Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[OSM Mom]

I thought I heard that there is a piece of one way mirror type stuff that you put on your side. So the birds can't see in your house or realize they're being watched.

[Bastet]

Yeah, I looked the product up the first time I saw the commercial because I had the same thought as Maverick, and OSM Mom is right about the one-way mirror.  Now, of course, I worry that the mirror will confuse the birds.

[muddywaters]

"The back seat of my Subaru is where my daughter grew up!"

http://youtu.be/kmawIeE5nIk

Yeah, I bet she did...

[Bastet]

I remember discussing that one at TWoP when it first came out, and I still say there's just no way that's a truly unintended message.  Now, I don't mean that someone set out to write that implication into the line, but that there's no way no one involved realized the double entendre once it was written yet they decided to go ahead with it.

[Maverick]

Oh, I'm sure seeing itself in a mirror won't confuse the bird.  It'll just think it's in an episode of SVu and be hanging around waiting for Benson and Stabler to show up.

[Tabbyclaw]

There's probably not enough light coming in through the opening for the birds to notice the mirror.

[Jamoche]

Even changing it to just "the Subaru is where she grew up" wouldn't be quite so cringe-worthy. Still not a great line, but we'd just be discussing how the suburban soccer-mom concept of kids getting driven to everything is the norm in commercial-land instead.

[Rick Kitchen]

One of the most bizarre ads I've ever seen.

 

[friendperidot]

Might be time to get my hearing checked. TV is on, commercial, wasn't paying a lot of attention to the cat litter commercial, but ears picked up something about getting a free sample in the mail, then I started paying attention when I heard about the lubricated cat litter. Turns out they were talking catheter supplies.

[Prevailing Wind]

hahahahaha.  I love that.  lubricted cat litter.  LOL.  Thank you!

[Muffyn]

My take is they never let the daughter into the house.  Occasionally they would let her sit in the car in the garage, but usually she was stuck in the driveway.  She grew up in the back seat because she had more room to stretch out back there.  Later she turned tricks in the car.  Subaru, the car for neglectful parents. 

[Muffyn]

I find the thought of mixing margarine into my scrambled eggs much stranger than blow-drying a chicken.  Can I consider this a fail?

[Maverick]

You mean neglectful pimps.

[St. Claire]

I've been seeing all sorts of stuff about mixing butter or butter-substitutes into scramble eggs to make they fluffy and tasty. I have never added butter to my eggs (other than to grease the pan, maybe). Has this always been a thing?

[The Crazed Spruce]

I've been scrambling eggs for well over 20 years, and I've only ever used milk or cream.  You'd think that beating margarine into 'em would just make them taste greasier.

[riley702]

I was always told that adding liquid to them is wrong - the way to light and fluffy is to whisk the hell out of them right before they go in the skillet. And stir while cooking.

[captain1]

And MARGARINE!!  Seriously that stuff is gross and terrible for you.  Don't mess up a perfectly nutritious egg with it!

[St. Claire]

I didn't bristle at the innuendo until I'd seen the commerical a few times; my initial reaction to "she grew up in the back seat" was to remember the pang I had when my kids were big enough that they could sit up front. It's just one more "my baby isn't a baby anymore."

[CoderLady]

I never got any innuendo from it. To me it's all about the daughter having graduated to the front seat and the mother getting nostalgic but not explaining why she's giving her daughter that sappy look. But that's because I really like Subarus (my second car after the obligatory rusted-out ancient VW Beetle) so I'm just lookin' for the good.

[St. Claire]

I keep hearing Gary Busy talk about the "Amazon Fart TV."

And now, thanks to this post, I do too. The first few times I saw the commercial, I was just annoyed that Busey sounds as though he's talking through loose dentures (I never had a problem with him saying "faahr" instead of "fire") but now I can only hear Fart TV when he speaks.

[AntiBeeSpray]

I keep hearing Gary Busy talk about the "Amazon Fart TV."

Thanks, now I'll hear that too XD. I thought it was "Amazon Fire TV"... but any way sounds right... in regards to that commercial O_o.

[OSM Mom]

I think Gary Busey is one of the ugliest men I've ever seen and he turns my stomach. So this commercial doesn't work for me. Lol

[friendperidot]

There's an ad for some individual coffee maker, I think, not a coffee person. I never catch the beginning, so I don't understand it. Man goes in a room with 2 women, one says "You have 3 questions", second woman asks if he wants coffee, cut to shot of brightly wrapped balls - of coffee  I assume. He asks if this is coffee and some other coffee related question and 1st woman says you have one question left so he asks if he can have another. What is the beginning? I understand the purpose, but this never makes sense.

