Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[janie jones]

7 hours ago, Annber03 said:

My favorite misuse of a song still involves a commercial from years back advertising some kid's toy-I think it was one of those toy cars that kids could have fun riding around in-to the tune of "I'm So Excited". Ummmmm...

My favorite misuse is "Bohemian Like You" in a car commercial.  They used the line "You got a great car" but cut out the next line, which is "Yeah what's wrong with it today."

[IrishPirate]

Owls. What is it with OWLS as spokes-birds for certain companies? I give you:

1. The Trip Advisor owl.

2. The America's Best owl selling prescription glasses.

3. The drug-pushing Xyzal owl.

4. And our very own local (Pacific NW) owl shilling for WGU, the Western Governors University.

I'm sure there are others, but I am not googling. I am not. No. I mean it.

 

Damn. 

Edited August 16, 2017 by IrishPirate
Because I googled.

[Prevailing Wind]

At least we're spared any Hooter's ads with their booby-eyed owl.

Not having cable TV anymore, I've been exploring my streaming Roku stick. Oh, look! Free movies that Netflix doesn't have that I've been wanting to see!  No, not free. You don't have to pay anything, but you have to sit through 5 commercials at a time. They break into the movie in the middle of sentences! At least, when the movie comes back, they run the previous two seconds, so you get context. But the ads!!!! AAIIIEEEE. Two ads, repeated ad nauseam. Three of this ad, two of that. Next block of 5 commercials, they switch, so it's two of this, three of that.  GRRRRR.

[Moose135]

7 hours ago, IrishPirate said:

Owls. What is it with OWLS as spokes-birds for certain companies?

Because owls are considered to be wise.

[proserpina65]

On ‎08‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 7:02 PM, missmansfield said:

I guess that is the song.  I don't care who sings it, classic or not.  I agree - her voice sets my teeth on edge!

I don't care whether or not you like the song.  I just wanted to clarify that it's in French, not Italian.

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, funky-rat said:

And the one for a washing machine with a guy who is carrying a kid and says "Don't poop!  Don't poop!".  The music in the background sounds a lot like "You Are My Sunshine" but there are parts of it missing - it's bizarre, and I want to sing along in my head, but the music isn't right.

I think Whirlpool (or their ad agency) thinks You Are My Sunshine is a warm, fuzzy song, and reflects parental love for their children, and that's why they chose that song for their appliance commercials.  They've obviously never listened to any of the lyrics except the chorus.

[funky-rat]

17 hours ago, Annber03 said:

My favorite misuse of a song still involves a commercial from years back advertising some kid's toy-I think it was one of those toy cars that kids could have fun riding around in-to the tune of "I'm So Excited". Ummmmm...

I still think the worst was the NFL using "Every Day Is Like Sunday" in a commercial. They only used that one line.  Apparently they didn't listen to the rest of the song, because the next part of that verse is "Every day is silent and gray."

[iMonrey]

Quote

I think the absolute worst commercial right now is one for knee braces marketed toward the elderly.  It features some horrible animation and some little girl who wants her Grandma to skateboard with her, but Grandma can't because her knee hurts. 

The worst part of that commercial is the voice actress they hired to do "Granny's" voice. She is clearly a young woman trying to do an "old lady" voice  . . . and doing it very badly. 

[Jaded]

This commercial has been in rotation on channels I watch again. I don't want to see grown ups making scrunched up constipated faces while sitting on the toilet so why do they think it's acceptable to do it with kids? At adults would have made the choice themselves to be remembered this way forever.
 

[peacheslatour]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I think Whirlpool (or their ad agency) thinks You Are My Sunshine is a warm, fuzzy song, and reflects parental love for their children, and that's why they chose that song for their appliance commercials.  They've obviously never listened to any of the lyrics except the chorus.

That happens all the time and not just in ads for products. I won't name names but many politicians have been estopped by bands and singers for using their songs in ways that are the polar opposite of what the artists intentions were.

