Little Caesar's ads. For whom is a phone call or online order so frightening/inaccessible that it's preferable to eat a pizza that's been sitting under a heat lamp for an indeterminate amount of time??

It would make more sense if they showed someone leaving work in a rush who "doesn't have time" to place an order ahead of picking up something on the way home. Not a guy in a comfy chair who'd rather call Domino's or Burger King. FWIW, LC doesn't always have a pizza ready during the designated hours, and a fresh one isn't much better than one that's been sitting in their warming oven.

[turbogirlnyc]

I saw a Lincoln car commercial staring Matthew Mcconaughey last night and immediately thought of this forum. I guess it's too "deep" for me because I don't get it.

[Aquarius]

I saw a Lincoln car commercial staring Matthew Mcconaughey last night and immediately thought of this forum. I guess it's too "deep" for me because I don't get it.

You and me both. He keeps talking about going back in order to move forward. I kept expecting him to pull up to some neighborhood of his past, but no, just driving along some loop, with some random traffic and construction scenes. What does that have to do with being willing to go back?

Edited September 10, 2014 by Aquarius

[callmebetty]

That Matthew Mcconaughey commercial reminds me of the Brad Pitt perfume one from a couple of years ago. Nothing makes sense but words are being spoken by pretty people.

Or else it's a take on his Oscar acceptance speech where he jibber jabbered about meeting his future self or past self or I don't know. ..

Edited September 10, 2014 by callmebetty

[90PercentGravity]

I keep seeing a Mercedes ad where it sounds like the guy says "Contact your local Mercedes Benz dealer for sexual offers."

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Were the ads done by the same agency that came up with the idea of "My daughter grew up in the back seat of our Subaru?"

[Rel326]

 

 

I saw a Lincoln car commercial staring Matthew Mcconaughey last night and immediately thought of this forum. I guess it's too "deep" for me because I don't get it.

You and me both. He keeps talking about going back in order to move forward. I kept expecting him to pull up to some neighborhood of his past, but no, just driving along some loop, with some random traffic and construction scenes. What does that have to do with being willing to go back?

You're both ahead of me.  I can't understand anything he's saying in these commercials, no matter how loud I turn up the volume.  It's more work than even True Detective.  

[wovenloaf]

Does anyone understand what is going on in this commercial, or why any of it has anything at all to do with Herbal Essences??

 

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

Edited September 10, 2014 by wovenloaf

[Watcher0363]

I think the basic message is. No matter where you are, or what you are doing. Always give good hair. Make Carrie Bradshaw proud.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Watcher0363

[turbogirlnyc]

Does anyone understand what is going on in this commercial, or why any of it has anything at all to do with Herbal Essences??

 

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

 

Thanks for posting this. I spent fifteen minutes last night trying to post a description for this commercial and couldn't even do it. I was too lazy to search for it on YouTube to copy and paste the URL.

[xaxat]

There are promos for both Gandolfini's The Drop and Elba's No Good Deed make reference to plot twists that occur in the movie. 

 

This marketing strategy puzzles me because plot twists work best when you aren't looking for them. 

[Prevailing Wind]

 

plot twists work best when you aren't looking for them.

Really.  When "The Sting" first came out, the reviewer mentioned plot twists up to the end,

so when Redford got shot & blood came out of his mouth, I recalled him putting something in his mouth when he was dressing..

.and started laughing.  The rest of the theater's audience turned around & looked at me like I was crazy...how can you LAUGH??  He's DEAD!!!!.  Um, no, I read the review & knew a twist was coming...kinda made the movie less enjoyable, in spite of the laugh I got.

(Spoiler tagged in case somebody's never seen it & expects to at some time...)

