Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Gharlane]

Comcast has a commercial featuring this couple in therapy (I think) talking about how their Internet wifi service they got from a phone company grinds to a halt because everyone walking by their house connects to it. Don't these people know there are ways to keep everyone from using their wifi, like requiring one to log in?

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/2xdE/xfinity-couples-therapy-cellphones-slowed-down-their-internet-featuring-judy-greer

[lh25]

13 hours ago, Gharlane said:

Comcast has a commercial featuring this couple in therapy (I think) talking about how their Internet wifi service they got from a phone company grinds to a halt because everyone walking by their house connects to it. Don't these people know there are ways to keep everyone from using their wifi, like requiring one to log in?

I thought the problem was that if T-mobile cell users where nearby, it would slow down because of overall network usage?  I'm not sure that's really a thing, but that's how I took that part.

[chessiegal]

2 minutes ago, lh25 said:

I thought the problem was that if T-mobile cell users where nearby, it would slow down because of overall network usage?  I'm not sure that's really a thing, but that's how I took that part.

I took it that way too.

[Prevailing Wind]

53 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I took it that way too.

I did, too, because he asks those old women to put their phones in airplane mode. But they were too busy "workin' it."

[Gharlane]

9 hours ago, lh25 said:

I thought the problem was that if T-mobile cell users where nearby, it would slow down because of overall network usage?  I'm not sure that's really a thing, but that's how I took that part.

They say it specifically happens whenever people pass thru their front yard, which sounds like it's within range of their home Wi-Fi and not the network, which comes from a cell tower.

 

8 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I did, too, because he asks those old women to put their phones in airplane mode. But they were too busy "workin' it."

Who did they think they are, Hell's Grannies?

[dleighg]

there's this ad for a pregnancy test with three women: a college student and a business woman (who don't want to be pregnant) and a woman who really wants to be pregnant.

What I don't get is the business woman sitting at her fancy, professional-looking, desk, leaving the pregnancy test lying on her desk while she waits. So fresh-faced intern pops in and sees it sitting there? Wouldn't any normal person let it rest in her top drawer?

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, dleighg said:

there's this ad for a pregnancy test with three women: a college student and a business woman (who don't want to be pregnant) and a woman who really wants to be pregnant.

What I don't get is the business woman sitting at her fancy, professional-looking, desk, leaving the pregnancy test lying on her desk while she waits. So fresh-faced intern pops in and sees it sitting there? Wouldn't any normal person let it rest in her top drawer?

Or do the test at home?

[peacheslatour]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Or do the test at home?

Well you see, she's such a high powered go go type that she never goes home!

[Bastet]

That indeed sounds utterly ridiculous, but I'm just glad to read they've finally included another woman who is hoping for a negative result.  That's, what, the third in the entire history of pregnancy test commercials?

[janie jones]

7 hours ago, dleighg said:

there's this ad for a pregnancy test with three women: a college student and a business woman (who don't want to be pregnant) and a woman who really wants to be pregnant.

What I don't get is the business woman sitting at her fancy, professional-looking, desk, leaving the pregnancy test lying on her desk while she waits. So fresh-faced intern pops in and sees it sitting there? Wouldn't any normal person let it rest in her top drawer?

While I appreciate that the commercial depicts women who want a negative test, it still bothers me that the women have to be shown having a "good reason" not to want to be pregnant: too young/not ready and too busy*.  I'd rather they just show a woman not wanting to be pregnant without showing why. It shouldn't matter why.

*I'll set aside the fact that a business man would be unlikely to be depicted as not being in a good position to become a parent.

[Gharlane]

On 3/7/2023 at 7:43 AM, dleighg said:

What I don't get is the business woman sitting at her fancy, professional-looking, desk, leaving the pregnancy test lying on her desk while she waits. So fresh-faced intern pops in and sees it sitting there? Wouldn't any normal person let it rest in her top drawer?

Maybe the reason she's taking the test at work is that she wants to share the results with the coworker she thinks might have gotten her pregnant.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Gharlane

[Welshman in Ca]

17 hours ago, janie jones said:

While I appreciate that the commercial depicts women who want a negative test, it still bothers me that the women have to be shown having a "good reason" not to want to be pregnant: too young/not ready and too busy*.  I'd rather they just show a woman not wanting to be pregnant without showing why. It shouldn't matter why.

*I'll set aside the fact that a business man would be unlikely to be depicted as not being in a good position to become a parent.

Is there a pregnancy test for men then?

[meep.meep]

On 3/4/2023 at 12:48 AM, Gharlane said:

They say it specifically happens whenever people pass thru their front yard, which sounds like it's within range of their home Wi-Fi and not the network, which comes from a cell tower.

Doesn't their home Wi-Fi have a password?  A really hard password?  Then you only share if you've given them the password.

Otherwise, you're Starbucks.

[mmecorday]

What I thought was said in a commercial for Starbucks and Door Dash:

"Here's to the End Times."

What was actually said:

"Here's to the any times." 

[scarletine]

3 hours ago, mmecorday said:

What I thought was said in a commercial for Starbucks and Door Dash:

"Here's to the End Times."

