Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[Tabbyclaw]

 That last one, a lady, says "We don't even live near the water!" That always cracks me up! If they don't live near the water how did their house get flooded?

 

I'm guessing you don't live in an area with monsoons and flash flood zones.

[Bort]

The thing that's annoying about those flood insurance commercials is that if your housing area is prone to flooding, you can bet your ass that your mortgage will require you have it. I live in a nice hurricane prone area so in addition to regular fire and theft, I have to have windstorm AND flood - three separate policies. The commercials are just trying to get you to buy insurance you don't need because if your mortgage doesn't require it? You probably don't need it.

[Sandman87]

All it takes for a flood to happen in one of a hilly area's valleys a blocked storm drain. A few pounds of leaves and a heavy rain can put an entire neighborhood under several feet of water. Happens around here at least once a year.

[Prevailing Wind]

Back to that credit score thing...I don't think finding out your score is gonna help you find out if your financial life has been stolen.  For that, you get a credit report.  By law, each consumer is allowed one free report a year - and that's one from each of the 3 credit reporting agencies.  State of Georgia requires we get TWO free reports a year, but the agencies' software isn't aware of that, so it tried to charge me for a second report.  I don't get all 3 at the same time - every 4 months I go to annualcreditreport.com and ask for a report from one of the 3 agencies.  It's free.

 

Tip: Download the report & read it off your monitor.  They tend to be pretty long & can use a LOT of your paper if you print it out.  I'm hoping that any year now, the accounts that got closed years ago will fall off the report & make it shorter.  The car loan's been closed for over 7 years - it ought to be off the report by now, wouldn't you think?

[RubyWoo72]

Okay so I know it's petty to be annoyed by the way someone talks, but this narrator's vocal fry and the peculiar way she over-pronounces the letter "r" makes me turn the dang channel on her:

Edited July 22, 2014 by RubyWoo72

[slensam]

Okay so I know it's petty to be annoyed by the way someone talks, but this narrator's vocal fry and the peculiar way she over-pronounces the letter "r" makes me turn the dang channel on her:

So, that's what the "vocal fry" thing sounds like. Kind of interesting I guess. Are adults talking like this now? Hope not.

[RubyWoo72]

@slensam, I'm wondering if she's an athlete with an endorsement or something because a trained actress would be less likely to record a voice-over like that.

[Shriekingeel]

The Kmart back-to-school commercials are always horrible, but the new one encouraging kids to talk about each others' "mamas" is a new circle of hell.

The Zillow commercials are at least two years old but they won't stop playing them. "This is the first day of my life/ Swear I was born right in the doorway" and "You're not just looking for a home, you're looking for a place for your life to happen"--WTF does any of that mean?

[Watcher0363]

The Kmart back-to-school commercials are always horrible, but the new one encouraging kids to talk about each others' "mamas" is a new circle of hell.

 

I really hate these commercials also. Not only do they take a part of African American culture rooted in the less educated and poorest of the community. But because of what they are trying to say about the Walmart pricing values they can not get the rhythm and natural flow of the dozens. The speech patterns are so forced that it is cringe worthy on that level alone. The commercial just offends me, trying to elevate a déclassé part of a culture to an acceptable form of mainstream art.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

I do, because it's included on my Discover statement every month.

But, even if a lender uses the same credit agency, it may be given a different number if it asks for the report to be customized. Not only can you have different scores at each of the three agencies, but different scores depending on why someone is asking.

[iMonrey]

 

Well, here in Florida we have these things call wet lands. However because some of them are just sort of wet most of the time. Developers have them declared not wet lands. They build a couple of retention ponds, then develop the hell out of the area. Everything is find until there is a hurricane. Then the sort of wet lands become very wet lands. The streets are under 3 ft. of water and your house has about 1ft of water in it.

 

I'm guessing you don't live in an area with monsoons and flash flood zones.

 

That's the thing, though - by definition, if you live anywhere in Florida, you live near the water. For that matter, if you live anywhere that's vulnerable to hurricanes, you live near enough the water that you should consider flood insurance. 

 

But, yes, I realize you can have flash floods or backed up storm drains in areas that are nowhere near any great body of water. 

