Say What?: Commercials That Made Us Scratch Our Heads

[erikdepressant]

Her boss didn't need the Hiney brush anymore, because his subordinates' noses performed the same function.

[Sandman87]

There's a Toyota ad running right now that shows a group of people running down a suburban street, one of whom is holding a garden hose with water spraying out of it, and you can see the hose trailing down the street behind her for about half a block. Where the hell does one get a garden hose that long? I want to know, because there are places in my yard that are over 300' from the nearest water spigot.

4 hours ago, Aquarius said:

Not once you get all your patients using My Shiny Hiney.  Then it's lemon verbena, passion fruit and citrus ginger all day long.

They need to expand the range of scents. I want my colon smell to smell like roses. I want it to be so realistic that I have to worry about getting aphids down south of the equator.

[erikdepressant]

Sorry to steer the conversation away from butts, but the Opdivo ads that are aired every other commercial break are driving me bonkers.  I don't know much about clinical trials, and I've never taken a statistics class.

In their "Longer Life" commercial, the fine print reads "In a clinical trial, OPDIVO reduced the risk of dying by 41% compared to chemotherapy (docetaxel)."  What does "risk of dying" actually mean, if it's not the same thing as "number of deaths?"

I'm having more trouble understanding the fine print on their "Most Prescribed Immunotherapy" commercial:

"In a clinical trial of squamous patients, half of those on OPDIVO were alive at 9.2 months versus 6 months for chemotherapy (docetaxel)."

And "In a clinical trial of non-squamous patients, half of those on OPDIVO were alive at 12.2 months versus 9.4 months for chemotherapy (docetaxel)."

At first glance, I thought they meant "You have a 50/50 chance of living an extra three months."  I just don't understand why they didn't word it like "At 12 months, X% of Opdivo patients and Y% of chemo patients were still alive."  Did they stop tracking a group when half its patients died?  Or did the survival rate even out between the two groups after 50% fatality?  Or were all the patients dead at 12.3 months?

A few months ago, I learned about how the Number-Needed-to-Treat may indicate that medications are far less effective than advertised.  Does anyone know why the commercial would word the survival-rate time-frame that way?

[Brattinella]

My guess would be deception to maximize their profit.

[Sandman87]

You can actually read the fine print in those ads? On my screen the letters look like a line of periods and commas.

[meep.meep]

3 hours ago, erikdepressant said:

Sorry to steer the conversation away from butts, but the Opdivo ads that are aired every other commercial break are driving me bonkers.  I don't know much about clinical trials, and I've never taken a statistics class.

In their "Longer Life" commercial, the fine print reads "In a clinical trial, OPDIVO reduced the risk of dying by 41% compared to chemotherapy (docetaxel)."  What does "risk of dying" actually mean, if it's not the same thing as "number of deaths?"

I'm having more trouble understanding the fine print on their "Most Prescribed Immunotherapy" commercial:

"In a clinical trial of squamous patients, half of those on OPDIVO were alive at 9.2 months versus 6 months for chemotherapy (docetaxel)."

And "In a clinical trial of non-squamous patients, half of those on OPDIVO were alive at 12.2 months versus 9.4 months for chemotherapy (docetaxel)."

At first glance, I thought they meant "You have a 50/50 chance of living an extra three months."  I just don't understand why they didn't word it like "At 12 months, X% of Opdivo patients and Y% of chemo patients were still alive."  Did they stop tracking a group when half its patients died?  Or did the survival rate even out between the two groups after 50% fatality?  Or were all the patients dead at 12.3 months?

A few months ago, I learned about how the Number-Needed-to-Treat may indicate that medications are far less effective than advertised.  Does anyone know why the commercial would word the survival-rate time-frame that way?

I think the best approach is to thank god you don't need to 'talk to your doctor" about this.

It's clearly intended for the desperate.

[backformore]

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 11:16 AM, erikdepressant said:

I'm having more trouble understanding the fine print on their "Most Prescribed Immunotherapy" commercial:

"In a clinical trial of squamous patients, half of those on OPDIVO were alive at 9.2 months versus 6 months for chemotherapy (docetaxel)."

