Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Haleth]

21 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Never had them in omelets, maybe its good, but you can make omelets without them. 

Not in omelets but on them, with avocado and tomato.  Delicious.

[Prevailing Wind]

I don't remember what the commercial was advertising, but early in, one of the guys was dressed in a t-shirt that was basically white with a very broad brown horizontal stripe, framed by two narrower red stripes. I was so taken by a shirt that looks like a Tootsie Roll wrapper, I didn't pay attention to the rest of the ad. Who would wanna look like a Tootsie Roll?  Then I got to thinking perhaps the T-shirt was designed and lots of people liked it, subconsciously connecting it to Tootsie Rolls but not knowing why they like the shirt. Self-quarantining leaves me with too much idle brain time.

[Ashforth]

18 hours ago, theatremouse said:

Breakfast burritos.

Sacrilege, my dear. Breakfast TACOS. Greetings from Austin, Texas! Where I have not had a breakfast taco in over three weeks 😞

 

[janie jones]

 

On 4/1/2020 at 11:43 AM, kariyaki said:

The daughter is Mann’s actual daughter, Maude Apatow. 

Oh so it is the same person who played the daughter in the other commercials! She looks about 12 in the no tan line one, so I was wondering if they'd gotten someone new.

[Bort]

17 hours ago, janie jones said:

Oh so it is the same person who played the daughter in the other commercials! She looks about 12 in the no tan line one, so I was wondering if they'd gotten someone new.

It doesn’t help that the outfit Maude is wearing looks like something out of the Osh Kosh B’Gosh catalog. 

[OpalNightstream]

The kelly clarkson one for wayfair where she appears in some guys’ kitchen after one is holding a very hot casserole dish apparently hot out of the oven is strange. The casserole is so hot he’s anxious to set it down. Kelly appears to help out and takes it from him. It’s not hot for her to hold at all. She holds it the entire time no problem! 

[chessiegal]

I thought Kelly Clarkson was wearing oven mitts when she took the casserole. ??

[OpalNightstream]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

I thought Kelly Clarkson was wearing oven mitts when she took the casserole. ??

Yes but I believe the guy was wearing oven mitts too 

[chessiegal]

I think the issue was not the hot casserole, but he had no place to set it down. Kelly zaps in a portable island, and voila - just the space he needed. Made sense to me.

[OpalNightstream]

6 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I think the issue was not the hot casserole, but he had no place to set it down. Kelly zaps in a portable island, and voila - just the space he needed. Made sense to me.

Yes it was a space issue but it opens with it being piping hot and he just wants a place to put it down. Then suddenly it’s just not as hot anymore as they discuss wayfair with Kelly. 

[chessiegal]

Those enameled cast iron pots stay hot a loooong time. And with that I will see myself out.

[elle]

1 hour ago, OpalNightstream said:

Yes but I believe the guy was wearing oven mitts too 

I think he had only pot holders not the full mitts.  Why the other guy doesn’t move something like the bowl of apples bugs me.

[janie jones]

 

5 hours ago, OpalNightstream said:

The kelly clarkson one for wayfair where she appears in some guys’ kitchen after one is holding a very hot casserole dish apparently hot out of the oven is strange. The casserole is so hot he’s anxious to set it down. Kelly appears to help out and takes it from him. It’s not hot for her to hold at all. She holds it the entire time no problem! 

Fairy godmothers aren't as vulnerable to heat, it would seem.

[proserpina65]

On ‎03‎/‎22‎/‎2020 at 6:52 PM, Moose135 said:

I was too disturbed watching them dunk the grilled cheese sandwich into the tomato soup to pay attention to the lyrics.

You don't do that?

 

[proserpina65]

On ‎04‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 7:29 AM, Haleth said:

That's Leslie Mann, an actress known for playing quirky characters in dumb comedies, mostly written and directed by her husband, Judd Apatow.  The commercials make more sense if you know who she is.

Doesn't help - they're still weird and creepy as hell.

On ‎04‎/‎02‎/‎2020 at 11:33 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

I was more disturbed trying to figure out WTF they were putting sour cream on at breakfast 

And I love sour cream.  But at breakfast?  Maybe some French fried potatoes?  that's more of a diner or eating out sort of thing though, not for home.  I suppose an omelet maybe?  I've never put sour cream on my omelet.  They might show it in the commercial but I forget now.  But anyway whatever it is there is nothing they would use it for where I would have to rush out and buy sour cream for breakfast because I just had to have it.  I'd just leave it off. 

It looked like breakfast tacos.  You can put sour cream on anything you want sour cream on.  I'd absolutely put it on breakfast tacos if there was pico de gallo or spicy peppers or salsa on them.  And it looks like the wife in the commercial is pregnant, so maybe she was craving the sour cream.