[riley702]

Okay so I know it's petty to be annoyed by the way someone talks, but this narrator's vocal fry and the peculiar way she over-pronounces the letter "r" makes me turn the dang channel on her:

Eh, this is fairly mild, and didn't bug me. When I think of vocal fry, I think of Britney Spears singing kinda low and growly. Or the Kardashians talking. Or Katy Perry:

 

Edited July 22, 2014 by riley702

[RubyWoo72]

@riley702, Egads! Yes, those 2 have a horrible case of vocal fry. I think it's more of the narrator's enunciation that bugs.

[ABay]

I can't bear to listen. Is there up-talk as well? I would like to hand out fines and enrollment in speech therapy for girls who up-talk.

[riley702]

I don't know? What you're talking? About?

[CoderLady]

I can't bear to listen. Is there up-talk as well? I would like to hand out fines and enrollment in speech therapy for girls who up-talk.

 

There is, but only offered as an example of a past vocal trend. I hate that shit. I struggle to take anyone (and it's always a woman) using it seriously, and vacillate between wanting to mock them out loud and wanting to force them into a month of Toastmasters meetings.

[RubyWoo72]

I can't bear to listen. Is there up-talk as well? I would like to hand out fines and enrollment in speech therapy for girls who up-talk.

It took me a while to figure that out. Thanks, @riley702. Lol! My students do that, and I treat their up-talk statements as questions. Drives them crazy (because it drives me crazy.)

[Prevailing Wind]

I'm so out of it, I didn't even know that was a voluntary quirk.  How do you speak that way?  I can't get my voice to even come near the vocal fry (and than the Flying Spaghetti Monster for that!)

[margol29]

This ad is for one of the vacation search sites, maybe Kayak? See the commercial is so annoying I can't get past it to remember who it is for.

 

It is a college adjunt teaching a class on history. He has the back of his head shaved to look like eyes and mouth (face) with his glasses on the back of his head. He put his clothes on backwards so he can stand with his back to his students, keep lecturing ans search the internet for the best prices on travel.

 

For one thing he looks really creepy with his shaved in face. For another he is being paid to lecture not to search for his vacation plans.

 

Just irritating!

[RubyWoo72]

This ad is for one of the vacation search sites, maybe Kayak? See the commercial is so annoying I can't get past it to remember who it is for.

It is a college adjunt teaching a class on history. He has the back of his head shaved to look like eyes and mouth (face) with his glasses on the back of his head. He put his clothes on backwards so he can stand with his back to his students, keep lecturing ans search the internet for the best prices on travel.

For one thing he looks really creepy with his shaved in face. For another he is being paid to lecture not to search for his vacation plans.

Just irritating!

THE GOLDEN AGE! Lol yes, he should go away.

[Aquarius]

This ad is for one of the vacation search sites, maybe Kayak? See the commercial is so annoying I can't get past it to remember who it is for.

 

It is a college adjunt teaching a class on history. He has the back of his head shaved to look like eyes and mouth (face) with his glasses on the back of his head. He put his clothes on backwards so he can stand with his back to his students, keep lecturing ans search the internet for the best prices on travel.

 

For one thing he looks really creepy with his shaved in face. For another he is being paid to lecture not to search for his vacation plans.

 

Just irritating!

 

For me the creepiest thing is how little difference there is between his face and his fake shaved face.  Ewww . . . the stuff of nightmares!

[riley702]

And then he holds his coffee cup up to the back of his head to take a "drink"!

[merylinkid]

It just annoys me because he is searching for attending an upcoming conference.   Dude, the school is probably paying for you to attend and there is a department secretary who probably makes all the travel plans so shut up and teach.

[amb5363]

I don't need a KITCHEN kitchen if I'm staying at a hotel. And Sunny doesn't need to SHOUT shout at me about it.

 

 

It's not a KITCHEN kitchen either.  I had to stay at one when I relocated recently.  It is 2 burners, a microwave, a refrigerator and a sink (that they didn't even have a stopper for you to let dishes soak to wash them.

[Rinaldo]

It just annoys me because he is searching for attending an upcoming conference.   Dude, the school is probably paying for you to attend and there is a department secretary who probably makes all the travel plans so shut up and teach.

It's an annoying and repulsive commercial, for sure, but (for me) not for any reasons quoted here. In all the decades I've taught at a university, I have always had to make my own travel plans for conferences, and reimbursement for conference expenses can be requested (not necessarily received -- there's a limited amount available for this) by those actually making a presentation there. Mere attendees... they're all on their own. That said, of course it's both unethical and rude for him to be doing this when he's supposed to be teaching. 

