Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[elle]

On 2/16/2021 at 3:41 PM, WinnieWinkle said:

The Downey commercial with the guy who sniffs his laundry and gets taken back in time  - what's weird to me is what room is he in?  The room is huge and seems  like it's a living room but there is a washer and dryer and ironing board in there.  Is it meant to be a really big kitchen and you just don't see the other appliances?

It looks like a basement to me which would explain both the size and what appears to be a multiple use room.

Edited February 17, 2021 by elle
extra the

[Ubiquit0us]

HOLY FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT COMMERCIAL THAT I JUST SAW?!?! 

The last thing I remember was seeing faces on people's chins... 😱

 

On 2/13/2021 at 1:00 PM, peacheslatour said:

Nor am I. He irritates the crap out of me and the food he endorses is fatty, disgusting, unhealthy slop.

If memory serves,  it's Guy's way of rebelling against his parents making him eat "health food" as a child. 

 

On 2/13/2021 at 10:43 PM, theatremouse said:

I don't enjoy him, but agree he is near-ubiquitous. Certainly famous enough for endorsements.

You rang? 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Ubiquit0us

[peacheslatour]

Quote

If memory serves,  it's Guy's way of rebelling against his parents making him eat "health food" as a child. 

Isn't the statute of limitations of rebelling against your parents supposed to kick in about 25? He's way past that. There is no excuse for his insistence that eating garbage.

[Ghost of TWOP Past]

There's a commercial for an electric heating pad, and to show that it's better than the competition they have someone walk up and assail the chilly person with a leaf blower at close range. The competition's heat pad blows away, whereas Brand X's shrugs off the gale with leaden aplomb. Bear this in mind the next time you're faced with the dilemma of remaining cozy during a hurricane. 

Edited February 21, 2021 by Ghost of TWOP Past

[Maverick]

31 minutes ago, Ghost of TWOP Past said:

Bear this in mind the next time you're faced with the dilemma of remaining cozy during a hurricane. 

 Or the next time you ask your partner to blow you.

[QuinnInND]

16 hours ago, Ghost of TWOP Past said:

There's a commercial for an electric heating pad, and to show that it's better than the competition they have someone walk up and assail the chilly person with a leaf blower at close range. The competition's heat pad blows away, whereas Brand X's shrugs off the gale with leaden aplomb. Bear this in mind the next time you're faced with the dilemma of remaining cozy during a hurricane. 

The weight is nice and comforting for some. Like weighted blankets. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I love the Pepto-Bismol commercial, "the Pepto To Go is yours, but your peanuts are mine!"    

The Allstate commercial with the singing hood ornament, is interesting.   The original song was the Pet Shop Boy debut album, "Opportunies (Let's Make Lots of Money)" and the commercial is responsible for the song hitting the charts again, after 35 years.  I'm not sure I want to buy insurance from a singing hood ornament, but it's different.  

Edited February 25, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Prevailing Wind]

I don't think squirrels' voices are that deep.  LOL

[cynicat]

7 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I don't think squirrels' voices are that deep.  LOL

Are you sure?  Have you ever seen the size of a squirrels balls?  Massive, considering the body mass: scrotum ratio .  My avatar ought to know...wink wink.  

This is from the linked National Geographic article:

Quote

There’s a famous picture that has probably been burned into the retinas of anyone who spends a lot of time on the internet. It’s a squirrel, standing up, with a surprisingly huge pair of testicles dangling beneath him. That’s a Cape ground squirrel and the image isn’t a fake. Males have a scrotum that’s 20% of their body length (excluding the tail) and their penis is more than twice as long.

These mighty genitals suggest that sex, and sperm in particular, is a serious business for Cape ground squirrels. To get the best odds of fathering the next generation, they need to ensure that it’s their sperm that fertilises the female’s eggs and not those of rivals. So they make a lot of it; hence, the oversized testicles.

 

[Prevailing Wind]

I've heard my local squirrels cussing at my cats. Their voices are not that low - they're not Cape squirrels.  😉

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I've heard my local squirrels cussing at my cats. Their voices are not that low - they're not Cape squirrels.  😉

Squirrels: Nature's smart asses. Our squirrels get in the rhodedendron bush in front of our living room window and taunt our cat. They know he can't get at them and I swear I can hear them laughing.

[QuinnInND]

37 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Squirrels: Nature's smart asses. Our squirrels get in the rhodedendron bush in front of our living room window and taunt our cat. They know he can't get at them and I swear I can hear them laughing.