What was actually said:

"Here's to the any times." 

OMG, that's what they say? I totally heard "End times" as well, and thought that was rather...dark. Probably true, but dark. 

[Gharlane]

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but having a cup of Starbucks and their gross microwaved sandwiches delivered to you at home seems very lazy.

[chessiegal]

Since when did Marie Osmond become a dietician/food expert? She's now claiming that she designed Nutrisystem's over 50 program. I don't think so. If she did, I wouldn't put any stock in it.

[SoMuchTV]

Just saw an ad for a medication that is “not for people with type one diabetes or children.”  I mean, I’m pretty sure I know what they mean, but did nobody read that back? I have children. So not for me?

[Stevie Nicks]

On 3/10/2023 at 12:35 PM, chessiegal said:

Since when did Marie Osmond become a dietician/food expert? She's now claiming that she designed Nutrisystem's over 50 program. I don't think so. If she did, I wouldn't put any stock in it.

Well to be fair, she did lose a ton of weight. So she did something right. 

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, Stevie Nicks said:

Well to be fair, she did lose a ton of weight. So she did something right. 

What Marie did right was follow a Nutrisystem program designed by someone else. There are 2 slightly different ads for their new over 50 program. In one, she says she worked with the experts at Nutrisystem to develop the program. I can accept that. It's the other version where she says something to the effect of "I" designed this program that I object to. Sorry, just no.

[proserpina65]

5 hours ago, Stevie Nicks said:

Well to be fair, she did lose a ton of weight. So she did something right. 

She lost a lot of it while she was on Dancing with the Stars.  Ballroom dancing is a hell of a workout.  To be fair to Ms. Osmond, she has managed to keep it off.

[chitowngirl]

There’s an ad on this site (but not a bad ad). The caption is about Shaun Cassidy at 63, but the picture is of David Cassidy!

[CrazyInAlabama]

I just saw a new Cheez-it commercial.   A man is wild about Cheez-its, falls down a snowy slope, and eats Cheez-its all the way onto a frozen lake.  He's losing his clothing all the way down the slope, ending up in a Speedo, and crashing through an ice fishing shack.    I don't see how that's supposed to make me want to buy and eat Cheez-its. 

[Tom Holmberg]

15 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I just saw a new Cheez-it commercial.   A man is wild about Cheez-its, falls down a snowy slope, and eats Cheez-its all the way onto a frozen lake.  He's losing his clothing all the way down the slope, ending up in a Speedo, and crashing through an ice fishing shack.    I don't see how that's supposed to make me want to buy and eat Cheez-its. 

Is Speedos co-sponsoring these ads featuring their product?

[SoMuchTV]

Chevy ad: “…whether it’s your first Silverado or your tenth.”  Unless you operate a fleet, there might be issues if you’re on your tenth Silverado. 

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

Chevy ad: “…whether it’s your first Silverado or your tenth.”  Unless you operate a fleet, there might be issues if you’re on your tenth Silverado. 

They live in Chevy Make-Believe Land where dedicated Chevy owners buy a new car every year just to be driving the latest model and keep up with the Joneses.

[dleighg]

I keep seeing this ad and can't figure out who the characters are. It's for some kind of home security system (ADT I think). One woman is installing it with a little boy, who she tells they need to be quiet because another woman is sleeping. It gets installed, woman two is sitting with little boy and woman one is watching on the security system. Woman two says "have fun!" to woman one (or maybe it's the other way around). Two moms? Where's mom one going? Why is she watching woman two and little boy on security system? I don't understand anything.

[Bastet]

29 minutes ago, dleighg said:

Two moms?

I believe so; I think the woman who helps the little boy set it up refers to the sleeping woman as "Mommy" (I can't quite hear her, as she's whispering in deference to the sleeping one), and the sleeping woman definitely refers to the first as "Mom" in the later scene.

As for where she's going -- work, errands, outside, who knows?  The whole commercial is about how easy it is to set up yourself, so I figure the point is that by the time one wakes up from her nap, it's already set up physically in the room and connected with the phone so it's also a communication device.

 

[dleighg]

24 minutes ago, Bastet said:

by the time one wakes up from her nap, it's already set up physically in the room and connected with the phone so it's also a communication device.

Thanks. I guess somehow I missed that woman one was elsewhere when she was looking at woman two and the little boy through the screen (I thought it was something like a nanny cam). I thought she was in the next room or something, which of course makes no sense at all. 

[peacheslatour]

Quote

I believe so; I think the woman who helps the little boy set it up refers to the sleeping woman as "Mommy" (I can't quite hear her, as she's whispering in deference to the sleeping one), and the sleeping woman definitely refers to the first as "Mom" in the later scene.

"So easy, even a lesbian can do it!"

[mmecorday]

There's a commercial for some energy drink/snake oil with Jennifer Lopez. She's sprinting on a beach like she's running the 50-yard dash in PE class. And she's wearing a full face of makeup. She looks great, but I have to wonder -- is J-Lo so vain that she puts on makeup before she works out? 

