Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[callmebetty]

22 hours ago, xaxat said:

It's part of a series of ads for booking.com. It makes more sense if you know who Key and Peele are and you have seen the previous ads.

Otherwise, no.

I know that's Key and Peele . And that is also Rebel Wilson in this ad. But is the blond woman twirling Key around somebody?

[Rick Kitchen]

7 hours ago, erikdepressant said:

There's a commercial for a Memorial Day fashion sale; I believe it's for Belk Stores.  The narrator is listing the exciting brands on sale, and one of them is New Directions.  I first heard "Nude Erections."

 

The glee club on "Glee" was called New Directions, and everybody online called them Nude Erections.

[Sandman87]

Just saw a commercial where they put a brightly colored shirt on a bull, then wash the resulting filthy shirt with Purex.

I guess Purex is for cleaning up your Bullshirt.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Sandman87 said:

Just saw a commercial where they put a brightly colored shirt on a bull, then wash the resulting filthy shirt with Purex.

I guess Purex is for cleaning up your Bullshirt.

And they didn't use that line? Such a missed opportunity!

[smittykins]

When I was a kid in the mid-70s, T-shirts saying "Bull Shirt," "Turkey Shirt," "Chicken Shirt," etc.(with a cartoon of the corresponding animal)were a brief fad.

[birkenstock]

This French's commercial for Feeding America bugs me.  I'm all for sharing but the kid only has five chicken nuggets and broccoli for lunch. The three other kids have balanced meals and don't need a nugget.  Maybe if they showed the kids pooling their food together or trading, but the chicken nugget kid is left with barely any lunch after the others take his food. I understand the commercial's message, just think it could be better executed and the nugget kid could actually have a meal.

[erikdepressant]

It looked to me like the boy overheard the girls' whispering about beating him up and taking his nuggets.  The other boy was just an opportunistic toady.  Better to starve than visit the school nurse for a bloody nose.

[riley702]

:( Bullying shouldn't be a joke.

[Maverick]

 I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world.  You know, so you can check if you'e out of eggs or not.  The fuck?  I mean really, talk about your first world problems.  Who the hell needs to look inside their fridge that often remotely?  If you're that damn forgetful, maybe use this new invention call a shopping list.

 This one isn't a commercial (although there will probably be one eventually) but it's definitely a head scratcher.  There's an ad on Oreo bags encouraging you to vote for the next Oreo flavor (full disclosure: I think flavored Oreos are an abomination from hell).   On the flavors in the running:  Cookies and Cream.  Yes, Cookies and Cream...which is based on Cookies and Cream ice cream....which is ice cream....with Oreos.   So they're Oreo flavored Oreos.   Only from the minds that brought you awful creations like Key Lime and Thin Oreos.

[shapeshifter]

8 hours ago, Maverick said:

 I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world.  You know, so you can check if you'e out of eggs or not.  The fuck?  I mean really, talk about your first world problems.  Who the hell needs to look inside their fridge that often remotely?  If you're that damn forgetful, maybe use this new invention call a shopping list.

 This one isn't a commercial (although there will probably be one eventually) but it's definitely a head scratcher.  There's an ad on Oreo bags encouraging you to vote for the next Oreo flavor (full disclosure: I think flavored Oreos are an abomination from hell).   On the flavors in the running:  Cookies and Cream.  Yes, Cookies and Cream...which is based on Cookies and Cream ice cream....which is ice cream....with Oreos.   So they're Oreo flavored Oreos.   Only from the minds that brought you awful creations like Key Lime and Thin Oreos.

Sort of like those dressing room mirrors that face each other so there's a person in a mirror with a mirror behind him/her with a person in that mirror with a mirror behind him/her and so on? So there would be little Oreos in the cream of the Oreo, and maybe even have the little Oreos have little specks of cookie in them to look like they have even smaller Oreos in their cream. Sounds like a winner product for those states where recreational marijuana is legal.

[proserpina65]

Quote

 I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world.  You know, so you can check if you'e out of eggs or not.  The fuck?  I mean really, talk about your first world problems.  Who the hell needs to look inside their fridge that often remotely?  If you're that damn forgetful, maybe use this new invention call a shopping list.

Even worse, I saw another commercial (maybe for Home Depot or Lowe's) advertising this fridge and some similarly over-teched appliances which kept saying something to the effect of "you didn't grow up with appliances like these".  True, and I didn't turn out to be a serial killer, so I think the lack of wifi fridges didn't warp me too badly.

[bad things are bad]

Quote

I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world. 

It's the buzziest of buzz phrases: The Internet Of Things. because puny humans not up to basic tasks anymore. 