And "In a clinical trial of non-squamous patients, half of those on OPDIVO were alive at 12.2 months versus 9.4 months for chemotherapy (docetaxel)."

At first glance, I thought they meant "You have a 50/50 chance of living an extra three months."  I just don't understand why they didn't word it like "At 12 months, X% of Opdivo patients and Y% of chemo patients were still alive."  Did they stop tracking a group when half its patients died?  Or did the survival rate even out between the two groups after 50% fatality?  Or were all the patients dead at 12.3 months?

OK, having once worked in medical research, ( a long time ago)  let me offer this - There are a bunch of ways to look at data,  there are statistical analyses you use to see if a difference is significant or just chance.  
  What you posted means that the piece of data that was significant between the two groups (OPDIVO vs. Chemo)  was the amount of time after treatment that half the study group died.  New treatments are always going to be compared to the existing standard treatment.  So, with a new drug, you compare whatever you can as far as results of the new vs. old drug.  How else can you report the results?   To report how many months the patients lived, you'd have to wait until they all died to report.    I'm sure that "length of time that 50% are still alive"  is one of those standard numbers that the research community has decided to use to evaluate cancer drugs. And just because those results were reported, doesn't mean the study ended.  With cancer research, they will continue to follow up and gather data. 

and this part: 

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2016 at 2:51 PM, meep.meep said:

"In a clinical trial, OPDIVO reduced the risk of dying by 41% compared to chemotherapy (docetaxel)."  What does "risk of dying" actually mean, if it's not the same thing as "number of deaths?"

Because reporting how many people died with the treatment is going to be bleak and negative, no drug company wants that in their report -  "only x people died!"   so they report the reduction in deaths.  41% reduction in deaths sounds a lot more positive. 

Cancer Institutes tend to report mortality rates - how many people died of certain cancers, and prevalence - how many people diagnosed.    Drug companies tend to report it in terms of survival rates. That's what they need to report in order to get funding for research.

[Sandman87]

Gieco's new "Marco Polo" ad has something in it that's puzzling me. Why is there a llama hanging out next to Marco? He never went anywhere near South America.

[cynicat]

Quote

Cancer Institutes tend to report mortality rates - how many people died of certain cancers, and prevalence - how many people diagnosed.    Drug companies tend to report it in terms of survival rates. That's what they need to report in order to get funding for research.

With oncology drugs, they look at how much longer you will live by using the medication.  It would be nice if all of these drugs cured cancer, unfortunately sometimes the best that can be done is extending one's life for as long as possible. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

7 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Gieco's new "Marco Polo" ad has something in it that's puzzling me. Why is there a llama hanging out next to Marco? He never went anywhere near South America.

Maybe its a demon llama.(Emperor's New Groove)

[Haleth]

Llamas make everything better.  We need more llama.

[smittykins]

Well, after  watching a YouTube playlist which had one of two Bank of America mobile-app adds featuring a llama before each.and.every.video, I might just beg to differ. :)

[Prevailing Wind]

Quote

It would be nice if all of these drugs cured cancer, unfortunately sometimes the best that can be done is extending one's life for as long as possible. 

Personally, I think they shouldn't work on curing it now.  AIDS, too - they should work on rendering it an innocuous annoyance, like a cold or a sprained ankle...THEN find the cure. But first, find a way to keep people from dying from it.  Which is, I think, what these drugs are trying to do.

[LoneHaranguer]

10 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Why is there a llama hanging out next to Marco?

Are llamas the latest ad fad? There's another current ad, for a different company, where parents get one at the last minute for their daughter's party.

[Dirtybubble]

13 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Gieco's new "Marco Polo" ad has something in it that's puzzling me. Why is there a llama hanging out next to Marco? He never went anywhere near South America.

LoL--IDK,  I just assumed there were llamas in Italy at that time.  To me it's just funny to see the llama standing there looking over the pool.

