Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Gramto6]

33 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

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?

Apples and oranges doubt it means anything....what magic makes hair grow???

[Prevailing Wind]

Aha! There IS a difference... https://www.cnet.com/health/fda-approved-vs-fda-cleared-whats-the-difference/

 

[shlbycindyk]

I'm a little confused over the commercial for Third Love bras. What advertising genius thought it would be a good idea for women to be sitting on a sofa next to a giant bra?  If I start seeing giant bras sitting next to me I'm going to be begging the therapist for some good antipsychotic medications! 

I'd also like advertisers to know that when I see a commercial with a cute kid talking about how they know what tastes good because they're a kid my first thought is not going to be how I need to buy your product.  My first thought is going to be that I need a hysterectomy ASAP!

[peacheslatour]

Quote

I'd also like advertisers to know that when I see a commercial with a cute kid talking about how they know what tastes good because they're a kid my first thought is not going to be how I need to buy your product.  My first thought is going to be that I need a hysterectomy ASAP!

Kids basically live on a steady diet of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and Hot Pockets. Yeah, I'm really going to take your advice when it comes to culinary matters.

[chessiegal]

6 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Kids basically live on a steady diet of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and Hot Pockets. Yeah, I'm really going to take your advice when it comes to culinary matters.

Not my grandkids. One of them complained about virtual learning because he got fed healthy meals all day at home instead of being able to eat something less healthy at lunch at school.

As for the kid in the plant based burgers and sausages commercial, they're going for kids being picky eaters stereotype , so if a kid will eat it.... It's not a particularly well done concept.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

As for the kid in the plant based burgers and sausages commercial, they're going for kids being picky eaters stereotype , so if a kid will eat it.... It's not a particularly well done concept.

No, it is not.

[Bastet]

Yeah, those "If I (a kid) will eat it even though it's good for me* you know it tastes good" commercials bug me, because they're predicated on the stereotype that kids only like junk food.  And, yes, some kids - and adults - have a really limited list of foods they like no matter what kind of variety they're offered.  But a lot of kids have a much broader palate.  So it's just a really tired, boring pitch by this point.

*We'll just let that go for purposes of this discussion.

[Ubiquit0us]

I'm not sure what it's for, but there's a commercial about a man who used Perm Plus and as a result, has attracted a lot of cats. Wait, isn't that a real product? 

[CrazyInAlabama]

Pert Plus is the real product, but it fooled me at first too.  

[janie jones]

On 3/4/2021 at 5:34 AM, 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?

I think it means you have to pee but it won't come out.

This reminds, me though, of when ads will say that one of the side effects is tuberculosis or some other infectious disease. Although I realize there's probably some legal reason why they have to phrase it this way, I wish they would say something like "susceptibility to tuberculosis" because popping a pill is not how you get tuberculosis.

On 3/4/2021 at 9:47 PM, 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 thought they did show him dying? I remember seeing an ad and wondering why they were getting rid of him. Maybe I saw an ad that was leading up to the death?

On 3/5/2021 at 2:49 AM, KWalkerInc said:

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.

I like burgers that are juicy with toppings, so I liked those Carls' Jr ads.

On 3/5/2021 at 7:49 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?  🤔

Maybe there are people out there who don't like staying in hotels? "You can still take a vacation without having to stay in a hotel"?

Which reminds me of another thing. When VRBO first started advertising, they said it V R B O, but now they pronounce it "verbo." Which is fine; I get why they do that. But it was jarring to me. I wish they addressed it rather than acting like V R B O never happened.

On 3/6/2021 at 10:00 AM, 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.

Yikes. My friends and I never trashed rentals in our 20s and I can't envision any of the twenty-somethings currently of my acquaintance doing that either. I'd think that the trashers are the exception, not the rule.

[madmax]

1 minute ago, janie jones said:

Maybe there are people out there who don't like staying in hotels? "You can still take a vacation without having to stay in a hotel"?

 

When we took a mini-vacation in September to meet up with my son for the first time in 9 months, we didn't want a hotel.  Too many people, so we used VRBO.  The commercial is still irritating, tho.

[bankerchick]

30 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Yikes. My friends and I never trashed rentals in our 20s and I can't envision any of the twenty-somethings currently of my acquaintance doing that either. I'd think that the trashers are the exception, not the rule.