We had a pair in North Dakota that drove our doxies crazy. They'd taunt them, and when I'd let them out, they'd go tearing off after the squirrels, who would run thru the bottom of the chain link fence, and up the nearest tree and chatter at the dogs. 

[Ubiquit0us]

On 2/19/2021 at 10:27 AM, Ubiquit0us said:

HOLY FUCK! WHAT WAS THAT COMMERCIAL THAT I JUST SAW?!?! 

The last thing I remember was seeing faces on people's chins... 😱

 

 

[CrystalBlue]

32 minutes ago, Ubiquit0us said:

 

Adds new meaning to Talking Heads.  I hate stuff like this.  John Goodman's face on a finger is another example of ick cringe to me.

13 hours ago, cynicat said:

Are you sure?  Have you ever seen the size of a squirrels balls?  Massive, considering the body mass: scrotum ratio .  My avatar ought to know...wink wink.  

This is from the linked National Geographic article:

 

Squirrels have two kinds of nuts!

[chessiegal]

Verizon Fios is our cable provider. For 2 days now, late at night, I've seen their commercial advertising their music channels. I'd totally forgotten about those channels. But what has me scratching my head is that they are advertising their Christmas music channel "to get you in the mood for the holidays". What??? It's almost March!

[Ubiquit0us]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

Verizon Fios is our cable provider. For 2 days now, late at night, I've seen their commercial advertising their music channels. I'd totally forgotten about those channels. But what has me scratching my head is that they are advertising their Christmas music channel "to get you in the mood for the holidays". What??? It's almost March!

Comcast's On Demand "channel" is STILL playing promos for Xmas. 

[cynicat]

17 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Verizon Fios is our cable provider. For 2 days now, late at night, I've seen their commercial advertising their music channels. I'd totally forgotten about those channels. But what has me scratching my head is that they are advertising their Christmas music channel "to get you in the mood for the holidays". What??? It's almost March!

To be fair, during this current COVID Groundhog Day Life, tomorrow could be Christmas for all I know. 

[proserpina65]

On ‎02‎/‎13‎/‎2021 at 11:41 AM, chessiegal said:

Is Guy Fieri so well known it makes sense to feature him in a Hawaii Kings bread commercial?

Yes, unfortunately he is.

[madmax]

A commercial for Car Shield,  featuring two hockey players whose names escape me right now.  They're joking about I won more cups, I'm a Conn Smythe winner, then one of the hockey players makes what looks to me like a masturbation gesture when the other is talking.  Did I really see that? 😄

[janie jones]

19 hours ago, madmax said:

A commercial for Car Shield,  featuring two hockey players whose names escape me right now.  They're joking about I won more cups, I'm a Conn Smythe winner, then one of the hockey players makes what looks to me like a masturbation gesture when the other is talking.  Did I really see that? 😄

Is this the one you're talking about? I couldn't find what you're talking about. When is it? I saw a few instances of them moving their hands around, but nothing like that.

[bankerchick]

Do you mean the guy riding the stick? Or the guy playing guitar with his stick?  Those were the only actions I could see that might fit your description, and both of those are actions quite familiar to any hockey fan.

[CrystalBlue]

2 hours ago, janie jones said:

Is this the one you're talking about? I couldn't find what you're talking about. When is it? I saw a few instances of them moving their hands around, but nothing like that.

The ad portrays two hockey players who act like jerk offs and a referee/announcer (?) but I didn't see any masturbatory maneuvers.

Coverage not available in California.

Edited February 25, 2021 by CrystalBlue

[Nicmar]

On 2/13/2021 at 11:22 AM, peacheslatour said:

He's everywhere.

I loathe him. I see DDD on food network and  change the channel.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, janie jones said:

Is this the one you're talking about? I couldn't find what you're talking about. When is it? I saw a few instances of them moving their hands around, but nothing like that.

 

2 hours ago, bankerchick said:

Do you mean the guy riding the stick? Or the guy playing guitar with his stick?  Those were the only actions I could see that might fit your description, and both of those are actions quite familiar to any hockey fan.

By their description, the OP must be referring to this one (and the gesture they're reading as the jerk-off signal is presumably when Pat Maroon gestures at Ryan O'Reilly while O'Reilly tries to give his pitch [and then O'Reilly says "I can see you moving"]; I don't perceive it that way, I think it just looks funny because of his glove):

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Bastet

[peacheslatour]

I see it more as a "check this guy, he thinks he something."