[ennui]

18 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Gieco's new "Marco Polo" ad has something in it that's puzzling me. Why is there a llama hanging out next to Marco? He never went anywhere near South America.

Why is a lizard selling car insurance?  (Yes, I know, gecko, Geico, but still. It's a lizard selling car insurance.)

[Sandman87]

Incidentally, some of you may not know or remember this: Shortly after Quake came out "llama" became a common internet term for people who sucked at multi-player games. It was a variation of "lamer."

Edited July 28, 2016 by Sandman87

[Rick Kitchen]

I love the Bank of America llama.  :)

[ennui]

44 minutes ago, Sandman87 said:

Incidentally, some of you may not know or remember this: Shortly after Quake came out "llama" became a common internet term for people who sucked at multi-player games. It was a variation of "lamer."

Is someone who has never played a multi-player internet game, "lamest"?

[Moose135]

20 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Gieco's new "Marco Polo" ad has something in it that's puzzling me. Why is there a llama hanging out next to Marco? He never went anywhere near South America.

Llamas are everywhere! A couple of months ago, I ran into some along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

[erikdepressant]

9 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Llamas are everywhere! A couple of months ago, I ran into some along the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

Liberty Mutual would not have raised your insurance rates, if that had ruined your perfect driving record.

[Moose135]

Fortunately, I didn't literally run into them, but USAA didn't raise my rates when I did run into a deer last year!

[Haleth]

9 hours ago, erikdepressant said:

Liberty Mutual would not have raised your insurance rates, if that had ruined your perfect driving record.

Page 23 of your policy.  Blah blah blah.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

8 hours ago, Haleth said:

Page 23 of your policy.  Blah blah blah.

Here's a potentially excessively stupid question - are people's insurance policy paperwork really the equivalent of the penal code? I use Nationwide instead of Liberty Mutual, but when I last checked, it was only eight pages. I haven't read every word, as that Blah Blah maroon implies you should, but it isn't as if I got a book the size of a dictionary in the mail. It's really just another reason to find the commercial obnoxious.

[ennui]

I think if most people want to know if they're covered for an event they simply call their agent. 

But, I confess to being a dinosaur who still uses a telephone to talk to people. 

[xaxat]

Does the ad company realize that being perceived as being a unicorn doesn't make people think you are special? That it just makes people think you are an entitled asshole?

[InDueTime]

This ad disturbs me.  I don't see what's so fascinating about a pair of undergarments that you'd just stare at and blow on someone's random person's crotch.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/Ayfz/fruit-of-the-loom-dressing-room

NSFW

[janie jones]

I love that commercial.  It's the bride's line at the end that does it for me.

(Is it really NSFW?)  (I suppose it depends on your work.)

[erikdepressant]

If she turned away from them and let one rip, would they feel that?

[Sandman87]

Saw two commercials back-to-back yesterday that made me wonder what the network's scheduler was thinking; an ad for the movie Sausage Party, immediately followed by an ad for Wienerschnitzel with an animated hot dog. Yeah, didn't make me want to eat hot dogs.

[peacheslatour]

Are Americans such arrested development cases that we now need R rated cartoons? And I am fully aware of Fritz the Cat. But that was a counter culture crapfest from the Seventies. This is a mainstream movie with trailers running on TV.

[callmebetty]

5 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Are Americans such arrested development cases that we now need R rated cartoons? And I am fully aware of Fritz the Cat. But that was a counter culture crapfest from the Seventies. This is a mainstream movie with trailers running on TV.

Well it's from Seth Rogen and his writing partner, so do with it what you will.

[bilgistic]

Not a lot on television and in movies offends me, but for some reason, I find the commercial's vulvar hotdog buns offensive. I won't be seeing the movie, but that's because it doesn't look appealing to me. And vulvar hotdog buns.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

8 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Are Americans such arrested development cases that we now need R rated cartoons? And I am fully aware of Fritz the Cat. But that was a counter culture crapfest from the Seventies. This is a mainstream movie with trailers running on TV.