My guess is that you and your friends are the exception, although I suppose a group of 21 year olds is probably different from a group of 29 year olds.

[peacheslatour]

41 minutes ago, bankerchick said:

My guess is that you and your friends are the exception, although I suppose a group of 21 year olds is probably different from a group of 29 year olds.

My friends and I would never have trashed the place but there may have been some inadvertent damage. Spilled drinks, cigarette burns and general stains and dirt.

[nokat]

1 hour ago, janie jones said:

I think it means you have to pee but it won't come out.

This reminds, me though, of when ads will say that one of the side effects is tuberculosis or some other infectious disease. Although I realize there's probably some legal reason why they have to phrase it this way, I wish they would say something like "susceptibility to tuberculosis" because popping a pill is not how you get tuberculosis.

 

Everything that may have happened to the test subjects.

[janie jones]

Yeah, but my point is they didn't catch the flu from the heartburn medicine.

Edited March 10, 2021 by janie jones

[peacheslatour]

10 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Yeah, but my point is they didn't catch the flu from the heartburn medicine.

Yes, obviously it's because certain test subjects had reactions but they caught TB? How would that work?

[nokat]

2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Yes, obviously it's because certain test subjects had reactions but they caught TB? How would that work?

I thought you had to be in close proximity to a TB person for a while before you caught it. I'm obviously not an immunologist. 

[Ubiquit0us]

8 hours ago, janie jones said:

Maybe there are people out there who don't like staying in hotels? "You can still take a vacation without having to stay in a hotel"?

What did those people do before B&B's? 

[Gramto6]

1 hour ago, Ubiquit0us said:

What did those people do before B&B's? 

Motor homes, camping??

Edited March 11, 2021 by Gramto6
added on to post

[SoMuchTV]

On 3/5/2021 at 10:00 AM, Madding crowd said:

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.

 

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?  🤔

I can see how those can be annoying or head-scratching, but I have to say I really like all the songs they’ve used so far. 

[Bastet]

9 hours ago, janie jones said:

When VRBO first started advertising, they said it V R B O, but now they pronounce it "verbo." Which is fine; I get why they do that. But it was jarring to me. I wish they addressed it rather than acting like V R B O never happened.

Interesting.  I've somehow missed the ads, and had only seen Vrbo written, never heard it said.  I assumed it was pronounced like it's written - "verbo".  But just a few days ago, I heard someone mention it in an interview, and she pronounced it as an initialism rather than an acronym.  So I thought I'd been assuming wrong all this time.

[Prevailing Wind]

1 hour ago, Gramto6 said:

Motor homes, camping??

We went camping because we couldn't afford nightly motels.  My dad got one-week vacations for many years and we camped in many of Florida's finest state parks. Maybe once in that week, we'd stay in a motel.

A former boss has a property listed on VRBO. She always pronounced the letters.  She'd also give a discount/refund to get people to delete negative reviews. which kind of defeats the purpose of reviews. Because of that experience, I would never use VRBO, not knowing if any of the other owners are as unscrupulous as my ex-boss.

[Gramto6]

Late DH and I did lots of camping (this was at least 30 yrs ago). On long trips we would occasionally do a one night motel/hotel to shower and do laundry. We were often out for 2-3 weeks at a time...even when we travelled Europe. In Europe we travelled on the trains with a Eurorail pass. We slept on the train between stops, sometimes doubling back to get where we wanted to be in the morning. It was an eye opening way of travel for me, but DH was Hungarian and knew his way around Europe. Occasional hotel stops kept us with clean laundry, etc.

[shlbycindyk]

5 hours ago, nokat said:

I thought you had to be in close proximity to a TB person for a while before you caught it. I'm obviously not an immunologist. 

You do.  TB is strictly an airborne disease however some medications do lower your ability to fight off diseases which will make you more susceptible to things like TB.  Hey!  I did learn something in medical school after all! 

[janie jones]

12 hours ago, shlbycindyk said:

TB is strictly an airborne disease however some medications do lower your ability to fight off diseases which will make you more susceptible to things like TB.  Hey!  I did learn something in medical school after all! 

Which is the point I was trying to make (apparently poorly). A weakened immune system is the side effect of the medication, not the infectious disease, but tuberculosis is listed right there next to drowsiness.

Edited March 11, 2021 by janie jones

[Ubiquit0us]

That DuelFan commercial continues to become more confounding! Who the hell is Moreways? What is he winning? 