[ethalfrida]

It's an annoying and repulsive commercial, for sure, but (for me) not for any reasons quoted here. In all the decades I've taught at a university, I have always had to make my own travel plans for conferences, and reimbursement for conference expenses can be requested (not necessarily received -- there's a limited amount available for this) by those actually making a presentation there. 

Tis true ... it was my office that issued the paper packets for travel, etc and then received them when instructors returned. 

[RubyWoo72]

It's not a KITCHEN kitchen either. I had to stay at one when I relocated recently. It is 2 burners, a microwave, a refrigerator and a sink (that they didn't even have a stopper for you to let dishes soak to wash them.

Whaaat? Then Sunny told a little LIE lie. That's raggedy. Lol.

[xls]

I freaking HATE  that Doritos commercial with the little girl riding the dog! Why does the mom  "yay!" when she hog-ties her brother? The little girl didn't help with the groceries ether, that I could see.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I freaking HATE  that Doritos commercial with the little girl riding the dog! Why does the mom  "yay!" when she hog-ties her brother? The little girl didn't help with the groceries ether, that I could see.

LMAO! This is why I love this thread, because I like a good laugh in the morning before dragging my ass to work. That commercial is pretty ridic, but this description of it is hilarious.

[Ubiquitous]

This ad is for one of the vacation search sites, maybe Kayak? See the commercial is so annoying I can't get past it to remember who it is for.

 

It is a college adjunt teaching a class on history. He has the back of his head shaved to look like eyes and mouth (face) with his glasses on the back of his head. He put his clothes on backwards so he can stand with his back to his students, keep lecturing ans search the internet for the best prices on travel.

 

For one thing he looks really creepy with his shaved in face. For another he is being paid to lecture not to search for his vacation plans.

 

Just irritating!

 

Yeah, I hate thag one, too! If the asshole can search the web and teach with his back to them, he cergainly is capable of doing it facing his class! Also, what's he going to do while his hair grows back?

 

I freaking HATE  that Doritos commercial with the little girl riding the dog! Why does the mom  "yay!" when she hog-ties her brother? The little girl didn't help with the groceries ether, that I could see.

Talk about showing favoritism!

[fastiller]

I have a question - does anyone here know their credit score right off the top of their head? 

 

Like the rest of the posters who know their scores, I do, but only because I just bought an apartment.

 

So, that's what the "vocal fry" thing sounds like. Kind of interesting I guess. Are adults talking like this now? Hope not.

Eh, this is fairly mild, and didn't bug me. When I think of vocal fry, I think of Britney Spears singing kinda low and growly. Or the Kardashians talking. Or Katy Perry.

Here's my favourite video about vocal fry.

 

The Vocal Fry Epidemic - YouTube

 

 

Edited to note: creepy couple from the Jake from State Farm add are now on radio.  I don't need to hear them when I'm getting ready for work!

Edited July 24, 2014 by fastiller

[St. Claire]

I hate most of the Kayak people. yeah, sometimes it can be a hassle to find the lowest travel rates, but there is no need to be a jackhole to (a) the class you are supposed to be teaching, (b) the person upon whose brain you are operating or the scrub nurse in the OR, or © your roommate who (justifiably) wanted to know why the heck you had a row of crash test dummies typing in unison (which would be worthless anyway, since they would all be searching the same site because they are typing the same thing at any given time). 

[xls]

I hate most of the Kayak people. yeah, sometimes it can be a hassle to find the lowest travel rates, but there is no need to be a jackhole to (a) the class you are supposed to be teaching, (b) the person upon whose brain you are operating or the scrub nurse in the OR, or © your roommate who (justifiably) wanted to know why the heck you had a row of crash test dummies typing in unison (which would be worthless anyway, since they would all be searching the same site because they are typing the same thing at any given time). 

They HAVE NO TIME to look up a travel site but they HAVE TIME to take a vacation.

 

Yeah, I hate thag one, too! If the asshole can search the web and teach with his back to them, he cergainly is capable of doing it facing his class! Also, what's he going to do while his hair grows back?

 Talk about showing favoritism!

Reverse sexism, the girl has to best the boy.

[CousinOliver]

It just annoys me because he is searching for attending an upcoming conference. Dude, the school is probably paying for you to attend and there is a department secretary who probably makes all the travel plans so shut up and teach.

