Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[RealityGal]

Hate those Colonial Life insurance spots where some old people have some stupid, fakey "sincere" conversation post funeral. You are in your 60's or 70's and it just now occurred to you that you will eventually DIE?? Alex Trebeck should be ashamed for schilling on that cheesy shit.

And WHY does every old people commercial:

A. Show a cup of coffee in a saucer by the phone? I'm old and my phone beverage vessel is usually stemware ;)

B. Do they feel the need to show the old person actually dialing and talking on the phone? Isn't the instruction to "call" enough? The old person needs to be reminded how to actually place a call???

 

eta: spell Trebek correctly.

 

This is why I love the Oscar Meyer commercial with the cranky grandfather.  I love it when a commercial shows people acting in such a non-stereotypical way.

 

I guess I am just too old.  I see no earthly reason a child should have a cell phone.  Their helicopter moms are there all the time anyway.  Did you see the new app a mom made? When her teenager refused to call her back, she created this app that would lock their kid's phone for everything EXCEPT 911 and calling the parent back, no games, no text, no phone.  Hell, the PARENT is paying for said phone!  I love this and hope it catches on.

 

Initially, I thought that app was a good idea, and then I realized that a lot of these new helicopter parents are super involved and don't have a life outside of their children, and probably use constant phone calls as a means of control and a way to fill their bored lives.  If you have to control your kid with a cell phone app, whats to keep them from just getting a burner phone until they feel like calling you back?

[ZaldamoWilder]

You say this like it is a bad thing.

 

I should've prefaced with IMO.   IMO, and in my house yeah, that would be a bad thing (the cat tree, not the cat loving family)

Edited August 22, 2014 by ZaldamoWilder

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I finally saw that Life Alert commercial where they show the lady who fell down the stairs and her laundry is scattered all over the floor. It scared the shit out of me, so much so that I called my mom just to check on her.. What is the idea behind these ads, that if you give somebody a heart attack worrying about their semi-elderly parent, they'll buy your product? Gross.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Cobalt Stargazer

[MrsEVH]

I finally saw that Life Alert commercial where they show the lady who fell down the stairs and her laundry is scattered all over the floor. It scared the shit out of me, so much so that I called my mom just to check on her.. What is the idea behind these ads, that if you give somebody a heart attack worrying about their semi-elderly parent, they'll buy your product? Gross.

 As scary as it is, it happens. My mom fell in her apartment and broke her leg. If it wasn't for my stepsister and her DH stopping in she probably would have laid there for hours  because she was nowhere near a phone.

Edited August 22, 2014 by MrsEVH

[LoneHaranguer]

Rather than buy the product in the ad, one could just carry around a smartphone with a fall-detection app installed. Then it's more convenient if someone calls you too. With the right carrier/plan you don't have to pay for internet access if you don't want it.

[Bort]

Initially, I thought that app was a good idea, and then I realized that a lot of these new helicopter parents are super involved and don't have a life outside of their children, and probably use constant phone calls as a means of control and a way to fill their bored lives.  If you have to control your kid with a cell phone app, whats to keep them from just getting a burner phone until they feel like calling you back?

Then good for them, they're learning independence and how to manage their own money.

[RealityGal]

Then good for them, they're learning independence and how to manage their own money.

to me then, that defeats the purpose.  You want to hold a kid hostage to calling you back by shutting down their cell phone.  They go and buy a secret burner phone. When they don't call you back right away, you shut down their phone, they use the burner phone to make calls until they call you back.  Then you release the phone again for them to use.  The kid wins either way, they are using the phone you're paying for 99% of the time, the 1% of the time when you shut down the phone they simply use the burner phone. 

 

While its not how I was raised, I think a lot of kids end up having spending money or access to a card of some sort.  I especially think this is true of kids who are getting fancy smart phones with games and what not from their parents, and honestly, I think if a kid is out they should have some money on them.  So basically the kid is going to just use your money to get around the cell phone app you've paid for.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

The kid wins either way, they are using the phone you're paying for 99% of the time, the 1% of the time when you shut down the phone they simply use the burner phone.

If the kid isn't calling back, they're probably with friends, so they don't need to use the phone or can borrow someone else's. No burner necessary, or am I missing something?

[RealityGal]

If the kid isn't calling back, they're probably with friends, so they don't need to use the phone or can borrow someone else's. No burner necessary, or am I missing something?