[ivygirl]

On 8/14/2017 at 4:16 PM, janie jones said:

Oh it irritates me so much that people got famous off that shit.  That pose is so fucking phony and ridiculous.  As if anyone is ever holding onto someone's hand and walking directly behind them like that when they aren't trying to avoid getting separated in a crowd.  And even if they are, there's no reason to take a picture of it other than to be douchey.  There's a commercial for Israel tourism that's a woman and man's arm in basically the same pose throughout the whole thing (although I think she turns around some), and I loathe it.  I hate seeing poses like that on social media.

Look at my bum!

[SoSueMe]

On 8/11/2017 at 7:02 PM, missmansfield said:

I guess that is the song.  I don't care who sings it, classic or not.  I agree - her voice sets my teeth on edge!

I'm pretty sure it was used in the latest episode of Preacher, in context it worked pretty well. But I agree, it sets my teeth on edge too. I guess I need to translate it. 

[ennui]

20 hours ago, Brattinella said:

Wow.  Is there REALLY a commercial like that??

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AIXu/interactive-brokers-trouble-abroad

[bilgistic]

5 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I think Whirlpool (or their ad agency) thinks You Are My Sunshine is a warm, fuzzy song, and reflects parental love for their children, and that's why they chose that song for their appliance commercials.  They've obviously never listened to any of the lyrics except the chorus.

My mother used to sing it to me when I was a child.

I've heard the verses, but I choose to ignore them because she didn't sing those to me. She didn't awaken from a dream to find I was missing from her arms.

[peacheslatour]

3 hours ago, bilgistic said:

My mother used to sing it to me when I was a child.

I've heard the verses, but I choose to ignore them because she didn't sing those to me. She didn't awaken from a dream to find I was missing from her arms.

Growing up my dad had her albums. He and my mom also used to sing La Marseillaise at the dinner table.

[missmansfield]

5 hours ago, Jaded said:

This commercial has been in rotation on channels I watch again. I don't want to see grown ups making scrunched up constipated faces while sitting on the toilet so why do they think it's acceptable to do it with kids? At adults would have made the choice themselves to be remembered this way forever.
 

 

Yep, this commercial is sick!

[ennui]

5 hours ago, bilgistic said:

My mother used to sing it to me when I was a child.

I've heard the verses, but I choose to ignore them because she didn't sing those to me. She didn't awaken from a dream to find I was missing from her arms.

My mom sang it to me, her grandmother sang it to her.

The Nat King Cole version has a couple of verses about Louisiana.

[Neurochick]

On August 15, 2017 at 2:59 PM, Silver Raven said:

I love that song, sung by American Idol alumna Haley Reinhardt.

I love that song too, much better than the version by "The King."  Now THAT version is nails on a chalkboard for me.

[Eliot]

I would like the makers of Charmin and their branding agency to know that when I was buying toilet paper this weekend I took one look at those fucking bears on the package and CONTORTED MYSELF TO THE POINT OF TEARS to reach for a competing brand at the way back of the shelf.

[Madding crowd]

I hate the Honey Nut Cheerios commercial with the guy off key signing various combinations of "Comb in the ho-ho-ney, into the bowl" and "Good goes around and around and around." Awful singing and lyrics.

[friendperidot]

Quote

My mother used to sing it to me when I was a child.

I've heard the verses, but I choose to ignore them because she didn't sing those to me. She didn't awaken from a dream to find I was missing from her arms.

Growing up my dad had her albums. He and my mom also used to sing La Marseillaise at the dinner table.

I think there are two different songs people are talking about, You Are My Sunshine, which has been around forever, I'm not sure if it is considered a traditional folk song, it's been recorded by nearly every musician at some point, I remember Johnny Cash and Elvis and about a zillion others. It's being currently used in a commercial for...something.

Then there is No Je Ne Regrette Rien, by Edith Piaf, a famous French singer, she died in 1963. It is currently being used in a commercial...for something else. 