[Joe Blow]

Quote

 I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world.  You know, so you can check if you'e out of eggs or not.  The fuck?  I mean really, talk about your first world problems.  Who the hell needs to look inside their fridge that often remotely?  If you're that damn forgetful, maybe use this new invention call a shopping list.

I always think it's funny that Home Depot shows you the advanced refrigerator with touch-screen and cam, the washer that does your delicates and towels at the same time, the nice front loading dryer...then, at the end of the commercial, shows you the cheap, plain washer/dryer, like, "Those things were great!  Here's what you can actually afford.."

[mojoween]

I'm wondering how the allergic girl didn't notice that the brownies had something in them that was not brownie mix.

Wouldn't she have smelled the peanut butter, or wondered what those light brown swirls were and asked what they were before she ate them?

[Bastet]

I also wonder how the peanut butter couldn't be smelled, seen, or tasted.  If there was so little in there it wasn't noticeable, what was the point of adding it?  Maybe it was used as a substitute for butter, rather than added as a primary flavor.

I also wonder why the host said no when asked about nuts the first time (before the commercial begins, referenced when the friend says, "She asked you!") but immediately answers "peanut butter" when asked again, "there are no nuts in the brownies, right?"  And I'm not sure what she's referring to after she realizes what's happening and says, "I forgot."  She forgot she made them with peanut butter?  She forgot peanut butter is made of nuts?  She forgot the friend was allergic (and figured she was asking about nuts because she doesn't like them, not because she's allergic to them)?

And, most of all, with her allergy so severe the danger is well known to her friends, why does she not carry an epi-pen?  Because this happens a lot -- a host or server answers incorrectly when asked about ingredients, or there's cross-contamination -- so people can't just rely on asking; they carry the pen just in case.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Bastet

[Brattinella]

43 minutes ago, Bastet said:

And I'm not sure what she's referring to after she realizes what's happening and says, "I forgot."  She forgot she made them with peanut butter?  She forgot peanut butter is made of nuts?  She forgot the friend was allergic (and figured she was asking about nuts because she doesn't like them, not because she's allergic to them)?

This commercial has bothered me for a while.  The brownie-maker acts like "Oops!  My bad!  Stop swelling up like that, I didn't mean it!" 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

I also wonder why the host said no when asked about nuts the first time (before the commercial begins, referenced when the friend says, "She asked you!") but immediately answers "peanut butter" when asked again, "there are no nuts in the brownies, right?"  And I'm not sure what she's referring to after she realizes what's happening and says, "I forgot."  She forgot she made them with peanut butter?  She forgot peanut butter is made of nuts?  She forgot the friend was allergic (and figured she was asking about nuts because she doesn't like them, not because she's allergic to them)?

Peanuts are legumes, not nuts. Maybe she forgot that "nuts" means peanuts too?

[Bastet]

Quote

Peanuts are legumes, not nuts. Maybe she forgot that "nuts" means peanuts too?

Heh; I originally had an asterisk and footnote.

[janie jones]

I originally thought she meant she forgot about the friend's allergy, but that was before someone pointed out the "She asked you!" line, which I hadn't noticed.  It really seems to me that she forgot she put peanut butter in the brownies.  But really the girl with the allergy should be carrying an epipen.  Which I guess is the point of the commercial, but how could someone know they had this allergy and not know they need to have an epipen?

[Sandman87]

12 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

Sort of like those dressing room mirrors that face each other so there's a person in a mirror with a mirror behind him/her with a person in that mirror with a mirror behind him/her and so on? So there would be little Oreos in the cream of the Oreo, and maybe even have the little Oreos have little specks of cookie in them to look like they have even smaller Oreos in their cream. Sounds like a winner product for those states where recreational marijuana is legal.

Sounds like the same audience that would want the fridge with the camera, because then they can look at all the munchies whenever they want without having to get up from the couch. Of course, they'd have to put the Oreos in the fridge too...

Personally, I want an internet-enabled hamper so that I can look at my dirty laundry remotely. Because...uh...internet!

[bref]

There's an ad for one of those "sell it quick on some website" deals where a guy, encouraging his friend to get rid of his old grill, asks him "when was the last time we grilled out"? But it totally sounds like "GIRLED out" and I imagine them dressing in ruffled robes and getting pedis. Yes, I know it's dumb, but it makes me laugh every time.

Oh, and the Oreo thing reminds me of the history of "Hairspray"!

Edited June 2, 2016 by bref

[Cobalt Stargazer]

What I never understand is why he seems to be handcuffed to the stupid thing, because there are people with guns chasing after them but he's lugging a two hundred pound grill behind him.