You're right, I'm sure most of the time that a kid doesn't want to call back right away they are with friends and could just use their friend's phone, but even on those occasions where they just are alone and don't want to talk to you, but want to talk to a friend, they can use the burner.  It just seems like there are so many ways around the app.  And I think, even if parents are paying for the cell phone, sometimes an older child will know that it may not be the best time to talk to their parent. Forcing a conversation on someone, even a child whose cell phone you are bankrolling, may not always be a great idea.  I especially think it would be tough for kids who are in the middle of a nasty divorce (which I think does happen), one parent may either tell the kid not to pick up a call from the other parent (who will then shut down the phone), or one parent may call constantly to get "updates" on what the other parent is doing or to talk shit about the other parent, and the kid doesn't want to have to deal with it (and then the parent shuts down the phone).

[MaryPatShelby]

This is why I love the Oscar Meyer commercial with the cranky grandfather.  I love it when a commercial shows people acting in such a non-stereotypical way.

 

 

Initially, I thought that app was a good idea, and then I realized that a lot of these new helicopter parents are super involved and don't have a life outside of their children, and probably use constant phone calls as a means of control and a way to fill their bored lives.  If you have to control your kid with a cell phone app, whats to keep them from just getting a burner phone until they feel like calling you back?

The other thing I hate about this app? (Maybe this should be in the UO thread...) I can think of a million reasons why a kid might not answer the phone when Mom calls. Driving, in class, at practice, in the bathroom, in a situation where answering/talking on the phone might be considered rude or inappropriate, or God forbid engaged in an activity that didn't include constant unending starting at the phone.

 

I realize that some of you are saying that this app is for not calling back. The original information I had read was that this person invented it because her kid (who was 18, but the way) didn't answer the phone when she called.l

Edited August 23, 2014 by buffylew

[CoderLady]

Oops - off topic.

Edited August 23, 2014 by CoderLady

[Cobb Salad]

The 'Don't touch my Dart' commercials, especially the one with the best friend/neighbor ask the Dart owner where he wants the first scratch on his car -- the 'best friend' is annoying and becomes increasingly annoying with each commercial. Dodge should have shown another way Dart owners love their cars.

[NYGirl]

I hate these ads enough to want to hurt children. The faux-hipster kids in their stupid jaded arrogance need to go away. I'm not even going to address the wisdom of 9 year olds having what appears to be no restrictions on smart phones. Guess what Amazon? If I was even considering your phone the crappy ads with the crappy kids would make me reconsider quicker than you can say shut up kid.

Oh yes!! I came here just to complain about that pain in the ass with the big glasses.  He's the most annoying kid I've ever seen.

 

In the NYC area I've seen a lot of commercials for what to pack in an emergency and I want to scream.  There are 2 of them played constantly on the channels I watch such as HGTV and during Yankee games.  Go away.  Go away.  Go away.

[Eliot]

I finally saw that Life Alert commercial where they show the lady who fell down the stairs and her laundry is scattered all over the floor. It scared the shit out of me, so much so that I called my mom just to check on her.. What is the idea behind these ads, that if you give somebody a heart attack worrying about their semi-elderly parent, they'll buy your product? Gross.

 

That ad now has the same effect on me as the Melissa Etheridge animal abuse commercials: I dive for the remote the minute I see it. First, because I have elderly parents, and even though they're stashed safely away in a swanky retirement community (plush carpets and NO STAIRS) I still envision my mom at the bottom of that staircase. Second, because I live alone myself and it could just as easily happen to me!

[Brattinella]

That really is a horror ad.  I see it as a poor lady who has been down there for DAYS and is on her last gasp.  A more terrifying end I cannot imagine.

[Prevailing Wind]

 

A more terrifying end I cannot imagine.

Being eaten by a bear is probably more terrifying.   Although, lying there, knowing that in all probability that between dying and being found, your cats will have to eat...

[Brattinella]

GAH!!!  My cats! :((

[ABay]

See, that doesn't bother me. I'll be dead and the cats need to eat. I wouldn't want them to starve. It's the last act of care I'll be able to offer them.

[Rick Kitchen]

So the movie version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day has the entire family having a bad day, not just Alexander,  The preview shows Alexander's brother taking his driver's license test, and his phone rings, but he tells the driving examiner that he isn't going to answer it because it's wrong to talk on the phone while driving.  He tells the examiner that it's probably his girlfriend calling to make arrangements for the prom, so the examiner tells him "go ahead, answer it, you only have one prom."  So as soon as he answers it, she fails him.  :)

[Cobalt Stargazer]

"You tricked me!!!!!"

[Bort]

See, that doesn't bother me. I'll be dead and the cats need to eat. I wouldn't want them to starve. It's the last act of care I'll be able to offer them.