I love both songs. But somewhere, probably in this thread, I've read that advertisers don't spend much time knowing or caring what the song is really about, they are selected because of the title or from one line that someone selecting the music remembers. It does make for some odd song choices for advertising products.

[peacheslatour]

^^^Like that cruise company that used Iggy Pop's Lust for Life? A song about heroin.

[Eliot]

7 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

^^^Like that cruise company that used Iggy Pop's Lust for Life? A song about heroin.

REALLY? I didn't know that!

[peacheslatour]

Yep, Royal Caribbean.

[bilgistic]

4 hours ago, Eliot said:

I would like the makers of Charmin and their branding agency to know that when I was buying toilet paper this weekend I took one look at those fucking bears on the package and CONTORTED MYSELF TO THE POINT OF TEARS to reach for a competing brand at the way back of the shelf.

Please tweet this to Charmin or whoever makes it, because this is hilarious.

[Prevailing Wind]

Just so you know, they aren't fucking bears on the Charmin package. They're shitting bears. bwaahahahaha

[Silver Raven]

4 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I hate the Honey Nut Cheerios commercial with the guy off key signing various combinations of "Comb in the ho-ho-ney, into the bowl" and "Good goes around and around and around." Awful singing and lyrics.

Thank you! Everybody thinks I'm crazy for that opinion.

[Jamoche]

8 hours ago, Eliot said:

I would like the makers of Charmin and their branding agency to know that when I was buying toilet paper this weekend I took one look at those fucking bears on the package and CONTORTED MYSELF TO THE POINT OF TEARS to reach for a competing brand at the way back of the shelf.

Absolutely. Ran out this week, Charmin was the one with the best discount, but nope.

And in the other bad song choices: using S.O.B. for a picnic scene - Lipton Tea, IIRC. First off, it's about an alcoholic who has it so bad he's got the DTs. But even without that: the line "bugs crawling all over me" is not what you want to associate with a picnic.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Jamoche

[ennui]

8 hours ago, friendperidot said:

I think there are two different songs people are talking about,

Well, this is the internet!  :)  I probably quoted the wrong person. 

[xaxat]

A) A laptop isn't going to magically teach you calculus

B) Even if it could, that's not calculus!

[funky-rat]

23 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I hate the Honey Nut Cheerios commercial with the guy off key signing various combinations of "Comb in the ho-ho-ney, into the bowl" and "Good goes around and around and around." Awful singing and lyrics.

His inability to annunciate irritates me.  I'm not the kind who says you have over annunciate (that's annoying too - see the "Bib-BIT-TY Bob-BIT-TY Boo" commercial currently airing) but it often sounds like the Cheerios guy is saying "Good go surroun an aroun an aroun".  Annoying.  Can't stand Meaghan Trainor for the same reason - I call her mush mouth.

There was an annoying commercial around Christmas for Hasbro that was on every single commercial break with someone that had a thick accent singing about "Let the games begin".  I couldn't understand what they were saying.  It sounded like "A people person in the room, a people peema lama, leema rules for the win, let the games begin".  That one made me ragey.

[Brattinella]

3 hours ago, funky-rat said:

His inability to annunciate irritates me.  I'm not the kind who says you have over annunciate (that's annoying too - see the "Bib-BIT-TY Bob-BIT-TY Boo" commercial currently airing) but it often sounds like the Cheerios guy is saying "Good go surroun an aroun an aroun".  Annoying.  Can't stand Meaghan Trainor for the same reason - I call her mush mouth.

There was an annoying commercial around Christmas for Hasbro that was on every single commercial break with someone that had a thick accent singing about "Let the games begin".  I couldn't understand what they were saying.  It sounded like "A people person in the room, a people peema lama, leema rules for the win, let the games begin".  That one made me ragey.

THIS times a Billion!  UGH!