Actually, it's totally accurate that an adjunct professor (and faculty professors as well) would make his/her own reservations, as well as pay for them out of his/her own pocket (although a grant may be available from the employer and/or the conference organization to alleviate a fraction of the financial burden, but these are checks cut after the conference is complete and application/receipts are submitted.) Source: I'm a conference-attending adjuct prof at a major state university; I also know dozens of professors (adjunct, faculty, tenured) from many different schools.

It is, however, totally inaccurate that making travel plans is some arduous, time consuming task.

Edit to acknowledge others made the same point before me. ;)

Edited July 24, 2014 by CousinOliver

[Watcher0363]

It is, however, totally inaccurate that making travel plans is some arduous, time consuming task.

 

It defintely isn't difficult anymore. But much more nefarious. Pick a city search for a hotel room get a price quote. Then check again five minutes later. Whoa the price went up. Now call a buddy in a different city have them do the same search. They get a price to begin with somewhere between your quotes. Have them run a second search bang the price goes up again.

[RubyWoo72]

I saw a Carmax (I think it was Carmax) commercial with a lady walking on a little sidewalk treadmill thingie and the sales person is reading the other lady's tweet, which was something like "I had to walk 3 miles in the heat because my car broke down." Then she gives the hash tag phrase, which I forgot. Also, she throws the lady's shoes away and quickly goes to retrieve them.

#whythefuckareyoutweetinginsteadofcallingAAA

[swankie]

Here is what I consider a lame attempt at mimicking Pharrell William's "Happy".  Only this Speedway commercial makes me want to slam my head continuously into a wall when I see the lame locals writhing around at what they consider dancing.  And the guy with the guitar, I just want to grab it and beat the crap out of him with it!  Ugh!

 

http://youtu.be/z47cc44Xufw

 

Here's the other one.  :-(

 

http://youtu.be/bqbePzVU0h4

Edited July 24, 2014 by swankie

[merylinkid]

There are no words to express my outrage at the latest Hot Pockets commercial.   They re-wrote the words to Hot Blooded to extol the "virtues" of Hot Pockets.   I wish I were lying.    This should be considered a crime against humanity.

[Sandman87]

I'm getting really, really tired of seeing the ads for an energy drink named something like "Borocca." The whole ad is like one of the crappy live action "supposedly funny because it's so lame" parody shows that Adult Swim likes to produce from time to time.

 

 

They re-wrote the words to Hot Blooded to extol the "virtues" of Hot Pockets.

 

I eat Hot Pockets, made with fake cheese

Salt grams, it's got a hundred and three

C'mon baby, there's cholesterol and fat

I wanna vomit, from Hot Pockets!

[RealityGal]

There are no words to express my outrage at the latest Hot Pockets commercial.   They re-wrote the words to Hot Blooded to extol the "virtues" of Hot Pockets.   I wish I were lying.    This should be considered a crime against humanity.

 

My favorite part was how they made sure to include the "Nestle: Good Food" line....because I'm sure the target audience for this commercial was dying to have that information....and I love how a ham and cheese hot pocket is somehow being advertised for its health benefits.  Really?  Most Hot Pocket consumers I've run into don't seem to care that much.  Oh and its got real cheese.....because real cheese squashed between super salty and fatty ham in a pastry pocket is really going to make the difference in terms of the health benefits.  Its like soda trying to convince you its healthy because its got real sugar....

[Stella MD]

 

There are no words to express my outrage at the latest Hot Pockets commercial.   They re-wrote the words to Hot Blooded to extol the "virtues" of Hot Pockets.   I wish I were lying.    This should be considered a crime against humanity.

Is the problem the absurdity of there being a song about Hot Pockets or the re-emergence of that particular god-awful song in our general consciousness? One could make an argument for either (or both).

[riley702]

It defintely isn't difficult anymore. But much more nefarious. Pick a city search for a hotel room get a price quote. Then check again five minutes later. Whoa the price went up. Now call a buddy in a different city have them do the same search. They get a price to begin with somewhere between your quotes. Have them run a second search bang the price goes up again.

Whoa - really? I totally never heard that before. What is the thought; that you just give up trying and take their higher rate? Is it to discourage you from (or punish you for) comparing prices?