Yeah, but it's pretty traumatizing for the person that finds you. And then nobody will want to keep the people-eating cats.

[Neurochick]

I finally saw that Life Alert commercial where they show the lady who fell down the stairs and her laundry is scattered all over the floor. It scared the shit out of me, so much so that I called my mom just to check on her.. What is the idea behind these ads, that if you give somebody a heart attack worrying about their semi-elderly parent, they'll buy your product? Gross.

 

 

That's exactly what the commercial is doing.  My mom has Life Alert and when she needed it, it worked.  Many people don't think an accident or something could happen to them, they feel, "I don't need it."  I think if a person is elderly and lives in a house with stairs, they definitely should have it.  

[Sandman87]

 

Although, lying there, knowing that in all probability that between dying and being found, your cats will have to eat...

Hell, I have trouble keeping my cat from chewing on me as it is. I've always assumed that he'll start chowing down on me when I die, even if he has a full bowl of food. On a positive note, at least he likes people.

 

------------

 

The commercial that's driving me batty recently is an anti-domestic violence PSA where a bunch of actors that I either don't care about or actively hate keep saying "no more..." ("no more looking the other way", "no more saying 'boys will be boys'", etc). The local PBS station has been playing it at every program break for the last few months. Every. Single. Break.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Sandman87

[Rinaldo]

So the movie version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day has the entire family having a bad day, not just Alexander

This was my first reaction when I saw the preview a week ago -- the adapters must have misunderstood the book completely. It's about a kid who has a bad day, just as anyone might, and gently gets the message across that these things happen, you'll get some perspective on it in time, etc. But the movie is about a genuine cosmically bad day for everyone. Which pretty much exactly wrong. 

[tom87]

The commericals are old but I still do not get why the people in the Jack Link's Beef Jerky commercials felt the need to be  Messin' With Sasquatch

[Ubiquitous]

The 'Don't touch my Dart' commercials, especially the one with the best friend/neighbor ask the Dart owner where he wants the first scratch on his car -- the 'best friend' is annoying and becomes increasingly annoying with each commercial. Dodge should have shown another way Dart owners love their cars.

Is that "Mac" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia playing the neighbor? I didn't mind the first couple ads, but got tired of it when the friend wanted to preemptivelty scratch his car.

 

I still hate the "worlds most powerful fan" ad campaign.

[DeLurker]

Applebee's commercial for cross-cut ribs makes me cringe - I don't want to see people eating sauce covered bits o' meat with their hands!  If they are boneless, as evidenced by the diners being able to tear them apart, use a frickin' fork & knife!

[Eliot]

Messy, noisy eating grosses me out, period - especially in TV commercials. The worst offender I can think of off the top of my head was the one for Nestle's Tollhouse Cookies with a family standing around in the kitchen, eating warm chocolate chip cookies, talking with their mouths full as disgusting oozy chocolate dripped out of their gaping yaws.

Edited August 24, 2014 by Eliot

[zillabreeze]

Ah Eliot- I feel your pain. There is entirely too much smacking & talking with food in the mouth on shows and in commercials. It makes nauseous!

I am so sensitive to it that I once broke up with an otherwise great guy over dinner table sound effects!

Edited August 24, 2014 by zillabreeze

[Rick Kitchen]

The couple in the Best Buy commercial where the clerk is shown on a TV screen at the same time he is standing next to it.  They're both stupid.  The woman says "they're twins", and the guy says, "they look alike" and then the bitchy wife has to correct him, "That's what twins are."  They can both go away.

[Cobb Salad]

Is that "Mac" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia playing the neighbor? I didn't mind the first couple ads, but got tired of it when the friend wanted to preemptivelty scratch his car.

I still hate the "worlds most powerful fan" ad campaign.

I'm not sure if that's him. The preemptive car scratch ad is the worst in my opinion (I knew someone who talked about doing that as revenge).

[AmazingGrace]

One of the good things about the NFL starting is the State Farm shrew will be gone and Aaron "Discount Double Check" Rodgers will be back. Can't wait.

[riley702]

...disgusting oozy chocolate

Heresy! Heresy, I say! ;) Warm, oozy chocolate is not disgusting in and of itself. I get what you mean about "see food", as my nephew called it, but don't blame the chocolate! [/tongue firmly in cheek]

[merylinkid]

Gah now with the wonderful return of football, we also get the return of the Toyota commercials with Coach T.   Why they think listening to a senile old man trying to recruit me to Toyota will help sell cars I have no clue.