[Maharincess]

Am I the only dumb ass who wondered what "Zapple ale" is during the commercial for Red's Apple Ale?  It sounds like he's saying  "Red Zapple Ale" to me. 

Yeah...I figured I'm the only one. 

[TattleTeeny]

There's a Clearasil commercial that made no sense to me while I was not looking at the TV. It sounded like it said something about Clearasil can help with a teenager's acne but can it help her stop being embarrassed by her appearance. I thought, "Well, yes, right? Because isn't the acne at least part of her issue with her appearance? But why is the narrator saying " 'pearance" without the a? How annoying." Anyway, while I was actually looking at the TV, I saw the commercial (with its ugly cartoon graphics) again, and realized that the narrator was actually saying "embarrassed by her parents."

Edited August 18, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[Brattinella]

13 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

There's a Clearasil commercial that made no sense to me while I was not looking at the TV. It sounded like it said something about Clearasil can help with a teenager's acne but can it help her stop being embarrassed by her appearance. I thought, "Well, yes, right? Because isn't the acne at least part of her issue with her appearance? But why is the narrator saying " 'pearance" without the a? How annoying." Anyway, while I was actually looking at the TV, I saw the commercial (with its ugly cartoon graphics) again, and realized that the narrator was actually saying "embarrassed by her parents."

There is another commercial that is referring to "peen" in the bladder or urethra (from an infection or whatever).  More than once they say "you may feel peen in the bladder".  Really??

[TattleTeeny]

Yikes, NO!

There is one that mentions the "pain and itch of feminine itch." Really, you use the word "itch" to describe "itch"? Why not just the "pain and discomfort of feminine itch"?

And, oh, "peen."...another time I wasn't looking at the TV and a fast-talaking narrator was telling me about the benefits of lycopene in a vitamin. While he said, "Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant," I heard, "Like a penis, ...."

Edited August 18, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[riley702]

I thought it was "pain and burn of feminine itch."

[OmegaX123]

On 8/9/2017 at 6:39 PM, LoneHaranguer said:

No; one of the rules of grammar is that you put yourself last.

Nope. It's based on "would I say 'I' or 'me' if I was talking about just me?" So for a sentence like "I went to the store", it'd be "My friends and I went to the store". For one like "There was a lot there for me to buy", it'd be "There was a lot there for me and my friends to buy".

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

Nope. It's based on "would I say 'I' or 'me' if I was talking about just me?" So for a sentence like "I went to the store", it'd be "My friends and I went to the store". For one like "There was a lot there for me to buy", it'd be "There was a lot there for me and my friends to buy".

I think you're talking about a whole different thing; LoneHaranguer was, I believe, talking about where in a sentence to put one's own pronoun, not questioning which one to use and when (because you could also say, "There was a lot for my friends and me to buy--or even the somewhat awkward, "I and my friends went to the store").

Edited August 19, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[millennium]

The "She Shed" commercial for Fiber One.   I suppose because I find the concept of the "man cave" so pathetic, sexist and belittling to women (because men NEED and DESERVE a refuge without women), that it seems even more degrading that a woman would seek to emulate it.   Not to mention that the "She Shed" is in the ATTIC.   An attic is not a shed.   A shed is in the backyard.   I don't know.  Maybe it's just me.   

[Simon47]

I hate this commercial!

[SmithW6079]

10 hours ago, millennium said:

The "She Shed" commercial for Fiber One.   I suppose because I find the concept of the "man cave" so pathetic, sexist and belittling to women (because men NEED and DESERVE a refuge without women), that it seems even more degrading that a woman would seek to emulate it.   Not to mention that the "She Shed" is in the ATTIC.   An attic is not a shed.   A shed is in the backyard.   I don't know.  Maybe it's just me.   

I find it pathetic, sexist, and belittling to men that in an entire house, for which he, at least in part, contributed to its purchase and furnishings, he is relegated to one room that he is "allowed" to decorate according to his tastes.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

9 hours ago, millennium said:

I suppose because I find the concept of the "man cave" so pathetic, sexist and belittling to women (because men NEED and DESERVE a refuge without women), that it seems even more degrading that a woman would seek to emulate it. 

