Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[peacheslatour]

This is driving me crazy: Does anyone know who plays "famous" food critic Miles Von Gaston on those Tostitos ads?  My DH claims it's a guy who used to be on Get Smart and I think that"s impossible.  Please Help!

 

Edited to add NOT Don Adams, he thinks he was a villain of some kind.

Edited April 9, 2016 by peacheslatour

[Brattinella]

Wow!  I'll look into that, a big Get Smart fan here!

[peacheslatour]

Wow!  I'll look into that, a big Get Smart fan here!

A million thanks!

[Brattinella]

Still looking, but DYING here!  "The CRAW!"  No, The CRAW!  LOL!

[Brattinella]

A search revealed a "David Bone" in a Tostitos cantina ad, is that the one?  I can't post the link from ispot.tv for some reason.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Brattinella

[Jamoche]

A search revealed a "David Bone" in a Tostitos cantina ad, is that the one?  I can't post the link from ispot.tv for some reason.

I found that one, but his credit is for the voiceover.

[NewDigs]

I can't find a Get Smart reference but is this the guy?

[Brattinella]

Looks like him!

[SmithW6079]

The lady from the Popeye's commercials, is she "Popeye"? She keeps talking about "my" chicken.

[DrSpaceman73]

And then it bugged me!

Hard to find one article the covers all issues but here's a snippet of Bloomberg's take:"This is not about recycling, or a nice marketing to-do," says Dean Schroeder, a management professor at Valparaiso University who has studied the plant. "This is a strict dollars-and-cents, moneymaking-and-savings calculation that also drives better safety and quality.""Today, the plant abounds with boxes and containers scribbled over with marks that show how many times they have traveled from Japan to Indiana and back (and back again). On a tour of the plant, Easterday sped a golf cart past a welder whose metal shavings are swept off the asphalt floors and auctioned into a roaring bull market for copper."

And an ABC overview.

Glad they're finally doing better with their mpg. I never understood how a company so intent on being green couldn't figure that out. Looks like it's all about the $$$$$.

LOVE their dog commercials. And I think the first time I saw one was kind of a, Say What?, moment.

Well all that is interesting. though I still am not sure after reading all that they answered the question of how they get the stuff back to Japan.

What all that tells me though is they actually picked the LEAST interesting part, and in my mind still the most confusing part, of the whole process used to prevent landfill waste for the commercial. Which just confuses me in another way now. Many of the other things they do I find much more interesting than shipping plastics back and forth to Japan

[peacheslatour]

I can't find a Get Smart reference but is this the guy?

Yes! I'm pretty sure that's him. See, the first credited role was in1977, so he was not in Get Smart. I knew it! Ha ha ha ...

Thanks,  everybody!

[ABay]

I looked at the picture and based on the resemblance, I think the guy from Get Smart would be Bernie Kopell. He also played the doctor on Love Boat. 

ETA: Some pictures of him with moustache

Edited April 10, 2016 by ABay

[Stella Rose]

The new commercial for the "General" car insurance shows a guy driving around in his car with a helmet on.

 

I used to sell insurance - and the "General" tends to cater to a very specific market that cannot usually get or afford standard insurance due to DUIs, excessive accidents, or tickets.

 

All I can think when I see the advert it is that guy has such a shitty driving record he probably needs a damn helmet.

[NewDigs]

Well all that is interesting. though I still am not sure after reading all that they answered the question of how they get the stuff back to Japan.

What all that tells me though is they actually picked the LEAST interesting part, and in my mind still the most confusing part, of the whole process used to prevent landfill waste for the commercial. Which just confuses me in another way now. Many of the other things they do I find much more interesting than shipping plastics back and forth to Japan

I'm assuming that some Subaru parts are imported from Japan, via container, to the Indiana plant for use in their production.

I think that there is a lively enough market for the metals to be sold here. But I read one place that they ship the styrofoam packing stuff back to Japan where it's reused to package parts being sent back to the Indiana plant. And my understanding is that Japan's recycling so surpasses what we do here that perhaps they can better recycle those things they don't reuse?

And if that container is going back and forth anyway they might as well put something in it that can be better utilized at the other end.

All I got.

I'm going to have to pay more attention to their commercial.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

The new commercial for the "General" car insurance shows a guy driving around in his car with a helmet on.

 

I used to sell insurance - and the "General" tends to cater to a very specific market that cannot usually get or afford standard insurance due to DUIs, excessive accidents, or tickets.

 

All I can think when I see the advert it is that guy has such a shitty driving record he probably needs a damn helmet.

 

And all of the commercials for that company have people wearing army helmets, which makes it seem like some weird promotional thing. "Buy a policy, get a free helmet!"

[peacheslatour]

I looked at the picture and based on the resemblance, I think the guy from Get Smart would be Bernie Kopell. He also played the doctor on Love Boat. 

ETA: Some pictures of him with moustache

I bet you're right.

[CoderLady]

The new commercial for the "General" car insurance shows a guy driving around in his car with a helmet on.

 

I used to sell insurance - and the "General" tends to cater to a very specific market that cannot usually get or afford standard insurance due to DUIs, excessive accidents, or tickets.