[Rick Kitchen]

Apparently, from what I read, some people are so allergic to peanuts that they can't even be in the same room with them.

[riley702]

4 hours ago, bref said:

There's an ad for one of those "sell it quick on some website" deals where a guy, encouraging his friend to get rid of his old grill, asks him "when was the last time we grilled out"? But it totally sounds like "GIRLED out" and I imagine them dressing in ruffled robes and getting pedis. Yes, I know it's dumb, but it makes me laugh every time.

 

4 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

What I never understand is why he seems to be handcuffed to the stupid thing, because there are people with guns chasing after them but he's lugging a two hundred pound grill behind him.

The Letgo commercials are pretty weird anyway, but this one especially so. I went looking for the long version because I seem to remember the answer to "When was the last time we grilled out?" to be something about "the war", which makes it weirder still. Is this some dystopian future where business suit-wearing guys are running from gunfire at night out in the woods? Because... yeah, I don't know.

Found it and the answer might actually be "Maybe when work calms down..." which, oddly is even more bizarre. What the hell kind of work do you guys do?

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AtHp/letgo-the-escape

Edited June 2, 2016 by riley702
add link

[bref]

That's hilarious! I somehow let all that other weirdness fly right over my head what with focusing on the grilled/girled thing. What IS that all about anyway??

[CarpeDiem54]

On 5/31/2016 at 10:48 PM, Maverick said:

 I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world.  You know, so you can check if you'e out of eggs or not.  The fuck?  I mean really, talk about your first world problems.  Who the hell needs to look inside their fridge that often remotely?  If you're that damn forgetful, maybe use this new invention call a shopping list.

   

And of course it stars the Idiot Samsung Couple.  They make nice appliances but I'll never buy one just because of these commercials.  The stupid wife is so overwhelmed by making melon balls that she can't get up off her lazy ass and look in the fridge that's two feet away?  

[Haleth]

On 6/1/2016 at 0:48 AM, Maverick said:

I think flavored Oreos are an abomination from hell

(I think the S'mores ones are awesome.)

6 hours ago, CarpeDiem54 said:

And of course it stars the Idiot Samsung Couple.

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard (sp?)  They're supposed to be endearingly wacky.

Some time ago a What's Hot! spokesman was showing this fridge on the Today Show.  The hosts could  barely keep a straight face because of how ridiculous and unnecessary it is to have a fridge talk to your phone.

11 hours ago, Rick Kitchen said:

Apparently, from what I read, some people are so allergic to peanuts that they can't even be in the same room with them.

That's why most airlines don't serve peanuts on planes anymore.  And why schools are so strict about snacks.  That allergy commercial freaks me out.  Why the misunderstanding?  One word-- kids.  

Edited June 2, 2016 by Haleth

[theatremouse]

I am assuming Samsung thinks the appeal of the fridge is for people who never remember to make lists and wish they could check while they were out (and don't have someone at home to call to check, or the person who is home can't be bothered). But really what the fridge-visual segues too is not a human checking the fridge remotely, but the fridge knowing what's in it or not on its own and eventually ordering the items for you. The feature they're advertising rright now strikes me as entirely preposterous. But as a gateway for them to have the fridge know what you need so you don't have to (well, I think that's a bit extreme as well and will result in people remembering less because they never need to but) I can see how they'd expect that to be a popular offering in the future. So in a sense, they're really just trying to get humans accustomed to being more connected to their appliances. I'm not saying I necessarily think it's a good thing, but I do think it's where they're going because they think there's money to be made there.

[mojoween]

They can put sensors in the fridge shelves and when a certain amount of time passes and the fridge no longer feels the weight of, say, milk, your fridge sends you a text and says "hey asshole, there's no more milk" and then you click another app that sends a message to the grocery store and then milk is delivered right to your door!

Now the only thing I cannot do in this scenario is have the milk put in a glass and handed to you without you ever moving off the couch, but I'm sure personal Rosies are just a few years away.

[bilgistic]

This kind of thing might be brought to you by the same minds that created dash buttons, Wi-Fi-connected doohickeys that you pay for (when the brand should pay for it, IMO) and press when you run out of whatever they are branded to, instead of, you know, making a fucking shopping list.

[Ubiquitous]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

Some time ago a What's Hot! spokesman was showing this fridge on the Today Show.  The hosts could  barely keep a straight face because of how ridiculous and unnecessary it is to have a fridge talk to your phone.

Talk or communicate? The latter doesn't sound all that impressive, but my fridge calling my cellphone and speaking to it, a la Knight Rider, would be awesome!