[Tom Holmberg]

1 hour ago, mmecorday said:

There's a commercial for some energy drink/snake oil with Jennifer Lopez. She's sprinting on a beach like she's running the 50-yard dash in PE class. And she's wearing a full face of makeup. She looks great, but I have to wonder -- is J-Lo so vain that she puts on makeup before she works out? 

But she's got Jenergy

[Gharlane]

Why the hell are there so many baseball commercials playing as of late? I really don't give a shit about the hotdogs sold there and I couldn't care less about their recent kewl rules changes. 

 

21 hours ago, mmecorday said:

There's a commercial for some energy drink/snake oil with Jennifer Lopez. She's sprinting on a beach like she's running the 50-yard dash in PE class. And she's wearing a full face of makeup. She looks great, but I have to wonder -- is J-Lo so vain that she puts on makeup before she works out? 

In the one I've seen, she immediately practices a dance routine with her backup dancers afterwards! Yeah, right. 

[Gharlane]

On 4/9/2023 at 12:50 PM, Crashcourse said:

I'm just wondering what teacher would let her dance around like that in class.  I would tell her to SIT.DOWN!  

I'm not a big fan of that Amazon commercial, but I do wonder about her being allowed to wear that yellow leather jacket in a (Catholic?) private school.

[Crashcourse]

1 hour ago, Gharlane said:

I'm not a big fan of that Amazon commercial, but I do wonder about her being allowed to wear that yellow leather jacket in a (Catholic?) private school.

Now that you mention it, I wonder about that, too.

[Maverick]

 Why is Ben Affleck doing a Dunkin Donuts commercial?  I'm sure DC doesn't pay as well as Marvel, but damn dude have you blown through that Batman money already? 

[proserpina65]

2 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Why is Ben Affleck doing a Dunkin Donuts commercial?  I'm sure DC doesn't pay as well as Marvel, but damn dude have you blown through that Batman money already? 

It's apparently somewhat of a joke based on his real life love of Dunkin.

On 4/8/2023 at 10:46 AM, Gharlane said:

Why the hell are there so many baseball commercials playing as of late? I really don't give a shit about the hotdogs sold there and I couldn't care less about their recent kewl rules changes. 

Baseball season has started so get used to them.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

It's apparently somewhat of a joke based on his real life love of Dunkin.

Baseball season has started so get used to them.

I don't mind the baseball ads so much as the Monday night Raw or whatever it's called where they scream at the tops of their lungs at me. Instant channel change.

[Gharlane]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

There is a Domino's ad that's been on constantly. Look Domino's, don't try to sell me crappy Tater Tots covered in pizza toppings and make me think it's anything more than a cheap ploy to cut your cost on ingredients while I get a very inferior. dish.

Dominos offers tater tots in lieu of french fries because they travel better, but I don't think I ever heard someone say "You know what I want with this pizza? Potatoes!" 

[proserpina65]

22 minutes ago, Gharlane said:

Dominos offers tater tots in lieu of french fries because they travel better, but I don't think I ever heard someone say "You know what I want with this pizza? Potatoes!" 

I think they look tasty, but yeah, if I'm getting pizza, I'm probably not going to want tots as well.  Maybe instead of?  I might be tempted to try them if I was ordering the bread stick thingies and dip.

[chessiegal]

My husband is going out of town for a week the end of the month. I usually order a Domino's pizza while he's gone. I think the tots look tasty too. I'm planning on ordering some tots too. It will make a couple of meals for me. I'll take one for the team and report back.

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, chessiegal said:

My husband is going out of town for a week the end of the month. I usually order a Domino's pizza while he's gone. I think the tots look tasty too. I'm planning on ordering some tots too. It will make a couple of meals for me. I'll take one for the team and report back.

[Leeds]

There's a Goldfish commercial starring possibly the ugliest man in the world.  He's apparently a famous basketball with ginormous hands (and ears).  For some reason they CGI on teeny tiny hands holding Goldfish.  The hands really freak me out.  Also, wouldn't his natural monster hands be more suitable because they could hold a massive amount of Goldfish?  Don't get it.

[chessiegal]

16 minutes ago, Leeds said:

Also, wouldn't his natural monster hands be more suitable because they could hold a massive amount of Goldfish?

Subsequent commercials go there.

[Crashcourse]

The guy in the Goldfish commercial is Boban Marjanovic, who plays for the Houston Rockets.  I like him and his huge hands.  He's also in a State Farm commercial.  

[Gharlane]

I could have sworn I saw a man dissolve into a pile of shit in a toilet paper commercial this afternoon! :-O

[mmecorday]

@Gharlane, your eyes were not playing tricks on you. I have seen that commercial too. 

[BookWitch]

There's more than one! A baker, a tattoo artist, a dentist. They're horrifying.

[Gramto6]

9 minutes ago, BookWitch said:

There's more than one! A baker, a tattoo artist, a dentist. They're horrifying.

OMG! What channel are you seeing this ad on? I don't ever want to see it!!

[BookWitch]

Local channels, NatGeo, FETV, and the Travel channel. Seem to be all over.