[bankerchick]

Hmmm.  Who would have thought there were 2 commercials for this?  I definitely see the action in the clip posted by Bastet, and agree that's what it looks like.  Given they are professional hockey players, that is probably exactly what they did mean.  All in good fun of course.

[madmax]

Maybe I just have a dirty mind.  😆

[Browncoat]

A horrible rendition of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" seems an odd choice of music for an airbnb commercial.

[Annber03]

I saw one recently that had Dolly Parton's version of "I Will Always Love You" in it. And they kept showing pictures of a dog throughout as well, so up until the end I thought it was going to be some sort of pet ad that had a sad element to it or something. 

[InDueTime]

When I saw this Glad ad, I was wondering if they were referencing Elizabeth Holmes, from the Theranos scam.  If so, I'm then wondering why anyone would think it would be a good idea to reference that person for your product.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/tzoW/glad-keynote-featuring-angela-kinsey

[Prevailing Wind]

6 hours ago, InDueTime said:

When I saw this Glad ad, I was wondering if they were referencing Elizabeth Holmes, from the Theranos scam.  If so, I'm then wondering why anyone would think it would be a good idea to reference that person for your product.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/tzoW/glad-keynote-featuring-angela-kinsey

I think it's just a take-off on those TED talk things.

[dleighg]

11 hours ago, InDueTime said:

When I saw this Glad ad, I was wondering if they were referencing Elizabeth Holmes, from the Theranos scam.  If so, I'm then wondering why anyone would think it would be a good idea to reference that person for your product.

Certainly the blonde hair and black turtleneck are very EH. But she speaks in a typical female range voice on the other hand. Yeah I think a different color turtleneck might have been a good idea for those of us tuned into Elizabeth Holmes. 

[nokat]

Trelegy. I'm used to the "may cause symptoms worse than what you are trying to cure" but I heard "difficulty urinating" and I'm like wait, what? Am I not going to make it to the bathroom or do my kidneys decide to revolt?

[Silver Raven]

The Progressive Insurance sign spinner ads make me wonder if we're supposed to want to buy insurance from a company whose agents apparently rent their offices in a run down strip mall.

 

[friendperidot]

I'm confused by the Planters' ads. Mr. Peanut says he died and then he came back. I googled and found that last year Planters had planned a campaign that Mr. Peanut had died and there was going to be a funeral ad during the Superbowl or there was going to be a funeral in an ad sometime before the Superbowl, and he was going to come back during the Superbowl, it's confusing exactly what they were talking about. But then Kobe Bryant died about the time they were going to kill him off so they scraped the plan. Apparently there was some kind of Twitter campaign planned, but I don't Twitter so I don't get it. Did Planters not advertise last year? I really don't remember, I don't remember seeing ads but I don't remember not seeing ads, I mostly watch old people channels and they don't run too many of the A list or even the B list of commercials, so I may have missed any ads. There's been some cute Mr. Peanut ads, there's been some irritating and even some that made us all go "huh?" Can anyone make any sense of this?

[Prevailing Wind]

I know nothing about Mr. Peanut. Sounds like a stupid idea.

[Ghost of TWOP Past]

Now he's Mr. Peanut the White. 

[Blergh]

12 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

The Progressive Insurance sign spinner ads make me wonder if we're supposed to want to buy insurance from a company whose agents apparently rent their offices in a run down strip mall.

 

They're just hoping potential customers think that they've FINALLY gotten rid of Flo (who IMO doesn't deserve to operate out of her mom's garage ) and can  let their guard down but those 'Net pop up ads with her are STILL there. 

[Prevailing Wind]

2 hours ago, Ghost of TWOP Past said:

Now he's Mr. Peanut the White. 

He's still yellow...

 

[KWalkerInc]

It seems weird that both Carl's Jr. (in the ads with the woman talking like she wants to seduce her burger) and Wendy's have ads where they are obsessing over the fact that the Big Mac has an extra bun.  Is that really going to be the one thing that sways people away from McDonald's forever?  It's not like this is a new development.  Of course, Carl's used to think having gross ads where sandwiches and burgers dripped all over the place made them seem appealing, so they've never had ads that made a lot of sense.

[Haleth]

15 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

The Progressive Insurance sign spinner ads make me wonder if we're supposed to want to buy insurance from a company whose agents apparently rent their offices in a run down strip mall.

 

Don't they all?  (I realize most insurance is purchased on line these days, but in the past it seems every strip mall would have an insurance office.)