 

2 hours ago, callmebetty said:

Well it's from Seth Rogen and his writing partner, so do with it what you will.

And before that it was the South Park movie.

[Sandman87]

7 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

Are Americans such arrested development cases that we now need R rated cartoons?

The problem is not R-rated cartoons. The problem is R-rated cartoons that are given exactly the same kind of treatment as "kids movies."

I can point you to animated movies that are outstanding (as in "better than 95% of what's in theaters at any given moment"), but definitely not for kids at all. Grave of the Fireflies, The Plague Dogs, Akira, and Fantastic Planet spring to mind immediately.

[theatremouse]

I am so confused by this ad for I don't remember what (therefore, bad ad), but it involves an Olympic runner who has a tiny dog, and the dog trots through her house with a bottle of water in its teeth, dripping water everywhere that she then has to clean up. (So, paper towel commercial? Cleaning wipes? I forget.)

I have to think their point was not to actually imply it remotely likely a dog would somehow get a grasp on a plastic water bottle, horizontally, and pour a path along the floor. This is a highly improbable scenario one would plan for. As a representative example of "dogs make for messy floors in a hurry if they're running" it's preposterous. So then if I'm trying to think of what they might have really wanted to imply, I come up with the dog peeing all over the floor? But for I'm not sure for what reason they couldn't or didn't want to explicitly state that? Maybe the "yuck" factor? So they just went for "dog" plus "liquid on floor" and let your own brain fill in how the hell it might get there? Even though I suppose I got there quickly enough, it still strikes me as a bizarrely roundabout way to get there, yet I can't think of what else they could've been going for, and I refuse to accept the scene as played at face value.

Plus part of the premise implied the runner needed to chase after the dog. True if the dog were holding a leaking container of some sort and running, that makes sense. But still ignores that a dog is more likely to make a stationary mess if we're talking about liquid spillage. If we're looking for a trail of carnage, I'm thinking muddy paws or whatnot. So does that mean really the whole scenario is just plain forced so they could make a running pun (and the forgotten product wouldn't apply in a muddy track sitch), and there is no more meaning to it than that?

It bugs me I've now put this much thought into it due to what is probably meaningless ambiguity. It happened because the writer said so.

Edited July 31, 2016 by theatremouse

[janie jones]

I think you're putting too much thought into it.  It is indeed a paper towel commercial, and I think all we're supposed to take away from it is that the lady is a runner, the paper towels are quick absorbing, and the dog is an adorable scamp.

And FWIW, although I can't think of a time I time I've actually seen it, when I consider the things I have seen a dog take off running with, it doesn't seem unlikely to me at all that a do would pick up an open water bottle.

[Ohwell]

21 hours ago, janie jones said:

I think you're putting too much thought into it.  It is indeed a paper towel commercial, and I think all we're supposed to take away from it is that the lady is a runner, the paper towels are quick absorbing, and the dog is an adorable scamp.

And FWIW, although I can't think of a time I time I've actually seen it, when I consider the things I have seen a dog take off running with, it doesn't seem unlikely to me at all that a do would pick up an open water bottle.

She is Allyson Felix, an Olympic runner who has won several medals.  Sadly, her dog, Chloe in the commercial died in May. 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Ohwell
Just realized I made a grammatical error!

[xaxat]

Is this the result of the Devil collecting a soul that Kevin Spacey sold in order to become a movie star?

[Brattinella]

9 hours ago, Ohwell said:

She is Allyson Felix, an Olympic runner whose won several medals.  Sadly, her dog, Chloe in the commercial died in May. 

The only reason I know who she is, is that we watch the Olympics in our house.  Poor Chloe.

[topanga]

16 hours ago, theatremouse said:

I am so confused by this ad for I don't remember what (therefore, bad ad), but it involves an Olympic runner who has a tiny dog, and the dog trots through her house with a bottle of water in its teeth, dripping water everywhere that she then has to clean up. (So, paper towel commercial? Cleaning wipes? I forget.)