[Rick Kitchen]

The woman in the room is Penelope Cruz, international sex figure.  I don't know if the guy is supposed to be a reporter that has been limited to asking her three questions, or if the other woman who escorts him into the room is a genie who granted him three wishes, but that's the gist of the ad.

[friendperidot]

ok, thanks. I thought some kind of mystic or something. I really didn't know who she was. If they aren't in movies before the 70s. I probably don't know.

[Rinaldo]

I hadn't seen this myself, so I looked around and found the spot:

 

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

 

I wouldn't have recognized her either (I know that Penelope Cruz is big in movies now, I saw her win an Academy Award, but I'm not sure I've actually seen her in a movie), but from the setup it looks as if this is a standard press junket situation: she's touring to do PR for whatever, she's in her hotel suite in the current city, and reporters have gathered in the waiting room to wait their turns to interview her. To keep things moving along, the press rep limits each reporter to three questions. And as in traditional stories of being granted three wishes, the reporter we see wastes his three -- on asking about coffee. 

Edited April 26, 2014 by Rinaldo

[ramble]

My kids saw that & didn't get the set-up, especially since they didn't know Penelope Cruz, so I explained it to them. My oldest's response, "So they're trying to sell coffee by showing you how a stupid person is seduced by it to the point he can't do his job?" It would seem so. I didn't point out that I found the idea of the "star" serving a random reporter coffee ridiculous as well.

[Jamoche]

On top of everything else, his questions are stupid: "Is this coffee?" Well, duh. Sure, coffee comes in a lot of variations, but they all have that same very distinctive taste.

 

And who would ask how you get foam on it? And "it's crema" (autocorrect doesn't like that word, ha!) isn't an answer.

[friendperidot]

Thank you everyone! I don't feel so stupid anymore! I just couldn't understand.

[lachesis]

I just saw a commercial for some kind of hawaiian bread. The family is sitting down to dinner, someone puts a basket of rolls on the table, and one by one the family sucks the roll into their mouth like a hoover. What planet are these people from? The other thing that makes me go "HUH?" is the husband/father commenting about the neighbor parking in front of the house. "Our house, our spot. That's the RULE." Number 1, unless he's blocking your driveway, he can park there. Number 2, the whole premise of this ad is to sell freaking hawaiian rolls... don't be a dick to your neighbor especially since it has nothing to do with selling bread.

[Bastet]

I don't get why they're sucking the rolls to their mouths, but I have to get behind the comment about parking in front of their house (which I didn't even notice when I saw the commercial).  Yes, it's a public street, so anyone is free to park there.  But people who routinely park in front of a house other than the one in which they live/are visiting even though that space is available annoy me as a violation of common courtesy; I park in my garage, and I don't want to look out my window and constantly see someone's car, and I don't want my guests to have to park in my driveway or down the street because someone thinks my tree provides better shade than their own. 

[OSM Mom]

I hate those ads, but those rolls are soooo delicious.

[friendperidot]

New one that sort of makes me scratch my head, this is the closest I can come anyway. Commercial is for women's underwear. Has a woman in her panties & t shirt/camisole conducting an orchestra. Reminds me of the old "I dreamed I ____ in my Maidenform Bra". And I so don't believe her as a conductor.

[muddywaters]

This isn't so much commercials that make me scratch my head, but the context!

 

I'm watching Hoarders and there's like six months worth of dirty adult diapers in the bathroom, and they're pulling out dead cat after dead cat, and everyone's just gagging, as you do.  And in the other house they're climbing over stuff just to get across the room and black mold is growing under the clutter.  And then it's time for a commercial break! 

 

Swiffer - "My son never cleans up after himself!" and we have this teenager spilling a few crumbs in an absolutely spotless house.

 

Febreeze - "Show us the stinkiest room in your house!" Oh dear. I have no words.

[Babalu]

I *always* think Dennis Haysbert is saying, "That's Allstate, Stan."

And I *always* say, "Stop calling me Stan."

[Muffyn]

I saw the Swiffer commercial during Hoarders too (been watching marathons of hoarding shows).  After watching these shows, we've learned he could shit himself and store it in plastic bags and still find a mate.  Throw is a few flat cats and he'll have the ladies swooning. 