 

[peacheslatour]

52 minutes ago, proserpina65 said:

You don't do that?

 

I'm not OP but I don't do it because I like the crispyness of the grilled bread. By the same token , it doesn't bother me when other people do it.

[proserpina65]

3 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I'm not OP but I don't do it because I like the crispyness of the grilled bread. By the same token , it doesn't bother me when other people do it.

Ahh, that makes sense.  Grilled bread is good.

[Ubiquitous]

On 4/1/2020 at 1:43 AM, Maverick said:

 Safe Auto has always had weird ads.   They have another new one with some young woman in flannel talking about what hot shit she is because she was able to drive when she was 9 and how everyone else is an idiot because they didn't learn until they were 16.  

I liked the SA commercials with the weird nonsensical sayings.

 

On 4/4/2020 at 1:26 PM, Prevailing Wind said:

I don't remember what the commercial was advertising, but early in, one of the guys was dressed in a t-shirt that was basically white with a very broad brown horizontal stripe, framed by two narrower red stripes. I was so taken by a shirt that looks like a Tootsie Roll wrapper, I didn't pay attention to the rest of the ad. Who would wanna look like a Tootsie Roll?  Then I got to thinking perhaps the T-shirt was designed and lots of people liked it, subconsciously connecting it to Tootsie Rolls but not knowing why they like the shirt. Self-quarantining leaves me with too much idle brain time.

That reminds me of the series of Quickbooks commercials in which businesses owners have so much free time that they can ponder stupid questions like "why are pizza boxes square instead of round?". Really, it takes you any significant amount of time to figure that one out?  

 

On 4/6/2020 at 3:17 PM, OpalNightstream said:

Yes it was a space issue but it opens with it being piping hot and he just wants a place to put it down. Then suddenly it’s just not as hot anymore as they discuss wayfair with Kelly. 

Just how long did this discussion take place?

[Moose135]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

You don't do that?

 

No, I've never done that. Sorry.

[DrSpaceman73]

On ‎4‎/‎4‎/‎2020 at 7:15 AM, Haleth said:

Not in omelets but on them, with avocado and tomato.  Delicious.

Yes I know not in omelets, I just miswrote it

But looking at he commercial again, they aren't blintzes and not omelets but do appear to be breakfast soft tacos with scrambled eggs on them. 

Which I've never had but, fine, its looks like it might be OK.  But I am still not going out in the morning just to buy sour cream for them. 

I guess in the end my main point is while you can have sour cream on some breakfast items, I don't think of it as a must have breakfast food or garnish.  Sour cream does not pop into my mind as "breakfast food".  And I personally have never had sour cream for breakfast. 

[janie jones]

I saw the Kelly Clarkson casserole commercial today, and I noticed that the guy stopped appearing concerned about the heat once she appeared, rather than him passing it off to her and her not being bothered. 

[SoMuchTV]

Just saw a tv ad for a local seafood place. “Order online! Drive up! We’ll load!”  Sounds great!  Then they say “all orders are cash only”. WHAT???

[chessiegal]

18 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

Just saw a tv ad for a local seafood place. “Order online! Drive up! We’ll load!”  Sounds great!  Then they say “all orders are cash only”. WHAT???

That's weird. A lot of our local places are saying online or phone credit card only, and they will bring it to your car. 

[Popples]

44 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

Just saw a tv ad for a local seafood place. “Order online! Drive up! We’ll load!”  Sounds great!  Then they say “all orders are cash only”. WHAT???

In order to keep contact at a minimum, do they expect customers to have the exact amount in a small, plastic bag or something?

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, Popples said:

In order to keep contact at a minimum, do they expect customers to have the exact amount in a small, plastic bag or something?

After running it through an autoclave?

[Brookside]

"Tessemae's: 100% real ingredients."

As opposed to other dressings that are made of 99% imaginary ingredients.

[Haleth]

13 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Just saw a tv ad for a local seafood place. “Order online! Drive up! We’ll load!”  Sounds great!  Then they say “all orders are cash only”. WHAT???

That's odd.  Most places don't want their people touching cash.  Are they just trying to save a buck by avoiding cc fees?

[revbfc]

This would be a much better commercial if the couple complimenting the lawn were actually mourning the damage the meteor inflicted upon it.  Either that, or they know the meteor was coming for the lawn, and they recreate scenes from Armageddon to make sure the lawn is safe.

 

[proserpina65]

On ‎04‎/‎07‎/‎2020 at 6:27 PM, Moose135 said:

No, I've never done that. Sorry.

