Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[Aquarius]

My parents insisted that we learn how to drive a stick before we were taught to drive an automatic. Dad said 'if you can drive a stick, you can drive any car but if you only know how to drive an auto, what happens if you get stuck somewhere and the only car available is a stick shift ?"

 

Another long lost sister here! 

 

I always say I thank my dad for making me learn to drive a stick, and I thank my mom for making all of us (brother included) learn to touch-type.  She knew keyboards would be big one day.  At the time my brother was completely humiliated because only secretaries typed, and secretaries were only women.  I still have fond memories of the mug on his face while he was practicing the home row.  He's in software now so I'm sure it comes in handy.  I'll have to ask him if it was all worth it.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Aquarius

[DeLurker]

I always say I thank my dad for making me learn to drive a stick, and I thank my mom for making all of us (brother included) learn to touch-type.  She knew keyboards would be big one day.  At the time my brother was completely humiliated because only secretaries typed, and secretaries were only women.  I still have fond memories of the mug on his face while practicing the home row.  He's in software now so I'm sure it comes in handy.  I'll have to ask him if it was all worth it.

The one class in high school my Dad asked all of his kids (4 boys and 1 girl) was typing.  All the boys agreed, mainly because the class was almost all girls.  I refused because all it could think was "Ha!  I'm not going to be a secretary!".

 

And then personal computers became less than thousands of dollars...and I learned to type on my own.  I do decent, but I am no touch typist.

[Rick Kitchen]

I don't wear clothes with logos on them, so I would have to tape over a logo-projector on my car.  Unless Buick or Ford wanted to pay me to advertise for them, of course.

 

I'll submit a suggestion to Lexus that they install projectors to shine an anus on the ground for their drivers.

 

There's usually a logo on the real bumper or trunk and on the grill in front.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Rick Kitchen

[LoneHaranguer]

 

At the time my brother was completely humiliated because only secretaries typed, and secretaries were only women.

Not true; male secretaries were just called something else, like an "aide" or "assistant".

[Aquarius]

Not true; male secretaries were just called something else, like an "aide" or "assistant".

 

My brother was 13 at the time.  Trust me, to him, all secretaries were women.

[callmebetty]

Touch type was one of the Best things I ever learned.

My sister tried to teach me how to drive stick but I was the one who got impatient and frustrated and gave up. She was a good teacher she just had a sucky student. It's one of my many regrets.

[chessiegal]

My high school (graduated 1968) had 2 tracks, one for college and the other not. All college track students were required to take typing, because they knew we would have to type papers in college. My freshman year at college, in addition to typing my own papers, I made 25 cents/page for other students.

[erikdepressant]

There's usually a logo on the real bumper or trunk and on the grill in front.

I know!  It kills me!  Whenever I want to do something about it, that little voice in my head says, "erik, if you pry those off, you'll never be able to sell your car for the full $150 it's worth!"

[Sandman87]

Something occurred to me recently while watching a Chuck E. Cheese's commercial: Did it ever occur to anyone at the company that "chuck" is slang for "vomit?" Combine that with having a mascot that's disease carrying vermin, and I don't want to go anywhere near their alleged pizza.

 

On the stick shift thing: My grandfather taught me to drive an automatic, and then I had to learn stick shortly after that when my mom bought a new car and gave me her old one (180k miles). I don't ever want to go back to an automatic, at least not until some medical problem makes me incapable of driving stick. Stick lets me have much finer control, and being able to downshift has saved tons of wear on brakes. I've never needed to have a car's brakes worked on!

[NikSac]

I know!  It kills me!  Whenever I want to do something about it, that little voice in my head says, "erik, if you pry those off, you'll never be able to sell your car for the full $150 it's worth!"

 

On a lot of them you can get replacements (logo free) to put on instead. Although they may cost more than the $150 the car's worth. ;)

 

Something occurred to me recently while watching a Chuck E. Cheese's commercial: Did it ever occur to anyone at the company that "chuck" is slang for "vomit?" Combine that with having a mascot that's disease carrying vermin, and I don't want to go anywhere near their alleged pizza.

 

I have a 6 year old family member so Chuck E. Cheese is pretty much a given. and "alleged pizza" is about right. The commercials really just don't make it seem like a great place to go!  The games and stuff are fun but that human sized mouse/rat/whatever is kind of frightening, both in the commercials and in person.

[Jamoche]

Something occurred to me recently while watching a Chuck E. Cheese's commercial: Did it ever occur to anyone at the company that "chuck" is slang for "vomit?" 

Marketing may not have, but way back when I was in high school we all did - "Upchucky Cheese!"

[OSM Mom]

We called it "Chokey Cheese"

[bad things are bad]

One more slightly off topic comment to make about learning to drive manual trans: if your kids want a part time job, a person who can drive a stick shift is going to be able to get car dealership porter or valet jobs. Valets can make some coin. Definitely better $$ than burger flipping. 