[Sandman87]

I imagine that it's just automatically making short-term adjustments to the price based on the perceived demand, where suddenly having a lot of searches for a particular price quote constitutes an increase in demand.

[CoderLady]

So the more you search, the higher the price goes? That's brilliant and sorta evil.

Edited July 25, 2014 by CoderLady

[Watcher0363]

Whoa - really? I totally never heard that before. What is the thought; that you just give up trying and take their higher rate? Is it to discourage you from (or punish you for) comparing prices?

 

 

I imagine that it's just automatically making short-term adjustments to the price based on the perceived demand, where suddenly having a lot of searches for a particular price quote constitutes an increase in demand.

I first noticed it about 1 year ago. I was doing the search from AAA, I was signed in at the time. I could not believe it when on my second search inquiry without even logging out, the price went up. The only reason I had to do a second search is I closed the search window by accident. Now that everything is computerized and the way data is collected. I would not be surprised if they know where you are going and why before you even log on. With so many travel booking sites, the commercial for kayak may have plenty of validity.

[Brattinella]

Titlemax commercial! The one with the porn star-looking Myverick Garcia. "Your REAL mun-ayyyy Ha-ha!" Yikes this is the worst POS commercial of all time!

Title Max Commercial July 2014:

Damn wish I could post a snapshot of this! The only copy available is this one, poor quality. If anyone can do this, please do!

[RealityGal]

Titlemax commercial! The one with the porn star-looking Myverick Garcia. "Your REAL mun-ayyyy Ha-ha!" Yikes this is the worst POS commercial of all time!

Damn wish I could post a snapshot of this! The only copy available is this one, poor quality. If anyone can do this, please do!

OMG, that song will be in my head all damn day. But seriously, why is she driving the car with all that real money? That money is gonna fly out the window! And its real money! And I like that they have totally kept on point with this commercial, I have no idea what title max actually does, but I do know I need my title, an id, and I can get some real money. How do I know I'll get real money, because every frame has a money related image.....flying dollar bills, floating dollar bills, flying dollar signs, floating dollar signs. It looks like someone came up with this using power point animations.

[Lola16]

The Kmart back-to-school commercials are always horrible, but the new one encouraging kids to talk about each others' "mamas" is a new circle of hell.

The Zillow commercials are at least two years old but they won't stop playing them. "This is the first day of my life/ Swear I was born right in the doorway" and "You're not just looking for a home, you're looking for a place for your life to happen"--WTF does any of that mean?

I thought they were singing "I was born right in the driveway".  Doesn't make any more sense.

[theatremouse]

I first noticed it about 1 year ago. I was doing the search from AAA, I was signed in at the time. I could not believe it when on my second search inquiry without even logging out, the price went up. The only reason I had to do a second search is I closed the search window by accident. Now that everything is computerized and the way data is collected. I would not be surprised if they know where you are going and why before you even log on. With so many travel booking sites, the commercial for kayak may have plenty of validity.

There are a lot of metrics involved in determining "demand", some is how many other searches are happening for the same thing, but another reason for "later it went up" is not necessarily just that it's "later". There's a lot of data on time of day related to purchasing. So they already know to an extent people's patterns and times or days of the week when lots of people book will often return higher prices because they know someone's probably more likely to be completing their transaction at that moment than just plain looking. That's part of but not the whole reason why a friend in another state doing the same thing at the same moment gets a different result. Timezones. Yada yada. Big data. The sites that advertise running the search on multiple sites for you aren't lying in their ads about their own usefulness, but it's only a matter of time before the pricing algorithms start to account for that as well.

Edited July 26, 2014 by theatremouse

[Watcher0363]

There are a lot of metrics involved in determining "demand", some is how many other searches are happening for the same thing, but another reason for "later it went up" is not necessarily just that it's "later". There's a lot of data on time of day related to purchasing. So they already know to an extent people's patterns and times or days of the week when lots of people book will often return higher prices because they know someone's probably more likely to be completing their transaction at that moment than just plain looking. That's part of but not the whole reason why a friend in another state doing the same thing at the same moment gets a different result. Timezones. Yada yada. Big data. The sites that advertise running the search on multiple sites for you aren't lying in their ads about their own usefulness, but it's only a matter of time before the pricing algorithms start to account for that as well.

It's all scary, bordering on nefarious. They are giving you the illusion that you are gaming the system, when in fact they are gaming you.