[Sandman87]

Heresy! Heresy, I say! ;)

Made me do a double-take there; At first I thought it was "Hershey! Hershey!"

[Ubiquitous]

I'm not sure if that's him. The preemptive car scratch ad is the worst in my opinion (I knew someone who talked about doing that as revenge).

oh, crap! There's a new installment with the neighbor hanging a birdhouse over the guy's car so it gets bird shit all over it.

[legaleagle53]

Well then me too.  My favorite thing to tell my kid in my mom voice is:  do you know how old I was when I got my own cell phone?  Thirty-one.  When I could pay the bill myself, incidentally.

 

And if I were your kid, I would answer back that the only reason you had to wait until you were 31 is that they weren't invented yet when you were my age.

Edited August 25, 2014 by legaleagle53

[xls]

These Fiat commercials are getting on my last nerve, every two minutes:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwAlfH332iw

 

Makes me want to eat ice cream out of my skull!

Edited August 25, 2014 by xls

[xls]

And if I were your kid, I would answer back that the only reason you had to wait until you were 31 is that they weren't invented yet when you were my age.

(Puts my fist to my mouth) OOOOOOOOOOoo!

[legaleagle53]

(Puts my fist to my mouth) OOOOOOOOOOoo!

 

Yeah, I was a real smartass when I was a teenager (and I was the "good" kid in the family)!  ;-)

[OSM Mom]

I want to see the ad where the Dart owner beats the crap out of that stupid asshole neighbor of his. I feel bad for the Dart owner. Having such a jackass for a neighbor.

[snappymilo]

Is that "Mac" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia playing the neighbor? I didn't mind the first couple ads, but got tired of it when the friend wanted to preemptivelty scratch his car.

 

I think it's Jake Johnson from New Girl that wants to scratch the car.

[bilgistic]

...that the only reason you had to wait until you were 31 is that they weren't invented yet when you were my age.

I have said that very thing on these boards about myself, but I don't have kids, for MANY reasons. I think I was about 24 when I got my first cell phone...because that's when they were widely commercially available and somewhat reasonably priced. Having grown up without a cell phone (and going without one over various periods since I first had one--I still had "the phone" at home), I don't feel that all kids need one, but that's another topic. Edited August 25, 2014 by bilgistic

[photo fox]

Hey, all, can we move the cell phone conversation over to the Small Talk topic?

Unless it's a cell phone commercial, of course.

[RealityGal]

I want to see the ad where the Dart owner beats the crap out of that stupid asshole neighbor of his. I feel bad for the Dart owner. Having such a jackass for a neighbor.

Okay, how is that supposed to sell me on buying a new Dodge.  All the commercial is telling me is that I'll buy a new car, that will automatically without a scratch lose 20% as I drive it off the lot, and its pretty much gonna get fucked up by some jackass...who by the way, is absolutely begging to get his ass kicked.  The second I got a scratch on that car, I would beat his ass, I would beat his ass just for being the one to put the thought into the universe, even if the scratch happened 100 miles away from Jake, Jake would be getting that ass beating for whoever actually did the scratch, and a double ass beating for being a dickwad.

 

I mean listen, with someone like Jake, its just a matter of time before he ends up getting his ass beat anyways, so I'm sure he would thank me for it.

 

Thank goodness that isn't Mac, because I love It's Always Sunny - I was scared he might have done the commercials just to make money now that the show is popular and he has a baby.

[Eliot]

Heresy! Heresy, I say! ;) Warm, oozy chocolate is not disgusting in and of itself. I get what you mean about "see food", as my nephew called it, but don't blame the chocolate! [/tongue firmly in cheek]

 

That's what makes the commercial even more unbearable: It makes me see chocolate as oozy and disgusting.

[ramble]

Because hey pee happens. That's the tag line for new Always Discreet bladder leak protection. They also manage to use the line "just because you happen to sprinkle a little tinkle." Seriously?! I had to rewind because I thought I had to have misheard. Nope. Pee happens. What idiot dreamed this campaign up?

http://youtu.be/RapKqofgWfw

[Brattinella]

I saw this one too, ramble, could NOT believe my ears "Pee Happens". "Sprinkle a Little Tinkle". Yeesh!

[FormerMod-a1]

Makes me want to eat ice cream out of my skull!

 

Oh my goodness!  I love turning that commercial into a phrase to express disgust!  I'm going to have to use it too!  Not that most people I know will have any idea what I'm talking about.  But that will be half the fun.

[slensam]

 What idiot dreamed this campaign up?
http://youtu.be/RapKqofgWfw

A toddler.