Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Gharlane]

13 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

I've only seen the Old Navy one so I don't know if the Kohl's fashion selections are the same but wow.  Every dress is fugly and those outfits with the T-shirts are stupid looking.  Then the guys are dancing (annoyingly) wearing those lame outfits.

There are cross-dressers in the commercial?

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, Gharlane said:

There are cross-dressers in the commercial?

No, there's a separate scene of young guys dressed in lame-ass boy's outfits.

[Colleenna]

21 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

I've only seen the Old Navy one so I don't know if the Kohl's fashion selections are the same but wow.  Every dress is fugly and those outfits with the T-shirts are stupid looking.  Then the guys are dancing (annoyingly) wearing those lame outfits.

This is the YEAR OF THE FUGLY CLOTHES. The colors are nauseating and the designs remind me of something Ree Drummond would reject.  🤢

[chessiegal]

I have a question about an ad I see for Law and Order on the Sundance and WE channels. They say the show has won over 70 Academy Awards. How can a tv show win Oscars?

[peacheslatour]

16 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I have a question about an ad I see for Law and Order on the Sundance and WE channels. They say the show has won over 70 Academy Awards. How can a tv show win Oscars?

It's a joke. The conceit is that you can say anything you want as long as you take it back. Then they show a bunch of clips where the attorneys say "withdrawn" over and over again.

[chessiegal]

7 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

It's a joke. The conceit is that you can say anything you want as long as you take it back. Then they show a bunch of clips where the attorneys say "withdrawn" over and over again.

Thank you! My sarcasm radar was obviously turned off. 🙃

[Blergh]

Anyone else see the new ads for Truist that features the bank's apparent 'mascot' this gigantic purple blob of laundry rolling around supposedly helping customers with its free .. mitten?  The problem is that, in past times it would have looked   something like a hoarder-mad scientist's escaped experiment . .. but nowadays it looks like a COVID virus that rolled itself around in grape jelly! What were they THINKING/SMOKING?!

Edited March 29, 2022 by Blergh

[Colleenna]

Commercial for a Pgh area furniture store:

 

Say what?  "Can't wait to see what it looks like "..... You mean you didn't look at the furniture before you bought it? 

(This is a really old commercial,  but they still use the same old  jingle. )

[Bastet]

38 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

Say what?  "Can't wait to see what it looks like "..... You mean you didn't look at the furniture before you bought it? 

Because they say "our new room", I assume they're referring to seeing what it looks like when all the new stuff they picked out is put together in their room.

39 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

(This is a really old commercial,  but they still use the same old  jingle. )

I'm glad I don't live where it airs, as that cheesy jingle has taken up residence in my head for about five minutes now!

[SoMuchTV]

I recently saw an ad for Vick's VapoRub that comes in a stick.  Like a giant Chap-Stick.  That made me scratch my head and say, I can't believe nobody's thought of that before now!!

Edited April 4, 2022 by SoMuchTV
Though is not the same as thought, despite what autocorrect thinks

[Bastet]

54 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I recently saw an ad for Vick's VapoRub that comes in a stick.  Like a giant Chap-Stick.  That made me scratch my head and say, I can't believe nobody's though of that before now!!

Good point.

Speaking of Vicks, in case anyone has not had the pleasure of seeing Wanda Sykes's "It's just Vicks!" bit, check it out (I can't find the full thing on YouTube, so that's a link to a video on the Netflix Is a Joke Facebook page).

[chessiegal]

Am I supposed to know who the blonde woman in the Priceline commercials is, or is she just a spokesperson like Flo? (Yes, I know Stephanie Courtney was a switchboard operator in Mad Men.)

[sempervivum]

On 4/4/2022 at 5:04 PM, SoMuchTV said:

I recently saw an ad for Vick's VapoRub that comes in a stick.  Like a giant Chap-Stick.  That made me scratch my head and say, I can't believe nobody's thought of that before now!!

Really, especially if you've applied Vick's with your fingers and then absent-mindedly later rubbed your eye-ouch!

Although: is there a more soothing feeling as a child than having mom's hand gently rubbing Vick's on your chest when you have sniffles? Don't think it would be quite the same having her rubbing the (new) stick on you.

Edited April 6, 2022 by sempervivum
spelling

[peacheslatour]

Just now, chessiegal said:

Am I supposed to know who the blonde woman in the Priceline commercials is, or is she just a spokesperson like Flo? (Yes, I know Stephanie Courtney was a switchboard operator in Mad Men.)