I have to think their point was not to actually imply it remotely likely a dog would somehow get a grasp on a plastic water bottle, horizontally, and pour a path along the floor. This is a highly improbable scenario one would plan for. As a representative example of "dogs make for messy floors in a hurry if they're running" it's preposterous. So then if I'm trying to think of what they might have really wanted to imply, I come up with the dog peeing all over the floor? But for I'm not sure for what reason they couldn't or didn't want to explicitly state that? Maybe the "yuck" factor? So they just went for "dog" plus "liquid on floor" and let your own brain fill in how the hell it might get there? Even though I suppose I got there quickly enough, it still strikes me as a bizarrely roundabout way to get there, yet I can't think of what else they could've been going for, and I refuse to accept the scene as played at face value.

Plus part of the premise implied the runner needed to chase after the dog. True if the dog were holding a leaking container of some sort and running, that makes sense. But still ignores that a dog is more likely to make a stationary mess if we're talking about liquid spillage. If we're looking for a trail of carnage, I'm thinking muddy paws or whatnot. So does that mean really the whole scenario is just plain forced so they could make a running pun (and the forgotten product wouldn't apply in a muddy track sitch), and there is no more meaning to it than that?

It bugs me I've now put this much thought into it due to what is probably meaningless ambiguity. It happened because the writer said so.

There were three spilling scenarios. One was the water bottle you mentioned. In the second, the wet dog came inside and shook herself --which dogs love to do--all over the hard wood floors. And in the third, Allyson Felix (the Olympic sprinter) was sitting on her bed, tying her shoes. There was a glass of orange juice on the floor (I know, I know), and the dog knocked it over. Apparently, she isn't fast enough to get to her dog before a glass is knocked over or before the dog gives herself a good shake. 

What I took from the commercial is that even though Allyson Felix is fast, her dog is even faster. And Bounty paper towels are faster than either one of them because they clean up spills quickly. But my favorite part of the commercial? The way Allyson kept saying, "Chlo-e!" whenever the dog made a mess. 

 

She is Allyson Felix, an Olympic runner whose won several medals.  Sadly, her dog, Chloe in the commercial died in May. 

The only reason I know who she is, is that we watch the Olympics in our house.  Poor Chloe.

How sad. Chlo-e!

Edited August 1, 2016 by topanga

[Brattinella]

Quote

How sad. Chlo-e!

Why is this sad?  I'm old, and not sports-minded.  The only sports I watch are the Olympics.

[Rick Kitchen]

1 minute ago, Brattinella said:

 

Why is this sad?  I'm old, and not sports-minded.  The only sports I watch are the Olympics.

Topanga was responding to the news of the dog's death.

[Brattinella]

See?  That just proves my point. :)  Of course I misunderstood.

[Haleth]

Aww, poor Allyson.  I had a bunny named Chloe and I miss her a lot too.

[topanga]

9 hours ago, Brattinella said:

See?  That just proves my point. :)  Of course I misunderstood.

Nah, it just means that the commercial (and my attempt at a sympathetic response to Chole's death) weren't clear to everyone!

[Dirtybubble]

13 hours ago, xaxat said:

 

Is this the result of the Devil collecting a soul that Kevin Spacey sold in order to become a movie star?

This has fail written all over it.  I don't understand why Spacey agreed to this.  House of Cards seems to be doing well why ruin your career with agreeing to become a cat, WTF?

[Prevailing Wind]

Maybe he has a deal with the studio - do some stupid thing for them and then he can do some quality thing he wouldn't otherwise be able to get financing for.

[OSM Mom]

On 7/27/2016 at 7:58 PM, Rick Kitchen said:

I love the Bank of America llama.  :)

I do too.. He's hilarious and cute! 

[Sandman87]

Just saw a new one for a line of frozen dinners called Devour. A mechanic is standing in the office of his garage eating lunch. He starts talking dirty to his lunch. And then he spanks it with his fork. The tag line at the end is "Food You Want To Fork."

Is that ad supposed to make me hungry, or horny?