[theatremouse]

It's an interesting point you bring up because from what I've read, even though there is regular loud enough public complaint when surprises are given away in promos, apparently it doesn't stop people going. People say it ruins their enjoyment, but apparently those promos work. (or the movie was good enough it would've done well anyway) But basically, same reason with comedies the best jokes are in the trailer. Same reason TV promos often give away plot points. Apparently, the human mob may be annoyed the twist was given away, but still watch to see it ourselves. Maybe there's some element of "well if they gave THAT away there must be more to it, a twist on the twist" or maybe it's just the more buzz the more people and a given-away promo gets people talking so there's enough from the "talking" end of it to more than overcompensate for those annoyed. I don't know the "why" but anyway, apparently, it works, which is why it keeps happening, unless the writer/director/producer behind the thing is enough of a muck a muck to have some say in the marketing and cares enough to ask that not be done, and has clout enough that the marketing folk acquiesce.

[heebiejeebie]

So if you sit down to a Johnny Appleseed Hard Cider and don't start telling stories...is the night a complete bust?  I don't see the parallel.  Then again I might have missed out on those formative years of a parent tucking me in and telling me a bedtime story...after hitting me up with a slug of Children's Benadryl.

 

Okay what I really find offensive is something claiming to be hard cider and pouring it over ice.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This ad puzzles the hell out of me

 

 

Why is an aluminum-wrapped burrito flying all over the city knocking people unconscious, and how is that supposed to inspire me to use GrubHub?

[Bruinsfan]

I simply don't understand the concept of the Little Caesar's ads. For whom is a phone call or online order so frightening/inaccessible that it's preferable to eat a pizza that's been sitting under a heat lamp for an indeterminate amount of time??

I think I'm actually the intended audience for those commercials, as the only time I ever want food from Little Caesar's is when I'm actually driving by a store and suddenly get a craving for it. If I'm at home and decide I'm in the mood for pizza, I'll call in an order to Papa John's or the locally owned parlor.

[Brattinella]

Cobalt Stargazer, I just wish there was a GrubHub near us!  (small town, not much variety in dining here).

[janie jones]

This ad puzzles the hell out of me

 

Why is an aluminum-wrapped burrito flying all over the city knocking people unconscious, and how is that supposed to inspire me to use GrubHub?

Why are there four different people ordering food in one house?

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Cobalt Stargazer, I just wish there was a GrubHub near us!  (small town, not much variety in dining here).

It turns out we have GrubHub here, but I had never heard of them until I started seeing the ads. They have another one where this dude wearing a slice-of-pizza costume rides up to an apartment building on a Segway and brings the guy sitting on the stoop his order.

 

Why are there four different people ordering food in one house?

That actually makes a marginal bit of sense to me. More sense than what appears to be a possessed burrito randomly flying through windows and knocking folks out.

[Prevailing Wind]

I notice the burrito is only knocking out people on the phone.  Perhaps it's a commentary on our over-reliance on technology.  or not.

[Neurochick]

I saw a Lexus commercial that was just plain stupid.

 

Man walks into his apartment, it's flooded; he goes to the apartment upstairs.  Woman standing by a kitchen sink where the faucet is spraying water everywhere, she's soaking wet.  Man takes off his shirt and tries to fix the faucet, now they're both wet.  Woman's husband/boyfriend comes in and glares at Man.  Husband/Boyfriend chases Man and then Man gets into his Lexus and drives away.  

 

So wait, is Husband an idiot?  Didn't he notice that the kitchen faucet is spraying water?  He just sees a soaking wet shirtless man and his soaking wet wife, standing in a wet kitchen.  Methinks Woman needs a new Husband/Boyfriend, this dude ain't too bright.

[DeLurker]

 

A new disease, prostate dysphoria - when the race of the prostate does not match the person's race, most common among non-Asian men who have Asian prostates.  I hear Super Beta Prostate can cure this.

Caused by eating excess amounts of Panda Express.

[theatremouse]

Yeah the faucet spraying one was especially stupid because on the one hand...shirtless just in water alone, is a silly construct found all over television. But in this one it made sense! If I recall, he was using the shirt to try to wrap around the leaking faucet/pipe connection whatever? The husband/boyfriend could see that. I mean, that's not going to help a faucet spraying all over very much. Turn the water off under the sink, dude. But still from a "why is he shirtless" in the panic moment, at least it made sense and wasn't just "I'll take my shirt off so it doesn't get wet but I do". H/B didn't come home to random shirtless dude. He came home to random dude using his shirt to try to sop up water.