 

All I can think when I see the advert it is that guy has such a shitty driving record he probably needs a damn helmet.

 

Ah ha. That explains why one of their selling points is that you can get an anonymous quote just in case you are or think you are such a notoriously bad driver a bunch of insurance companies have you on the equivalent of a "no fly" list.

Edited April 10, 2016 by CoderLady

[OSM Mom]

Well IMO insurance companies don't need to know everything about you including an anal probing to give you a quote. All you should need to provide is year make model of car, your gender and age. And what zip code you park the vehicle overnight in. And if you've had any tickets or accidents in the past year. That's enough to give them. But anymore, they want way too much info just for a quote.

[xaxat]

They don't need to ask you for the extra info. Thanks to data brokers they can easily get that.

 

But there's also a thriving public marketfor data on individual Americans—especially data about the things we buy and might want to buy.

Consumer data companies are scooping up huge amounts of consumer information about people around the world and selling it, providing marketers details about whether you're pregnant or divorced or trying to lose weight, about how rich you are and what kinds of cars you drive.

 

In many cases info on your browsing habits is also for sale. That time you looked up toenail fungus on WebMD? They know about that too.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This isn't about a specific commercial, but I have a question. Why do voiceovers sometimes specify that X Whatever Ad feature "real people, not actors"? I'm reasonably confident about saying that they're interchangeable, with the possible exception of Denise Richards, so why act as if there's a difference?

[Brattinella]

Denise Richards!  :))

[NewDigs]

This isn't about a specific commercial, but I have a question. Why do voiceovers sometimes specify that X Whatever Ad feature "real people, not actors"? I'm reasonably confident about saying that they're interchangeable, with the possible exception of Denise Richards, so why act as if there's a difference?

I assumed that the "real people" caveat is to pretend that these "real people" would actually endorse the product without being paid. Or that they offered to endorse without being approached by production. Yeah, right.

Seems bogus to me.

[Ubiquitous]

That commercial in Toyota's "Enjoy the Go" campaign is back which features a man becoming the alpha male or female to a pack of wolves, who let him nurse their cubs. I'm not sure what they are suckling on, but that ain't milk! Sorry, that ad bugs the hell outa me.

[Muffyn]

For "real people" ads there are restrictions as to how much they can be prompted to say certain things.  Actors are given scripts and may be allowed to improvise.  Real people are using their own words.  With that said, of course savvy people can figure out what they want to hear to get camera time.  You're not going to make the cut if when you are asked what brand you think the car in the Chevy commercialis, you blurt out "Have they brought back the Yugo?"   

For "real people" ads there are restrictions as to how much they can be prompted to say certain things.  Actors are given scripts and may be allowed to improvise.  Real people are using their own words.  With that said, of course savvy people can figure out what they want to hear to get camera time.  You're not going to make the cut if when you are asked what brand you think the car in the Chevy commercial is, you blurt out "Have they brought back the Yugo?"   

Edited April 12, 2016 by Muffyn

[CoderLady]

For those "real people" ads, the car companies pick the most telegenic and articulate customers who like their new cars, fly them to the studio city (usually Los Angeles) first class, put them up in luxury hotels, and wine-and-dine them for a day or so before the commercial shoot. This guarantees the customers will be relaxed and happy and willing to say all those nice things about the car and the company on camera. There's a little coaching but nothing egregious.

 

A friend of mine got picked for one of these and even though the car company (Chevy) didn't use her footage, she enjoyed the whole experience.

[bad things are bad]

Apparently the Chevy ads aren't as far fetched as we all think...the NY Times, which isn't exactly American car-friendly, mentioned the ads as eye-rolling in their Malibu review, but added this: "So darned if during my week with the Malibu, a couple of people didn’t ask if it was a new Audi or Lexus"

 

It actually is a good looking car, and the Times gave it a favorable review. 

[Prevailing Wind]

 

For those "real people" ads, the car companies pick the most telegenic and articulate customers who like their new cars,

...unlike those people in the Craftmatic bed ads who look like they *never* have a good night's sleep.

[Hanahope]

I see this mostly when watching show online. It's a commercial for diet dr. Pepper with some reject from a 80's hair band that I get the impression I'm supposed to recognize.

[ennui]

That commercial in Toyota's "Enjoy the Go" campaign is back which features a man becoming the alpha male or female to a pack of wolves, who let him nurse their cubs. I'm not sure what they are suckling on, but that ain't milk! Sorry, that ad bugs the hell outa me.

Toyota and Charmin are using the same slogan?  (I kid!)

 

Back to the random Asian in the Eggo commercials ... are they playing into the stereotype that Asian kids are smarter? Maybe they should have Tiger Mom smirking in the background.

 

I'm picturing Subaru cars shipped in enormous cardboard boxes, with that shape formed styrofoam packaging, like a stereo.  

[Rick Kitchen]

I see this mostly when watching show online. It's a commercial for diet dr. Pepper with some reject from a 80's hair band that I get the impression I'm supposed to recognize.

 

That's Justin Guarini, runner-up to Kelly Clarkson on Season One of American Idol.  He has a rather successful Broadway career.