I didn't realize that everyone didn't.  But that's okay.

On ‎04‎/‎07‎/‎2020 at 8:39 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

But I am still not going out in the morning just to buy sour cream for them. 

I'm pretty sure the wife is pregnant, so I guess the sour cream is something she was craving, and he went out early to get it and surprise her.  Or maybe I'm just thinking about it.

[janie jones]

The headscratcher for me here isn't the commercial itself, but the timeliness of it. 

I keep seeing this Easy Off commercial.

It is, as far as I'm concerned, a Thanksgiving commercial, but when I searched for it just now, it seems to be from December 2016, so I guess it's a Christmas commercial.  I suppose some people have turkey at Easter, so it makes sense to air it now, although it took me a few viewings to realize it was Easter related.  At first I thought it was a coronavirus commercial implying that you have nothing better to do than clean your oven, so you should use Easy Off.

But the whole commercial is about people coming to your house and looking in your oven.  I wasn't seeing this commercial until about a week ago.  It's really quite unfortunate timing.  I'm assuming the Easy Off people paid for this in advance of the quarantines and couldn't (or wouldn't) change it for whatever reason?  They could have at least changed the voiceover like some other companies have been doing.

[dleighg]

3 minutes ago, janie jones said:

But the whole commercial is about people coming to your house and looking in your oven.  I wasn't seeing this commercial until about a week ago.  It's really quite unfortunate timing.  I'm assuming the Easy Off people paid for this in advance of the quarantines and couldn't (or wouldn't) change it for whatever reason?  They could have at least changed the voiceover like some other companies have been doing.

that ad makes zero sense for these times! Nobody's coming over for dinner or anything else, so who the heck cares what their oven looks like! And yeah, a change in the voice over to "you've got time to clean your oven-- get it ready for when we all get together again"

[Red Bridey]

There are two commercials that annoy me to no end because I mishear every time: A promo for some competition between Buddy and Duff that I always hear as ... The bacon competition ... What? And then the scrawny kid whose mom wants to pump him up with Pediasure. I always mishear 'worried about my growth' as 'worried about my grill' which is startling and hilarious (to me).

[cynicat]

12 hours ago, Red Bridey said:

There are two commercials that annoy me to no end because I mishear every time: A promo for some competition between Buddy and Duff that I always hear as ... The bacon competition ... What? And then the scrawny kid whose mom wants to pump him up with Pediasure. I always mishear 'worried about my growth' as 'worried about my grill' which is startling and hilarious (to me).

Whoa, that's freaky because I always hear those exact same things in both of those commercials too.  I keep wondering why Buddy is putting bacon in his cake.

[janie jones]

18 hours ago, Red Bridey said:

There are two commercials that annoy me to no end because I mishear every time: A promo for some competition between Buddy and Duff that I always hear as ... The bacon competition ... What? And then the scrawny kid whose mom wants to pump him up with Pediasure. I always mishear 'worried about my growth' as 'worried about my grill' which is startling and hilarious (to me).

Is that the one where they say that the competitors are some of the most famous bakers in the world?  I mean, that may be statistically true, but I had never heard of either one of them until I started seeing that commercial.

[bad things are bad]

30 minutes ago, janie jones said:

but I had never heard of either one of them until I started seeing that commercia

In the business, that is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy 🙂

[Red Bridey]

These are bakers that construct elaborate cakes covered in fondant, which I think is gross! None of those cakes look good enough to eat. They are amazing feats of decoration, but I wouldn't want a piece of any of them.

[Brookside]

17 hours ago, Red Bridey said:

These are bakers that construct elaborate cakes covered in fondant, which I think is gross! None of those cakes look good enough to eat. They are amazing feats of decoration, but I wouldn't want a piece of any of them.

I totally agree.  In my mind, if you're a baker, what you're doing is making something that is first and foremost tasty. Of course, appearance is important, but if you have to peel off a 6-inch layer of fondant to get to a layer of dry, days' old, bland sponge cake, you've missed the mark.

[peacheslatour]

54 minutes ago, Brookside said:

I totally agree.  In my mind, if you're a baker, what you're doing is making something that is first and foremost tasty. Of course, appearance is important, but if you have to peel off a 6-inch layer of fondant to get to a layer of dry, days' old, bland sponge cake, you've missed the mark.

And building elements out of rice crispies treats is another lazy trick. Can you imagine anyone on the Great British Competition using such shiftless shortcuts?