[Haleth]

21 minutes ago, Ubiquitous said:

Talk or communicate? The latter doesn't sound all that impressive, but my fridge calling my cellphone and speaking to it, a la Knight Rider, would be awesome!

That will be the next generation.  You can call it Hal.

[Albino]

Speaking of odd refrigerator commercials (how often does someone actually get to say that?) the Lowe's spot with the talking giraffe fridge magnet baffles me.  I mean, I actually kind of like it but I don't understand why the giraffe has the voice of the classic 'sassy black woman'.  Whoever the v/o is, she does a great job but I do not connect giraffes with sassy black women.  On the other hand, if I try to imagine it with the voice of a basic white woman it kind of loses its wit.

Also, now that I re-read my post...why is there no "d" in refrigerator but there is one in fridge?  

[ABay]

That will be the next generation.  You can call it Hal.

Or Samaritan. </POI>

[LoneHaranguer]

1 hour ago, Albino said:

Also, now that I re-read my post...why is there no "d" in refrigerator but there is one in fridge?

Why is there no "u" in forty, but there is one in four and fourteen?

[Moose135]

12 hours ago, mojoween said:

Now the only thing I cannot do in this scenario is have the milk put in a glass and handed to you without you ever moving off the couch, but I'm sure personal Rosies are just a few years away.

Isn't that why people have kids?

[janie jones]

Found it and the answer might actually be "Maybe when work calms down..." which, oddly is even more bizarre. What the hell kind of work do you guys do?

It makes it seem like their work involves time travel.

It's all well and good to be able to check what's in your fridge when you're at the grocery store, but that doesn't help at all with determining whether the food you keep in your cupboards has run low.

I love Oreos and I love cookies and cream, so I can only hope an Oreo-flavored Oreo is simply a superior Oreo, if that's even possible.  But then I enjoy (nearly) all manner of Oreos.

[Sandman87]

6 hours ago, Albino said:

Also, now that I re-read my post...why is there no "d" in refrigerator but there is one in fridge?  

Without the "d" it would just be "frige", which would probably be Ye Olde Eynglish Speylling for something naughty.

[theatremouse]

10 minutes ago, Sandman87 said:

Without the "d" it would just be "frige", which would probably be Ye Olde Eynglish Speylling for something naughty.

Just Odin's wife.

[erikdepressant]

On 5/31/2016 at 11:48 PM, Maverick said:

 I just saw a commercial for a refrigerator that has a webcam inside it that you can access on your phone from anywhere in the world.  You know, so you can check if you'e out of eggs or not.  The fuck?  I mean really, talk about your first world problems.  Who the hell needs to look inside their fridge that often remotely?  If you're that damn forgetful, maybe use this new invention call a shopping list.

Yogurt Bitch was the first person to buy one: "Will it text me if my man-child of a husband opens the refrigerator door?  Can I connect speakers to it, so I can scold him from anywhere in the world?  How much longer do I have to wait before I can upload my consciousness into it?"

Y'Gurt is that which seeks the Creator.

[Prevailing Wind]

I always assumed it was because of Frigidaire - there's a D in it, so the shortened version had to have one, too.  (Including the R would have made the shortened version too long.)  <shrug>  Although, the Odin's wife theory is a good one. It's cold up there, and she's probably the original Yogurt Bitch.

[proserpina65]

10 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Without the "d" it would just be "frige", which would probably be Ye Olde Eynglish Speylling for something naughty.

Well 'frig' IS a euphemism for a particular sex act in Victorian erotica.  Don't really want to be thinking about that when contemplating a refrigerator.

[Neurochick]

On 6/1/2016 at 7:34 PM, Bastet said:

I also wonder how the peanut butter couldn't be smelled, seen, or tasted.  If there was so little in there it wasn't noticeable, what was the point of adding it?  Maybe it was used as a substitute for butter, rather than added as a primary flavor.

I also wonder why the host said no when asked about nuts the first time (before the commercial begins, referenced when the friend says, "She asked you!") but immediately answers "peanut butter" when asked again, "there are no nuts in the brownies, right?"  And I'm not sure what she's referring to after she realizes what's happening and says, "I forgot."  She forgot she made them with peanut butter?  She forgot peanut butter is made of nuts?  She forgot the friend was allergic (and figured she was asking about nuts because she doesn't like them, not because she's allergic to them)?

And, most of all, with her allergy so severe the danger is well known to her friends, why does she not carry an epi-pen?  Because this happens a lot -- a host or server answers incorrectly when asked about ingredients, or there's cross-contamination -- so people can't just rely on asking; they carry the pen just in case.