Except when a woman does it, its supposed to be empowering! Or something.

[legaleagle53]

14 hours ago, OmegaX123 said:

Nope. It's based on "would I say 'I' or 'me' if I was talking about just me?" So for a sentence like "I went to the store", it'd be "My friends and I went to the store". For one like "There was a lot there for me to buy", it'd be "There was a lot there for me and my friends to buy".

Ahem.  That should be "Would I say 'I' or 'me' if I WERE talking about just me?"  The subjunctive is still alive and well in Modern English and is required here for a contrary-to-fact situation (since you are NOT, in fact, talking about just yourself).

And what @TattleTeeny said.

Edited August 19, 2017 by legaleagle53

[millennium]

5 hours ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Except when a woman does it, its supposed to be empowering! Or something.

I'm not sure whether the "if he can do it, I can do it" approach is exactly empowering.

5 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

I find it pathetic, sexist, and belittling to men that in an entire house, for which he, at least in part, contributed to its purchase and furnishings, he is relegated to one room that he is "allowed" to decorate according to his tastes.

Your statement presumes the stereotype that the woman is the primary arbiter of style in the household.  Ideally, a home is decorated according to the mutual tastes of both adults. 

[TattleTeeny]

Re. "she sheds" and "man caves": I just think it's nice to have a space of one's own regardless of who pays for what in the place. I'd kill for one more small spot in this 2BR condo just for me--not that I wouldn't let my BF come in, obviously! I'd even go for separate BRs, actually, if that works. It's not like you can't sleep together in either one, but you can part ways if you so choose for whatever reason (SNORINGGGGGGGGG!). 

Edited August 19, 2017 by TattleTeeny

[legaleagle53]

9 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Re. "she sheds" and "man caves": I just think it's nice to have a space of one's own regardless of who pays for what in the place. I'd kill for one more small spot in this 2BR condo just for me--not that I wouldn't let my BF come in, obviously! I'd even go for separate BRs, actually, if that works. It's not like you can't sleep together in either one, but you can part ways if you so choose for whatever reason. 

And that was, in fact, the normal practice for the upper class up until about 1930 or so.

[TattleTeeny]

Well, look at me with my upper-class ideas! Never mind my upbringing of blue-collars and bikers, and subsequent string of apartments in "questionable" areas, haha!

[friendperidot]

My original point is there are objective and subjective pronouns. I, she, he, we, they are subjective; me, her, him, us, them are objective. So to say me and so and so did...is using a objective pronoun as the subject of the sentence. And then there's the part of polite speech where you put the other person or persons before yourself. I also hate it when someone is trying to make themselves sound more educated or intelligent and uses "myself" as the subject of the sentence, as in: so and so and myself entered the house. 

And in the same commercial that says "me and my single girls use Been Verified", it opens with "these are strangers, people you've never met before." Isn't that the very definition of a stranger? Someone you've never met before?

Edited to add that using street slang in a commercial does not make your product more hip, it just makes it sound dumb. Street slang changes almost on a daily basis, it also quickly dates your ad.

Edited August 19, 2017 by friendperidot

[Sandman87]

On Tuesday, August 15, 2017 at 10:46 PM, IrishPirate said:

Owls. What is it with OWLS as spokes-birds for certain companies? I give you:

I wonder if they realize that owls are also a symbol of misfortune and/or death in some cultures? "Use Zyzol...and die, all! Mwuhahah!"

 

On Thursday, August 17, 2017 at 10:45 AM, peacheslatour said:

Like that cruise company that used Iggy Pop's Lust for Life? A song about heroin.

Or when Microsoft used an edited version of "Start Me Up" for Windows 95. "You make a grown man cry" would have been the most accurate part of the commercial if they hadn't cut it out.