[janie jones]

17 hours ago, Bastet said:

Interesting.  I've somehow missed the ads, and had only seen Vrbo written, never heard it said.  I assumed it was pronounced like it's written - "verbo".  But just a few days ago, I heard someone mention it in an interview, and she pronounced it as an initialism rather than an acronym.  So I thought I'd been assuming wrong all this time.

You probably pronounce it that way in your head because it's stylized as Vrbo now, not in all caps as an initialism would be. Someone seems to have done their job right!

Edited March 11, 2021 by janie jones

[proserpina65]

On ‎02‎/‎25‎/‎2021 at 8:43 PM, Annber03 said:

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. 

I still think it's an ASPCA commercial when it starts.

[proserpina65]

On ‎03‎/‎05‎/‎2021 at 5:49 AM, KWalkerInc said:

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? 

Yeah, it's not the extra bun that makes it inedible, it's that nasty "special sauce".

On ‎03‎/‎05‎/‎2021 at 10:00 AM, Madding crowd said:

I also don’t get the Air B&B commercials where they play slowed down versions of Landslide and I Will Always Love You

That's not a slowed down version of I Will Always Love You.  That's Dolly's original version.  Which, imo, is so vastly superior to the Whitney Houston screechfest  that they ought not be mentioned in the same breath.

On ‎03‎/‎10‎/‎2021 at 12:32 PM, madmax said:

When we took a mini-vacation in September to meet up with my son for the first time in 9 months, we didn't want a hotel.  Too many people, so we used VRBO.  The commercial is still irritating, tho.

It's an Air B&B commercial. I would never use Air B&B, but I have used VRBO for longer stays.

 

[Madding crowd]

I agree that Dolly is far superior to Whitney's version, but the song played in the commercial still sounds slowed down to me. Of course Dolly recorded it several times, sometimes as a duet. My main issue is that the commercials don't seem to be encouraging fun, happy times but seem to be about spending time with your dog or loved one before something bad happens. I understand it is not explicit, just the way it comes across. 

[Prevailing Wind]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Yeah, it's not the extra bun that makes it inedible, it's that nasty "special sauce"..

I've always thought the "special sauce" was just mayo & ketchup, which the BK Whopper has slathered on separately.

[peacheslatour]

Quote

Yeah, it's not the extra bun that makes it inedible, it's that nasty "special sauce".

So much THIS.

Quote

That's Dolly's original version.  Which, imo, is so vastly superior to the Whitney Houston screechfest  that they ought not be mentioned in the same breath.

Agreed.

[madmax]

3 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

It's an Air B&B commercial. I would never use Air B&B, but I have used VRBO for longer stays.

 

Goes to show you how much I actually paid attention to the commerical.  😄

[janie jones]

14 hours ago, madmax said:

Goes to show you how much I actually paid attention to the commerical.  😄

I introduced confusion. Someone posted about an Airbnb commercial, and it reminded me of how Vrbo changed the pronunciation of their name, and I commented on that.

[bankerchick]

20 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I still think it's an ASPCA commercial when it starts.

Wait, it isn't?  I don't pay a lot of attention to commercials when they're on but I do recall this one and assumed it was like the Sarah McLaughlin one about abused animals.  Not sure why anyone would think that commercial was a good way to advertise B&Bs.

 

18 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I agree that Dolly is far superior to Whitney's version

Agree to disagree.

[peacheslatour]

19 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I've always thought the "special sauce" was just mayo & ketchup, which the BK Whopper has slathered on separately.

[Ubiquit0us]

Wait, I thought Dolly Parton's song was "9 To 5", not "5 to 9"! 

 

[Bastet]

28 minutes ago, Ubiquit0us said:

Wait, I thought Dolly Parton's song was "9 To 5", not "5 to 9"! 

 

Sadly, she wrote and sang a twist on the working woman's anthem to use as the soundtrack to a gig economy propaganda commercial. 

She's still my queen, mind you.  But yuck.  Thankfully, I haven't come across it since the Super Bowl premiere.

[SnarkySheep]

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?  🤔

Wait, do you mean VRBO? There's one that I keep seeing, wherever a solemn voiceover tells us how happy Dad is to finally see Teen Daughter's face emerge from behind her phone - apparently because she's so thrilled they rented a place on a quiet lake surrounded by woods? I'm sorry, but no. Even before smartphone days, most teens were NOT excited to spend vacations in quiet places with "nothing to do." 