 

On another website, I've seen comments on the new Bourne movie trailer that the car he's driving and shifting gears like crazy (newer Dodge Charger) is one that doesn't actually come with a stick shift!

http://jalopnik.com/holy-crap-matt-damon-wrecks-a-lot-of-cars-in-the-new-ja-1772387730

 

Does that count as a commercial that makes me scratch my head? 

[LoneHaranguer]

 

My brother was 13 at the time.  Trust me, to him, all secretaries were women.

In that case, what he was missing was that "secretaries" weren't the only ones doing typing. He must not have been watching the right TV shows.

[peacheslatour]

In that case, what he was missing was that "secretaries" weren't the only ones doing typing. He must not have been watching the right TV shows.

This is interesting. The only shows I can think of had female secretaries. Of course I go all the way back to Perry Mason, The Bob Newhart show and Murphy Brown.

[Joe Blow]

In Kansas City, we had Showbiz before they became Chuck E. Cheese.  My wife had Major Magics in Detroit.

 

In Phoenix, I now have Peter Piper.  I don't even know if they have mascots..

[frenchtoast]

We're so glad that there are so many fun and interesting conversations here, but sometimes it becomes hard to remember what topic one is in. And it feels awkward to step in to talk about confusing commercials when that's not the subject of the current conversation. So, If there are any further comments about driving stick, could they please be taken to the Small Talk area? Thanks!

[Ubiquitous]

One of those Little Caesar cheese-in-the-crust commercials which features a pair of floating heads contemplating the product when one of them vanishes in some odd existential ether. I'm not sure what point I am making, but it's weird that the one floating head seems to cease to exist after contemplating the product too much.

 

ETA:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkLL0sl37bY

Edited April 24, 2016 by Ubiquitous

[Cobalt Stargazer]

There's a new commercial for one of those bottled teas, I think it might be Pure Leaf, and it both puzzles me and annoys me because it puzzles me. At the end of the ad, when they've extolled the virtues of the product, the voiceover says, "The tea that actually tastes like tea."

 

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but I'm pretty sure there are no teas that don't taste like tea, although I've hardly tried every brand. What else is it gonna taste like, chicken?

[Ubiquitous]

I thought they meant it didn't contain preservatives and flavoring.

[arejay]

Tastes like chicken......hahahahahaha

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but I'm pretty sure there are no teas that don't taste like tea, although I've hardly tried every brand. What else is it gonna taste like, chicken?

High-fructose corn syrup.

[proserpina65]

On ‎04‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 1:17 PM, LoneHaranguer said:

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but I'm pretty sure there are no teas that don't taste like tea, although I've hardly tried every brand. What else is it gonna taste like, chicken?

High-fructose corn syrup.

The ones I've had still tasted like tea.  Really, really sweet tea, but tea nonetheless.  Does Pure Leaf make flavored teas?

[DeLurker]

There's a Coors Light commercial about some guy at a rodeo with the tag line "Climb on".  I can't find it online right now, but at the end it sounds like they are saying "Whatever you're mounting - Climb On!". 

Closed Captions tells me that it "Whatever your mountain - Climb On", but mine is more amusing.

[erikdepressant]

On 4/27/2016 at 0:54 PM, proserpina65 said:

The ones I've had still tasted like tea.  Really, really sweet tea, but tea nonetheless.  Does Pure Leaf make flavored teas?

Thanks to all of you, I got curious and tried some of those Pure Leaf teas.  They're actually really good.  They have a raspberry one, but it's not as refreshing as the chicken one.

[Rick Kitchen]

Chicken?

[Cobalt Stargazer]

2 hours ago, Rick Kitchen said:

Chicken?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tastes_like_chicken

[Rick Kitchen]

Well yeah, I knew that.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

10 hours ago, Rick Kitchen said:

Well yeah, I knew that.

 

On 4/25/2016 at 8:34 AM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

There's a new commercial for one of those bottled teas, I think it might be Pure Leaf, and it both puzzles me and annoys me because it puzzles me. At the end of the ad, when they've extolled the virtues of the product, the voiceover says, "The tea that actually tastes like tea."

 

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but I'm pretty sure there are no teas that don't taste like tea, although I've hardly tried every brand. What else is it gonna taste like, chicken?

 

 

Somehow I quoted your post twice, Rick. Gotta figure out this new coding thing.

[Rick Kitchen]

Good luck with that.  :D

[GaT]

I wasn't sure what thread to post this is because while this commercial is kind of pretentious & long (3:11), there's nothing strange about it. The commercial is for Dolce Rosa Excelsa perfume by Dolce&Gabbana & stars Sophia Loren. Everything is fine until around the 3:00 mark when we get a closer look at Sophia'a face & YIKES, wth has she done to it? Especially when she smiles & I keep expecting to see a bunch of other sets of teeth popping out like alien. Seriously scary.