[Brattinella]

THAT'S the reason I don't recognize him!  Never seen American Idol in my life.

[erikdepressant]

This "Visit California" commercial airs every twenty minutes, but if I'm not looking at the tv, I still hear (mis)hear 0:15 as "...in our own little butthole."

[Brattinella]

LOL!

[Cobalt Stargazer]

This "Visit California" commercial airs every twenty minutes, but if I'm not looking at the tv, I still hear (mis)hear 0:15 as "...in our own little butthole."

 

Y'know, I really could have gone for the rest of my whole life without ever having to even accidentally think about that guy talking about his butthole. :-P

[riley702]

That commercial in Toyota's "Enjoy the Go" campaign is back which features a man becoming the alpha male or female to a pack of wolves, who let him nurse their cubs. I'm not sure what they are suckling on, but that ain't milk! Sorry, that ad bugs the hell outa me.

That's why he winces when the narrator says that, and runs like hell. I do like the wistful expression on the wolf's face as she watches him go.

[Muffyn]

Toyota and Charmin are using the same slogan?  (I kid!)

 

Back to the random Asian in the Eggo commercials ... are they playing into the stereotype that Asian kids are smarter? Maybe they should have Tiger Mom smirking in the background.

 

I'm picturing Subaru cars shipped in enormous cardboard boxes, with that shape formed styrofoam packaging, like a stereo.  

Adding to the "Go" ads, there is one for a hip replacement -Rediscover Your Go.  Don't they know that charmin has defined go for us?  Unless a new hip is going to loosen your bowels. 

[Hanahope]

That's Justin Guarini, runner-up to Kelly Clarkson on Season One of American Idol.  He has a rather successful Broadway career.

 

Ah, ok.  I only recall seeing photos of him with a huge afro, so didn't recognize him.

[Sandman87]

I see the fine folks at PepsiCo are pushing a new beverage called 1893. I have questions:

 

• Why "1893"? Do they really want it associated with the year that one of our country's really bad depressions began?
• Did they say that it's made with colonic extract? Eew. I hope I misheard that.
• Is it a big selling point that it's "made with real sugar"? What the hell have they been putting into all their other sugary crap then?
• What kind of drink is it? The ad looks like a beer commercial, but without the warnings to "always drink responsibly."

[Westiepeach]

 

I see the fine folks at PepsiCo are pushing a new beverage called 1893. I have questions:

 

• Why "1893"? Do they really want it associated with the year that one of our country's really bad depressions began?
• Did they say that it's made with colonic extract? Eew. I hope I misheard that.
• Is it a big selling point that it's "made with real sugar"? What the hell have they been putting into all their other sugary crap then?
• What kind of drink is it? The ad looks like a beer commercial, but without the warnings to "always drink responsibly."

 

Kola nut extract. Now all I am going to hear is colonic extract!

[FormerMod-a1]

Real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

[theatremouse]

• Why "1893"? Do they really want it associated with the year that one of our country's really bad depressions began?
• Is it a big selling point that it's "made with real sugar"? What the hell have they been putting into all their other sugary crap then?

1893 is when the drink was invented, albeit under a different name. So I imagine the point of the name, and the ingredients, and specifically sugar vs high fructose corn syrup is they're implying they're going back to the original recipe for this product, separating it from more modern soft drinks. It goes beyond what they did with "Pepsi Throwback", which was branded to the 70s (at least the labels looked at such) and whose main selling point was sugar not HFC. This one must be slightly different from both that product and the current recipe for Pepsi Cola. Or they've just rebranded their not!HFC efforts. I don't know for sure.

Also I haven't seen the ad, I'm basing my interpretation on info from your questions only.

Edited April 14, 2016 by theatremouse

[xaxat]

Now I want Coca Cola 1893, with real coca leaves!

[bad things are bad]

Having tried the 1893, I say meh.

 

Would rather have Mexican Coke when I crave a cola beverage. 

[Brattinella]

For me, nothing beats real sugar!  I won't drink it if it has "sweetener" in it.

[stillhere1900]

This "Visit California" commercial airs every twenty minutes, but if I'm not looking at the tv, I still hear (mis)hear 0:15 as "...in our own little butthole."

 

I totally want that VW.

[Bastet]

Is it a big selling point that it's "made with real sugar"?

 

Yes.  I don't drink soda very often, but when I do I want one made with sugar.  Not high-fructose corn syrup, and not some artificial sweetener. 

[mmecorday]

 

I totally want that VW.

I would paint it light blue and drive it around while listening to "Shambala" by Three Dog Night.

[90PercentGravity]

I quit soda a few years ago, but will have a Mexican coke or fanta sometimes. Everything else tastes like garbage since I quit.

[Rick Kitchen]

Having tried the 1893, I say meh.

 

Would rather have Mexican Coke when I crave a cola beverage. 

 

I've had both.  Not just the kola nut version, but the ginger extract cola version as well.  Didn't particularly care for either one (the ginger has a medicinal taste), but then, I much prefer Coke to Pepsi.

[smittykins]

I would paint it light blue and drive it around while listening to "Shambala" by Three Dog Night.

I'd have to learn how to drive stick first(or spend $$$ having it converted to automatic).