Kaley Cuoco? She starred in Eight Simple Rules, Charmed and The Big Bang Theory. She now has a show called The Flight Attendant.

[chessiegal]

2 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Kaley Cuoco? She starred in Eight Simple Rules, Charmed and The Big Bang Theory. She now has a show called The Flight Attendant.

Thanks. Never heard of her, don't watch any of those shows. I think she does a good job in the Priceline commercials.

[Bastet]

Cuoco has been doing Priceline commercials a long time; she used to do them with William Shatner about ten years ago.

[peacheslatour]

31 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Cuoco has been doing Priceline commercials a long time; she used to do them with William Shatner about ten years ago.

I remember. There were people who thought she was his daughter.

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

There were people who thought she was his daughter.

Yep, because she played The Negotiator's daughter in the commercials.  I guess some people don't understand how acting works.

[Prevailing Wind]

3 hours ago, Bastet said:

Yep, because she played The Negotiator's daughter in the commercials.  I guess some people don't understand how acting works.

Kinda like those Polaroid ads where people thought James Garner & Mariette Hartley were really married to each other.

ETA: At least we know Flo's family really is related to her. LOL

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Prevailing Wind

[Haleth]

12 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

ETA: At least we know Flo's family really is related to her. LOL

Strong family resemblance.  

[Welshman in Ca]

19 hours ago, sempervivum said:

Really, especially if you've applied Vick's with your fingers and then absent-mindedly later rubbed your eye-ouch!

 

Or rubbed anything after using Bengay.

 

[CrystalBlue]

7 hours ago, Welshman in Ca said:

Or rubbed anything after using Bengay.

 

I've heard about that.  😉

[Leeds]

On 4/6/2022 at 12:48 PM, Bastet said:

Yep, because she played The Negotiator's daughter in the commercials.  I guess some people don't understand how acting works.

 

On 4/6/2022 at 12:39 PM, peacheslatour said:

I remember. There were people who thought she was his daughter.

Or granddaughter.  Oh no, wait, this is Hollywood we're talking about.

[Blergh]

On 4/6/2022 at 2:48 PM, Bastet said:

Yep, because she played The Negotiator's daughter in the commercials.  I guess some people don't understand how acting works.

Of course, to add to the confusion, before Mr. Shatner was called The Negotiator in those ads, he originally was pitching the service as himself under his own name. I'm not quite sure when(or why) the ad runners had him go from Mr. Shatner himself shilling the product to having him PLAY a character called The Negotiator to be their spokesperson but it's likely that there were viewers who hadn't picked up that he was now playing a character instead of . .pitching the product under his own name. Hence, when he suddenly gained a daughter (who was depicted as having been put in a Buddhist lamasery-type boarding school as a child THEN only reunited with him as an adult) , that's where they may have made the leap that Miss Cuoco was actually (instead)  Mr. Shatner's biological offspring instead of playing a character who was supposed to be the Negotiator's progeny. Of course, it didn't help that they never gave the supposed daughter a name. A bit more disturbing  when having  the commercial arc unfolding, they never addressed what was supposed to have happened to The Negotiator's Daughter's mother (and if she was supposed to be still breathing WHY would she have let her co-parent put their small child in a lamasery for roughly 15 years?).

All-in-all, I wish they HAD dumped Mr. Shatner for the late Mr. Nimoy  as a spokesperson- as one early(and IMO the best) commercial spot 'jokingly' suggested they intended to do (and not just to have avoided all this needless confusion about Miss Cuoco's kinship/role).

[Colleenna]

12 hours ago, Leeds said:

 

Or granddaughter.  Oh no, wait, this is Hollywood we're talking about.

Well, at least they didn't think she was his wife, like James  Garner and whatshername. 

[Bastet]

10 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

Well, at least they didn't think she was his wife, like James  Garner and whatshername. 

Those who thought Garner and Mariette Hartley were married have the excuse of not living in the internet age, at least.  Those who watched the latest in a series of commercials predicated on outlandish scenarios and thought, "Oh, wow, Kaley Cuoco is William Shatner's long-lost daughter whom he dropped off with monks twenty years ago to learn the art of deal-making (and monkey style kung fu) -- I wonder why I never heard that about her before?!" could have simply used Google to realize, oh, it's a silly plot in a silly commercial in which they are acting.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Bastet

[Colleenna]

1 minute ago, Bastet said:

Those who thought Garner and Mariette Hartley were married have the excuse of not living in the internet age, though.  Those who watched the latest in a series of commercials predicated on outlandish scenarios and thought, "Oh, wow, Kaley Cuoco is William Shatner's long-lost daughter whom he dropped off with monks twenty years ago to learn the art of deal-making (and monkey style kung fu) -- I wonder why I never heard that about her before?!" could have simply used Google to realize, oh, it's a silly plot in a silly commercial in which they are acting.