[Neurochick]

That makes the H/B even dumber, if the shirt was wrapped around the leaky faucet pipe, in full view.  I mean it was obvious that they were trying to fix the leaky faucet, maybe H/B should have taken off HIS suit and helped out instead of being a douche and chasing the guy.  He's still got a jacked up faucet.

[janie jones]

Why does anyone need to take off their shirt?  Are there no towels in this home?

 

I notice the burrito is only knocking out people on the phone.  Perhaps it's a commentary on our over-reliance on technology.  or not.

It's because it's knocking out people who are ordering food over the phone.  They want you to order food on their website.

[Aquarius]

It's because it's knocking out people who are ordering food over the phone.  They want you to order food on their website.

 

Occam's razor probably does apply here.  But with a flying burrito, you never can tell.  LOL.

[Bastet]

That Lexus ad is disturbing -- his first thought upon finding his wife/girlfriend with another man when both are partially undressed but also clearly in the midst of dealing (idiotically) with a plumbing problem is to not only assume they are fooling around but chase after the man.  Girlfriend, grab a bag and get the hell out before he comes back.  You may be too stupid to know how to shut off water, but you don't deserve that crap.

[Prevailing Wind]

 

It's because it's knocking out people who are ordering food over the phone.  They want you to order food on their website.

I went to their website.  My area has only 3 restaurants participating, and TWO of 'em don't take online orders - you HAVE to call them.  Would I still have to look out for the Flying Burrito Brothers?

[wovenloaf]

the Flying Burrito Brothers?

 

Hahaha, I haven't even seen the burrito one yet! I've only seen the ad with the pizza and the ad where the chicken wrap (or whatever he is) can't get up the stairs on his roller skates. Now I want to see this burrito assault one!

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I think I'm actually the intended audience for those commercials, as the only time I ever want food from Little Caesar's is when I'm actually driving by a store and suddenly get a craving for it. If I'm at home and decide I'm in the mood for pizza, I'll call in an order to Papa John's or the locally owned parlor.

I don't see the appeal. If I'm going to drive to a pizza shop, Domino's can have whatever I want almost ready by the time I get there. When I stopped off a the local Little Caesar's recently during the appointed hours, customers had to wait over ten minutes for their "hot and ready" pizzas (large pepperoni or cheese), with other pizzas taking longer (over 25 minutes to get the deep dish I ordered).

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Hahaha, I haven't even seen the burrito one yet! I've only seen the ad with the pizza and the ad where the chicken wrap (or whatever he is) can't get up the stairs on his roller skates. Now I want to see this burrito assault one!

wovenloaf, I linked the ad a few posts above yours, so go check it out and be confused with the rest of us. :-)

[Tabbyclaw]

The myriad Clorox ads I've been getting on Hulu are all innocuous on their own, but taken as a whole they make me scratch my head in how little effort they seem to be making to sell their product to a wide range of people. Every one of their ads is based on one of two scenarios: a member of the household (always male) doing something on a kitchen counter that has no business being done on a kitchen counter, or a potty-training child (also always male) putting their waste somewhere other than in the toilet. And it's just, really? Those are the only two scenarios you can think of to sell people on a household staple?

[Brattinella]

And, please, that ad: "Mom, I went poo-poo!"  "Where?"  Always makes me cringe.  Eww just the thought of that!

[Prevailing Wind]

I had a friend whose granddaughter was being toilet trained in a house with 7 cats.  Where did she poo when she tried it on her own?  You guessed it.  The litter box.  Can Clorox help that?

[riley702]

I had a friend whose granddaughter was being toilet trained in a house with 7 cats.  Where did she poo when she tried it on her own?  You guessed it.  The litter box.  Can Clorox help that?

I laughed at the thought of the cats encountering THAT.