[friendperidot]

Just what makes a leader? Does one decide for themselves, I'm going to college and that will make me a leader? There's an ad for one of the online (probably worthless) college degree programs where one young man says that going to whatever online college made me the leader I am today. Is there a college degree program in leadership? I really don't understand. I always thought being a leader came with experience in some area and for many leaders, a natural charisma, for others, just the experience earned by doing something for a time period (months, years) made them more knowledgeable and more qualified to lead the group. But I don't think I know anyone who is a real leader that calls themselves that. Those that can, just do, then there are those that advertise themselves as.

[Bort]

11 hours ago, friendperidot said:

Just what makes a leader? Does one decide for themselves, I'm going to college and that will make me a leader? There's an ad for one of the online (probably worthless) college degree programs where one young man says that going to whatever online college made me the leader I am today. Is there a college degree program in leadership? I really don't understand. I always thought being a leader came with experience in some area and for many leaders, a natural charisma, for others, just the experience earned by doing something for a time period (months, years) made them more knowledgeable and more qualified to lead the group. But I don't think I know anyone who is a real leader that calls themselves that. Those that can, just do, then there are those that advertise themselves as.

There are a lot of fields where one can work their way up from the bottom but will plateau because leadership roles will only be given to people with college degrees. And I think that’s the message the commercial is going for.

[Moose135]

2 hours ago, kariyaki said:

There are a lot of fields where one can work their way up from the bottom but will plateau because leadership roles will only be given to people with college degrees. And I think that’s the message the commercial is going for.

The problem I have is when they call those "leadership" roles - they are "senior management" roles, and yes, you often need a college degree for many of them. But I've always been of the belief that you can be a leader without being a manager, and being a manager doesn't automatically make you a leader, so I see @friendperidot's point.

[peacheslatour]

45 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

The problem I have is when they call those "leadership" roles - they are "senior management" roles, and yes, you often need a college degree for many of them. But I've always been of the belief that you can be a leader without being a manager, and being a manager doesn't automatically make you a leader, so I see @friendperidot's point.

Yeah, I don't think leadership is something that can be taught. Some people are natural leaders.

[friendperidot]

I've known supervisors and managers that were terrible leaders and good leaders who were not supervisors or managers. I'm not a particularly good or natural leader. I know that and I don't put myself into positions to screw things up by trying.

[SoMuchTV]

6 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Yeah, I don't think leadership is something that can be taught. Some people are natural leaders.

A couple of my kids were involved in “leadership workshop” programs/classes/camps in middle school/high school/college. While I’m sure it’s true that some people are “natural leaders”, there are definitely some skills that are very learnable and helpful, whatever your baseline is. 

[friendperidot]

I'll take my next leadership comments to small talk, in a few minutes.

 

[Bastet]

21 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

A couple of my kids were involved in “leadership workshop” programs/classes/camps in middle school/high school/college. While I’m sure it’s true that some people are “natural leaders”, there are definitely some skills that are very learnable and helpful, whatever your baseline is.

Exactly.  With any skill, some people start with a natural inclination, which will be enhanced through learning (by instruction and experience).  And some people whose baseline is pretty low won't improve much through learning, but some will indeed develop a new skill.

With that said, though, the commercial is probably indeed pretty awful; most of them are, because most of the diploma mills educational institutions being advertised are.

[Ubiquitous]

 

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2020 at 6:36 PM, SoMuchTV said:

Just saw a tv ad for a local seafood place. “Order online! Drive up! We’ll load!”  Sounds great!  Then they say “all orders are cash only”. WHAT???

It's my experience that restaurants who only deal with cash are in serious trouble and cannot afford the transaction fees for credit card processing.

[ByTor]

On 4/7/2020 at 4:31 PM, Ubiquitous said:

That reminds me of the series of Quickbooks commercials in which businesses owners have so much free time that they can ponder stupid questions like "why are pizza boxes square instead of round?". Really, it takes you any significant amount of time to figure that one out?  

Do you mean Constant Contact?  I love this, and it made me wonder myself...who DOES close the bus door after the bus driver gets off?

 

[peacheslatour]

Has anyone ever tried the Teeter? The old guy in the commercial says it cure a multitude of ills. To me it looks like a set up for a myriad of disasters.

[Ubiquitous]

On 4/19/2020 at 5:56 PM, ByTor said:

Do you mean Constant Contact?  I love this, and it made me wonder myself...who DOES close the bus door after the bus driver gets off?

 

They don't.  

 

On 4/20/2020 at 5:54 PM, peacheslatour said:

Has anyone ever tried the Teeter? The old guy in the commercial says it cure a multitude of ills. To me it looks like a set up for a myriad of disasters.

That commercial tickles me pink when he says "... and I feel GREAT!" and makes the most feeble leap into the air I have ever seen.

 

Circling back to those pandemic commercials, I am distracted by wondering if the parts taken at their homes were really done with a webcam.