Totally off topic... I heart your kitty.

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, Colleenna said:

Well, at least they didn't think she was his wife, like James  Garner and whatshername. 

Mariette Hartley

❤️

[janie jones]

I don't really blame people for thinking Kaley Cuoco was William Shatner's daughter, especially if you didn't already know who she was. Famous couples appear in commercials from time to time, or parents and kids like Maude Apatow and her mom, whose name I'm too lazy to look up. It's less common for celebrities to appear as themselves and have a random actor playing their kid. Even more confusing was that he started out as himself and then was playing a character.

[Maverick]

 WTF is Pepsi Nitro?   All I know from the commercial is that it's "smooth and creamy".   Which makes me think it's milk and Pepsi.   That's not something new.  Laverne DeFazzio came up with that 40 years ago.  And people thought it was gross then too. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

3 hours ago, Maverick said:

 WTF is Pepsi Nitro?   All I know from the commercial is that it's "smooth and creamy".   Which makes me think it's milk and Pepsi.   That's not something new.  Laverne DeFazzio came up with that 40 years ago.  And people thought it was gross then too. 

I tried it as an experiment, and it's not bad. Not sure why they call it Nitro, since you'd expect more bubbles or something.

[Prevailing Wind]

7 hours ago, Maverick said:

 WTF is Pepsi Nitro?   All I know from the commercial is that it's "smooth and creamy".   Which makes me think it's milk and Pepsi.   That's not something new.  Laverne DeFazzio came up with that 40 years ago.  And people thought it was gross then too. 

It was really Penny Marshall's brother, Garry, that came up with that - he drank it as a kid & Penny emulated him. They incorporated it into L&S.  I didn't think it was all THAT gross - just a bit less sweet than a Pepsi float after the ice cream had melted.

ETA: Oh. It's "infused with nitrogen."  OK. Whatever floats your ice cream.

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Prevailing Wind

[Leeds]

13 hours ago, Maverick said:

 WTF is Pepsi Nitro?   All I know from the commercial is that it's "smooth and creamy".   Which makes me think it's milk and Pepsi.   That's not something new.  Laverne DeFazzio came up with that 40 years ago.  And people thought it was gross then too. 

No idea what Pepsi Nitro is, but for some reason my mind is going to Pepto Bismol.

[DrSpaceman73]

As mentioned it's Pepsi with nitrogen in it.  Why?  I have no idea. 

Same thoughts on coke infused with coffee, another recent product addition.  Why?

[Blergh]

7 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

As mentioned it's Pepsi with nitrogen in it.  Why?  I have no idea. 

Same thoughts on coke infused with coffee, another recent product addition.  Why?

 I guess for the same reason why there's such a thing as fried butter for carnie snacks! Because they CAN oversaturate too much of a good thing! 

[Haleth]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:43 PM, janie jones said:

I don't really blame people for thinking Kaley Cuoco was William Shatner's daughter, especially if you didn't already know who she was. Famous couples appear in commercials from time to time, or parents and kids like Maude Apatow and her mom, whose name I'm too lazy to look up. It's less common for celebrities to appear as themselves and have a random actor playing their kid. Even more confusing was that he started out as himself and then was playing a character.

Leslie Mann. 

[Gharlane]

On 4/9/2022 at 10:24 PM, Maverick said:

 WTF is Pepsi Nitro?   All I know from the commercial is that it's "smooth and creamy".   Which makes me think it's milk and Pepsi.   That's not something new.  Laverne DeFazzio came up with that 40 years ago.  And people thought it was gross then too. 

Isn't that Pepsi's attempt at making a version of Coca-Cola Coffee drinks?

I remember asking Mom about Lavern drinking milk and Pepsi and she said people did it when they wanted a float but had no ice cream. Personal experience? 🤷‍♂️

[Tom Holmberg]

On 4/10/2022 at 12:26 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

As mentioned it's Pepsi with nitrogen in it.  Why?  I have no idea. 