I remember seeing the Mr Peanut funeral commercial during the SuperBowl.  I thought it was stupid.

[Ashforth]

23 hours ago, nokat said:

Trelegy. I'm used to the "may cause symptoms worse than what you are trying to cure" but I heard "difficulty urinating" and I'm like wait, what? Am I not going to make it to the bathroom or do my kidneys decide to revolt?

But, but, Trelegy! As easy as one-two-three! Well so maybe number one isn't so easy 🤔

[Ubiquit0us]

8 hours ago, friendperidot said:

I'm confused by the Planters' ads. Mr. Peanut says he died and then he came back. I googled and found that last year Planters had planned a campaign that Mr. Peanut had died and there was going to be a funeral ad during the Superbowl or there was going to be a funeral in an ad sometime before the Superbowl, and he was going to come back during the Superbowl, it's confusing exactly what they were talking about. But then Kobe Bryant died about the time they were going to kill him off so they scraped the plan. Apparently there was some kind of Twitter campaign planned, but I don't Twitter so I don't get it. Did Planters not advertise last year? I really don't remember, I don't remember seeing ads but I don't remember not seeing ads, I mostly watch old people channels and they don't run too many of the A list or even the B list of commercials, so I may have missed any ads. There's been some cute Mr. Peanut ads, there's been some irritating and even some that made us all go "huh?" Can anyone make any sense of this?

I am only vaguely aware of the cd campaign,  but Planters staged his death b/c they thought Mr. Peanut looked "too old fashioned" and wanted a reason for him to suddenly look "young and hip". I'm not aware of Kobe's death changing things (I don't think that even happened the same year), but I strongly suspect they were trying to rip off the popular at the  time "Baby Groot", even more so b/c Mr Peanut looks the same.

 

17 hours ago, Silver Raven said:

The Progressive Insurance sign spinner ads make me wonder if we're supposed to want to buy insurance from a company whose agents apparently rent their offices in a run down strip mall.

Heh. That thought never occurred to me!  

[Madding crowd]

I also don’t get the Air B&B commercials where they play slowed down versions of Landslide and I Will Always Love You. In the first one, I’m always convinced the dog will die and in the other one they keep showing a skinny person with no hair wearing a hat or sleeping on a sofa so I’m thinking this is about cancer. Just don’t get what they are going for here.

[Ubiquit0us]

I've been seeing commercials for Air B&B which act like real estate commercials by talking about a place where you'll make family memories,  which makes no sense to me.  What, you cannot form fond family memories if you stay at a motel or hotel for your vacation?  🤔

[Ubiquit0us]

I keep seeing a commercial for Fan Duel that doesn't make any sense. It starts with a pair of bobbleheads,  then two guys on a couch watching football,  then returns to the bobbleheads as they don't seem to talk ob anything in particular.  I think Fan Duel is one of those dubious sports gambling sites, so I have no idea what's  going on. 

[WinnieWinkle]

On 3/5/2021 at 10:49 AM, Ubiquit0us said:

I've been seeing commercials for Air B&B which act like real estate commercials by talking about a place where you'll make family memories,  which makes no sense to me.  What, you cannot form fond family memories if you stay at a motel or hotel for your vacation?  🤔

They are also trying to make it seem like you are actually being hosted by someone - well not exactly in most cases. And I am sorry but the idea that these groups of young 20-somethings will rent a place and treat it respectfully is an endearing one  but it's not one that seems to be borne out by the stories I hear locally about what has happened when a bunch of unrelated people rent a place - it is usually PARTY time.

Edited March 6, 2021 by WinnieWinkle

[Ubiquit0us]

5 hours ago, WinnieWinkle said:

They are also trying to make it seem like you are actually being hosted by someone - well not exactly in most cases. And I am sorry but the idea that these groups of young 20-somethings will rent a place and treat it respectfully is an endearing one  but it's not one that seems to be borne out by the stories I hear locally about what has happened when a bunch of unrelated people rent a place - it is usually PARTY time.

That's what I would do if I were a high school or college kid.

[chessiegal]

There's a commercial for Tidy Cats natural litter that has a woman holding up the litter box and asking if there is a natural litter that controls odors. My husband said the first time he saw it he thought the woman was holding a casserole dish. Hee!

[Prevailing Wind]

Capillus, the hat that grows hair.  It's been "cleared by the FDA."   What does that mean? if it were FDA Approved, wouldn't they say THAT?