This commercial confuses me because I used to work with a woman who was allergic to peanuts, but NOT peanut butter.  She could eat peanut butter cookies, but could not eat something with nuts in it.  Some people are allergic to peanuts that grow on trees and not in the ground, and some are the other way around.

What gets me about this commercial is that I never knew about food allergies until I was in my late thirties; I never knew anybody who had them. 

[LoneHaranguer]

On 6/2/2016 at 9:49 AM, mojoween said:

Now the only thing I cannot do in this scenario is have the milk put in a glass and handed to you without you ever moving off the couch, but I'm sure personal Rosies are just a few years away.

No problem. Just put a mini-fridge stocked with single-serve containers next to the couch. You can get one less than a foot square made for this purpose if you don't need the variety or snack space a dorm-size unit would provide.

[theatremouse]

2 hours ago, Neurochick said:

This commercial confuses me because I used to work with a woman who was allergic to peanuts, but NOT peanut butter.  She could eat peanut butter cookies, but could not eat something with nuts in it.  Some people are allergic to peanuts that grow on trees and not in the ground, and some are the other way around.

What gets me about this commercial is that I never knew about food allergies until I was in my late thirties; I never knew anybody who had them. 

My (minimal) understanding is it is rare but possible to be allergic in such a way that once cooked the reaction is less or mostly gone? I thought that didn't usually work with nuts though. So, possibly that woman could eat peanut butter, not because of it's being buttered but because they'd been roasted first; and the "but not nuts" part was really only applicable to raw?

Either that or she was lying about having the allergy at all. Because the scenario in the commercial is the far more common peanut allergy than the person you describe.

Edited June 3, 2016 by theatremouse

[Cobalt Stargazer]

6 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Well 'frig' IS a euphemism for a particular sex act in Victorian erotica. 

And it's in a Sex Pistols song.

[FormerMod-a1]

3 hours ago, Neurochick said:

This commercial confuses me because I used to work with a woman who was allergic to peanuts, but NOT peanut butter.  She could eat peanut butter cookies, but could not eat something with nuts in it.  Some people are allergic to peanuts that grow on trees and not in the ground, and some are the other way around.

What gets me about this commercial is that I never knew about food allergies until I was in my late thirties; I never knew anybody who had them. 

Emphasis mine.  Are you perhaps thinking of tree-nut allergies vs peanut allergies?  Peanuts are legumes, tree-nuts are not.  So many people are allergic to one or the other but not both.  And some people are allergic to both.  So, if someone has a tree-nut allergy (walnuts, pecans, cahsews, etc) but not peanuts, they could eat peanut butter cookies and peanut butter fudge, etc. but the could not eat brownies with walnuts in them, or turtle candies (chocolate, caramel and pecans).  And then vise versa - some folks cannot even be near peanuts but could eat the walnuts.  And then there are those unfortunate folks that are allergic to both.  I have a couple of friends that are allergic to both.

[Brattinella]

You know, I'd just like to know WHERE these allergies came from?  I went through decades of school, with lots of classmates, and NEVER ever saw ANYONE with an allergy (except hay fever).  How did ALL these allergies HAPPEN??

[Rick Kitchen]

My cousin, who's 66, has always had a life-threatening bee sting allergy.

[Neurochick]

48 minutes ago, aquarian1 said:

Emphasis mine.  Are you perhaps thinking of tree-nut allergies vs peanut allergies?  Peanuts are legumes, tree-nuts are not.  So many people are allergic to one or the other but not both.  And some people are allergic to both.  So, if someone has a tree-nut allergy (walnuts, pecans, cahsews, etc) but not peanuts, they could eat peanut butter cookies and peanut butter fudge, etc. but the could not eat brownies with walnuts in them, or turtle candies (chocolate, caramel and pecans).  And then vise versa - some folks cannot even be near peanuts but could eat the walnuts.  And then there are those unfortunate folks that are allergic to both.  I have a couple of friends that are allergic to both.

That's it!  She had a tree nut allergy.  We went to a restaurant, she ordered a desert and asked if there were any nuts, the waitress said no, but there were walnuts in it and immediately, her throat began to close up.  Luckily she had the epi-pen.  Also the restaurant gave us our meal for free.

48 minutes ago, Brattinella said:

You know, I'd just like to know WHERE these allergies came from?  I went through decades of school, with lots of classmates, and NEVER ever saw ANYONE with an allergy (except hay fever).  How did ALL these allergies HAPPEN??

Me too.  I've known people with allergies to bees, but never foods.  As I said I never met anybody with a food allergy until I was a grown woman and I grew up in NYC.