[Prevailing Wind]

Speaking of kids in the wilderness with nothing to do, I think the Frito-Lay ad missed out...

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ZyWw/frito-lay-variety-packs-mom-fantasies-family-camp-out

There needs to be someone opening the door to an outhouse. We don't need to see the interior - just the door with the crescent moon cut-out would suffice. But we need to one of the girls have an absolutely horrified look on her face, with her eyes getting wider as the seconds pass.  Cause, y'know, been there, done that. It's definitely horror-inducing.

[peacheslatour]

10 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Speaking of kids in the wilderness with nothing to do, I think the Frito-Lay ad missed out...

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/ZyWw/frito-lay-variety-packs-mom-fantasies-family-camp-out

There needs to be someone opening the door to an outhouse. We don't need to see the interior - just the door with the crescent moon cut-out would suffice. But we need to one of the girls have an absolutely horrified look on her face, with her eyes getting wider as the seconds pass.  Cause, y'know, been there, done that. It's definitely horror-inducing.

The thing that irks me the most about that commercial is that after the kids are whining, arguing and being unpleasant brats in general, what does mom do? Does she remonstrate them? No. Does she make them sit in the car until they can act like decent human beings? No, she rewards them with fatty, salty treats. Way to teach your kids some manners, lady.

[xaxat]

I'm puzzled. This ad uses a (poor) cover of the rap classic White Lines. It's a song about the danger of cocaine use. I guess they thought if they didn't use the lyrics no one would notice.

My white lines, go a long way
Either up your nose or through your vein
With nothing to gain except killing your brain

 

[chessiegal]

22 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I'm puzzled. This ad uses a (poor) cover of the rap classic White Lines. It's a song about the danger of cocaine use. I guess they thought if they didn't use the lyrics no one would notice.

My white lines, go a long way
Either up your nose or through your vein
With nothing to gain except killing your brain

 

Music is lost on me. Never heard of the song.

[Bastet]

14 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Music is lost on me. Never heard of the song.

It has great lyrics:

 

A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time
He got out three years from now just to commit more crime
A businessman is caught with twenty four kilos
He's out on bail and out of jail, and that's the way it goes

The version used in the commercial has a lot else going on over it, and doesn't include lyrics, so while you may have heard the song at some point (maybe the "get higher, baby ... and don't ever come down" part), if you're not more familiar with the song you wouldn't recognize it here.

[friendperidot]

re the Progressive? ad about buying a house makes one turn into their parents. In general I like those, but this one part of the newest one has me scratching my head and I guess it means I've turned into my parents because I'm old, But why aren't they television programs? I call them programs and shows, programs if I'm feeling snooty or intelligent, shows when I don't.

 

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, friendperidot said:

re the Progressive? ad about buying a house makes one turn into their parents. In general I like those, but this one part of the newest one has me scratching my head and I guess it means I've turned into my parents because I'm old, But why aren't they television programs? I call them programs and shows, programs if I'm feeling snooty or intelligent, shows when I don't.

 

I guess because young people don't watch tv?

[Prevailing Wind]

I've always heard old people refer to them as "my shows" - mostly referring to the daytime soaps. They don't want to go out because "I don't want to miss my shows."

[peacheslatour]

1 minute ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I've always heard old people refer to them as "my shows" - mostly referring to the daytime soaps. They don't want to go out because "I don't want to miss my shows."

"My stories."

[sempervivum]

I think 'programs' is an old way of thinking about TV (not sure it's going to be called TV forever, either), because the shows actually were programmed by the networks. That episode of 'Mary Tyler Moore' was all you could watch at 7 pm on Saturday, because it was the only show programmed to be on at that time. Now, when you can watch almost any show anytime-assuming you have the right providers, apps, or whatever- nothing is really 'programmed'. IMO, of course.

[KWalkerInc]

There is a Dodge commercial with children pretending to drive really fast (they are racing a man who gives them advice--sometimes there is a shorter version where only the guy is shown).  At one point, one of the kids pauses and says that their lawyer wanted them to explain that it isn't real.  That is obvious, I wasn't worried about it.  I just don't understand why children pretending to drive is supposed to sell cars.