 

I also love seeing ads for shopping sites during these shows, especially ones that encourage you to buy things every day from their site.  These work really well when the person's biggest problem is a shopping addiction and their house is filled with unpacked shopping bags and unopened boxes.  

[Eliot]

There's a Depends commercial running right now where a woman is musing about how wearing Depends makes it possible for her to leave the house and go out and do active things, like kickboxing. Then there's a scene of her working with her kickboxing trainer, and as she lifts her leg in a perfect roundhouse kick, all I can think is, "She's peeing right now."

[Rinaldo]

Well, that's better than the other thing she might be doing....

[smittykins]

I *always* think Dennis Haysbert is saying, "That's Allstate, Stan."

And I *always* say, "Stop calling me Stan."

How about Shirley? :)

[bilgistic]

We get the two groups of women, one with TJ Maxx bags, one with Marshalls, with a big build up as if you're supposed to expect them to diss each other, and surprise! They just love each other's clothes.

Except I really don't see the major difference in their styles. There's barely even any difference in their color palettes. They're all over-accessorized and wearing spike heels. If I'm supposed to think that hey, I may be a TJ Maxx girl, but Marshalls has some cool stuff too - well, spike heels.

T.J.Maxx and Marshalls are the same (parent) company; HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post are the other companies on the roster.

Edited May 3, 2014 by bilgistic

[Jamoche]

T.J.Maxx and Marshalls are the same (parent) company; HomeGoods and Sierra Trading Post are the other companies on the roster.

Yeah, I get that. It's just the ad is playing it up like there's some big difference between the two, enough that fans of one are going to go all West Side Story when they meet fans of the other, and I can't tell their clothes apart. This isn't Hot Topic meets Coldwater Creek, this is Old Navy meets Gap.

[bilgistic]

The commercial doesn't make sense to me, either, specifically because they are the same company. I can't tell any real difference between the clothes offerings at T.J.Maxx and Marshalls, except Marshalls seems to carry more shoes...? HomeGoods has maybe a higher-end feel to their furniture and lamp offerings, basically because they have them and T.J.Maxx and Marshalls don't, but everything else there is exactly the same as the stuff in the housewares section at T.J.Maxx and Marshalls. I got a great long, heavy-duty curtain rod for hanging over my french doors at HomeGoods for under $20, I think.

[Taylorh2]

I think this commerical is from "Skechers" (?)  A woman is shown running from outside to get into the shower but she forgets to take off her shoes, and gets into the shower with them still on. (Shoes are so comfortable that you forget you're wearing them)

 

Then they show her taking them off in the shower (shower running) and putting them right on the bathroom floor,  The thing that made me scratch my head is that when she takes off the shoes in the shower, the shoes should be wet and sitting in some water on the floor but they're not

Edited May 5, 2014 by Taylorh2

[bilgistic]

It's for Reebok. I like the music in the commercial (and talked about it in the "music in commercials" thread), but the commercial is so maddeningly dumb.

[janie jones]

The thing that gets me about that stupid commercial is how completely impossible it would be for her to get her to get underwear off over those (or any) running shoes, let alone her spandex pants.  If they at least had her in baggy shorts, I might be able to buy it.  But probably not because I'm not dumb.

[monkeybread]

I cannot stand when they show those acne commercials. Especially during a cooking show. I mute all commercials because the voices they tend to use are so fake happy, we have everything under control, life is great! 

[Jamoche]

I've been seeing a prescription acne medicine commercial that features an actress whose acne - well, acne-colored makeup - barely shows on my HDTV. I get worse acne than that with my regularly scheduled hormonal imbalances, and I sure as hell wouldn't risk the side effects to get rid of them. They do show a couple of quick photos of people for whom "acne or death?" might provoke a "hmm, let me think about it", but the focus is on Miss Hollywood Unpretty. Yeah, sure, it's totally making your life miserable.

[Eliot]

I've been seeing a prescription acne medicine commercial that features an actress whose acne - well, acne-colored makeup - barely shows on my HDTV.

 

That reminds me of the commercial with the woman who freaks out because she can't get her already blindingly white teeth whitened again in time for her trip to Vegas / blind date / Hollywood premiere.

[riley702]

I've been seeing a prescription acne medicine commercial that features an actress whose acne - well, acne-colored makeup - barely shows on my HDTV.

Kaley Cuoco, right?

[Jamoche]

Kaley Cuoco, right?

No, this is just some random brunette, not a celebrity endorsement - I don't think she even has lines.