[riley702]

Her face looks oddly tight in all the wrong places.

[backformore]

Oh  lord!  Yes, Sophia Loren looks downright SCARY at the end! 

[Jaded]

I guess Budget the car rental company is trying to make itself relevant again? I don't know why I was so surprised to see Jessica Simpson in this one that I caught on TV this morning and the other one I found on YouTube. I like her because she doesn't take herself too seriously.
 

 

[Brattinella]

That Dolce and Gabbana commercial is GORGEOUS!  And so is Sophia Loren!  Jeez, she is 81, folks; give her a break!

[SmithW6079]

Just saw an ad for Time Warner, where a rugrat is drawing on the wall when his talking bear* toy comes over to tell him how his mom no longer had to wait around for the cable repairman, they call her. 

The bear asks him what he learned, so the kid looks at the wall, says that people can change, and stops coloring. Then the bear tells him to eat his vegetables, and he does. 

So, not so much "say what?" as creepy and a harbinger of things to come as our robot overlords start telling us what to do. 

*Oops. Looks like it's an stuffed blue elephant.

Edited May 1, 2016 by SmithW6079

[bilgistic]

The thing about the new TWC ad campaign is that they are saying, "Yep, we suck, but now we suck less than we used to."

Nope, you still suck just as much as you always have.

[Jaded]

1 hour ago, SmithW6079 said:

Just saw an ad for Time Warner, where a rugrat is drawing on the wall when his talking bear toy comes over to tell him how his mom no longer had to wait around for the cable repairman, they call her. 

The bear asks him what he learned, so the kid looks at the wall, says that people can change, and stops coloring. Then the bear tells him to eat his vegetables, and he does. 

So, not so much "say what?" as creepy and a harbinger of things to come as our robot overlords start telling us what to do. 

[Brattinella]

21 hours ago, Jaded said:

 

^^^This?  Right here?  THIS would give me a stroke.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Brattinella
Video came out chopped off.

[stillhere1900]

21 hours ago, Brattinella said:

That Dolce and Gabbana commercial is GORGEOUS!  And so is Sophia Loren!  Jeez, she is 81, folks; give her a break!

PSA: Now you know why Dolce & Gabbana is sooooooooooooo expensive.

[backformore]

On ‎5‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 2:06 PM, Brattinella said:

That Dolce and Gabbana commercial is GORGEOUS!  And so is Sophia Loren!  Jeez, she is 81, folks; give her a break!

She has always looked gorgeous.  But in that commercial there's a very strange shot of her at the end, where her face is oddly contorted - skin stretched, lips looking puffed out.   Just my opinion, but she'd be better off looking 81, instead of whatever she has done to her face to "fix" it.

[Ubiquitous]

There's this ad for a $4 meal deal at Dairy Queen featuring a couple eating their meal and the woman comments on the $4 meal deal and the husband parrots it, then she comments about he never listens to her. I get it his response is sppsd to confirm that to us but I intially thought he was answering her.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/A19b/dairy-queen-5-buck-lunch-not-listening

Edited May 8, 2016 by Ubiquitous
Replaced defunct YouTube video.

[Ubiquitous]

A woman in this Comcast/Xfinity commercial requests a "romantic movie" and gets Fifty Shades of Gray. Is this a case of "my Tivo thinks I'm gay!?" because I don't think that is a very romantic movie.

[Jamoche]

On May 1, 2016 at 0:23 PM, bilgistic said:

5 hours ago, Ubiquitous said:

A woman in this Comcast/Xfinity commercial requests a "romantic movie" and gets Fifty Shades of Gray. Is this a case of "my Tivo thinks I'm gay!?" because I don't think that is a very romantic movie.

Its marketing department pushed it that way.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

 

Whut?

[Watcher0363]

On 5/9/2016 at 6:26 PM, Cobalt Stargazer said:

 

 

Whut?

It's a bear to do a remodel of any kind. Perhaps it would have been better if they had a female dog walking around the bathroom, when discussing the remodel. 

Edited May 12, 2016 by Watcher0363

[xaxat]

Are they stealing some poor kid's dollhouse?

There's a sense of. . . urgency to their actions.

[callmebetty]

15 hours ago, xaxat said:

 

Are they stealing some poor kid's dollhouse?

There's a sense of. . . urgency to their actions.

See I saw it as an urgency to grab it from the curb before someone else got it or the garbage man came. It looks brand new so I don't blame them for wanting it.

[friendperidot]

Quote

Are they stealing some poor kid's dollhouse?

There's a sense of. . . urgency to their actions.

See I saw it as an urgency to grab it from the curb before someone else got it or the garbage man came. It looks brand new so I don't blame them for wanting it.

I want the dollhouse too, I collect miniatures.

[janie jones]

Why'd they pull into the driveway?  If they're in such a hurry, they should pull up to the curb right next to it.