Same thoughts on coke infused with coffee, another recent product addition.  Why?

Guinness has a nitro capsule as well, it infuses the liquid with more carbonation and gives a larger longer-lasting "denser" head.

Coke's old coffee-infused drink (Coca-Cola BlaK) was great with ice cream- a very black cow.

Also as a kid I always put milk in root bear, a faux-black cow..

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Tom Holmberg

[Gharlane]

There's a commercial from US Bank that makes me wonder about their competence which features a client, a man obsessed with knitting, getting a business loan from them, and by "obsessed", I mean nearly everything in the commercial is knitted, including the loan officer's laptop cover! Sorry, but why are you giving this lunatic a loan? 

[peacheslatour]

6 minutes ago, Gharlane said:

There's a commercial from US Bank that makes me wonder about their competence which features a client, a man obsessed with knitting, getting a business loan from them, and by "obsessed", I mean nearly everything in the commercial is knitted, including the loan officer's laptop cover! Sorry, but why are you giving this lunatic a loan? 

Depends on his credit score. I used to work for a mortgage broker and I saw people getting loans who had multiple bankruptcies.

[Tom Holmberg]

On 4/9/2022 at 9:51 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

I tried it as an experiment, and it's not bad. Not sure why they call it Nitro, since you'd expect more bubbles or something.

I think you are supposed to pour it the way they show in the ad.  That's similar to how you supposed to pour Guinness with the nitro widget.  I think Nitro Vanilla Pepsi might be good.  I haven't seen it yet to try it.

[Colleenna]

On 4/10/2022 at 1:26 PM, DrSpaceman73 said:

As mentioned it's Pepsi with nitrogen in it.  Why?  I have no idea. 

Same thoughts on coke infused with coffee, another recent product addition.  Why?

Theoretically,  nitrogen helps increase blood flow to your muscles and so could help with your  workout, increasing both muscle gain and endurance.  In reality,  there's very little scientific evidence that this is true.  

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, Colleenna said:

Theoretically,  nitrogen helps increase blood flow to your muscles and so could help with your  workout, increasing both muscle gain and endurance.  In reality,  there's very little scientific evidence that this is true.  

I know that they put nitrogen gas into bags of chips, crackers, pretzels,etc. to keep them as fresh as possible since no microbes live in nitrogen. So could they be trying to freshen up muscles with nitrogen? 

[PrincessPurrsALot]

7 hours ago, Gharlane said:

There's a commercial from US Bank that makes me wonder about their competence which features a client, a man obsessed with knitting, getting a business loan from them, and by "obsessed", I mean nearly everything in the commercial is knitted, including the loan officer's laptop cover! Sorry, but why are you giving this lunatic a loan? 

I think the banker is helping him save toward his dream of making (really ugly, impractical) crochet his job.  I don't think they gave him a loan.  At the same time, if they think they'll get the money back . . . here's your cash, looney crochet guy! 

[Colleenna]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

I know that they put nitrogen gas into bags of chips, crackers, pretzels,etc. to keep them as fresh as possible since no microbes live in nitrogen. So could they be trying to freshen up muscles with nitrogen? 

You're making a joke,  right? 

[Blergh]

3 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

You're making a joke,  right? 

I was trying. ..

[Colleenna]

48 minutes ago, Blergh said:

I was trying. ..

Sorry.  I broke my sense of humor when I was about 3 and my parents wouldn't buy me a new one. 🙃 

[millennium]

On 4/8/2022 at 4:50 PM, Bastet said:

Those who thought Garner and Mariette Hartley were married have the excuse of not living in the internet age, at least.  Those who watched the latest in a series of commercials predicated on outlandish scenarios and thought, "Oh, wow, Kaley Cuoco is William Shatner's long-lost daughter whom he dropped off with monks twenty years ago to learn the art of deal-making (and monkey style kung fu) -- I wonder why I never heard that about her before?!" could have simply used Google to realize, oh, it's a silly plot in a silly commercial in which they are acting.

Mariette Hartley ... Shatner ... waitasec, I thought Mariette Hartley hooked up with Leonard Nimoy like 3000 years ago or something ...

[Gharlane]

11 hours ago, millennium said:

Mariette Hartley ... Shatner ... waitasec, I thought Mariette Hartley hooked up with Leonard Nimoy like 3000 years ago or something ...

That was a long time ago on a planet far away...

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, Gharlane said:

That was a long time ago on a planet far away...