Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[erikdepressant]

I instantly disliked the Audi "Swim" commercial:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeCW-M4hDYo

 

Challenging convention to pursue excellence is not the same thing as just arbitrarily breaking rules.  Also, having a car as a status symbol just means that you're striving to be at the top of the conformists.

 

I hate how the suburban mom just adores how her son is too special a snowflake to follow the rules.  The loveable rascal!

 

I know the imagined consequences for breaking the pool rules are jokingly exaggerated, but what irritates me the most about this commercial is that the kid assumed there would be consequences, but just did what he wanted because it's fun.

[friendperidot]

I find it interesting that we are annoyed by different things in commercials. Last night, I finally noticed the whistling that bothering someone, I'd seen the ad several times, but it just didn't faze me. The KitKat ads annoy me, but not for the smacking chewing, snapping sounds, it annoys me because I'm just tired of it. What I am annoyed by is the shrieking, car ads are the worst. Local dealers or trucks, shrieking is not going to make me buy your product, I must mute that noise. I thought the volume in ads was supposed to be reduced, but I don't notice a difference.

 

And then, there's the family sitting around, watching for the Eggo to pop up. Why are they only fixing one? There are 2 slots in that toaster and they look like a family that could afford a bigger toaster if they're all that concerned. And then the small child takes it & eats it - should that thing be too hot to hold in the bare hand and go into her mouth. I toast English muffins all the time, and for a couple of seconds, they're too hot to pick up, but that's how they melt the butter.

[Rick Kitchen]

Oh, my God, that woman who sings the $99 jingle for Empire Carpets is on my last nerve.  Stop screeching!

[mojoween]

For some reason TNT has decided to recycle that Walgreens commercial where the lady is sitting in the pedi chair and sees the sign across the street for a cheaper pedi. I could not loathe this ad more.

Ok, first, she walks across the street in bare feet, and while I would prefer to never ever wear shoes and don't normally care about motoring around barefoot, that poor person at the second pedi place is now going to have to wash that filth.

Second, the first lady was getting ready to polish, which means that she is literally at the last part of getting a pedi. So she's basically getting TWO pedis for $10 and the first lady did all that work for nothing. That is a very shitty thing for a consumer to do.

So Walgreens, I already put you on my banned list for my own personal idiosyncracies and this just makes it certain.

[cpcathy]

Agreed! I hate that bitch! She ducks out on the first pedi leaving the poor manicurist without her $20. Why do we have to keep showing people behaving badly on TV and then pass it off as "getting a good deal because she's smart!"

[Rick Kitchen]

And now there's an ad for some carpet cleaning product that has a little boy take one step onto the carpet barefooted and get so grossed out he has to step on the coffee table and other stuff to avoid actually putting a foot down on the carpet (which looks clean to me).  What little boy is so finnicky about cleanliness?

[backformore]

And now there's an ad for some carpet cleaning product that has a little boy take one step onto the carpet barefooted and get so grossed out he has to step on the coffee table and other stuff to avoid actually putting a foot down on the carpet (which looks clean to me).  What little boy is so finnicky about cleanliness?

I saw that add - it was about a carpet cleaning stuff that, I guess had fabric softener in it?   Because the selling point was that your carpet would be clean AND soft.   I guess the little boy thought the carpet was rough on his bare feet. 

 

and, speaking of feet - I HATE that walgreens commercial too.  Obviously the people who put that together have no idea that a pedicure is more than just polish.  byt the time you have those toe-separators on, you're almost done.   You don't get to walk out, unless you want to have the police called.  (yeah, people do that, it's called theft of service) 

[NYGirl]

I will reiterate what I said a couple of months ago:  PLEASE GO AWAY SMOKEY THE BEAR and your stupid commercials!!!  It's winter now..save them for summer and stop playing them every single show.  Instead of showing 1 they need to show all 3 at once..EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!!

[Prevailing Wind]

The primary cause of forest fires is trees, so Smokey Bear is talkin' crap.

[CarpeDiem54]

Another extremely annoying pee pad ad has just started playing here non-stop. It's for Tena and starts out with a voiceover in a subdued British accent, "Just because your bladder's changing doesn't mean you have to." Suddenly there's some frizzy haired women singing horribly at the top of her lungs in her car. Then she's at the theater all dressed up laughing like a hyena. She acts totally crazypants. Oh, wait, I guess that's crazy pee pants...

I can't hit the mute button fast enough when this nutjob appears on my TV.

[Duke2801]

The cow giving the wedding toast has worn out her welcome.

 

As has the H&R Block "get  your BILLIONS back America" guy.  Like, just STAWWWPP.  

 

And the worst part?  We still have more than 2.5 months until Tax Day.  UGGH. 

[RedZoneTuba]

OK, I'm really starting to hate the razor-blades-by-mail-order ad where they show how hard stores try to get you to not buy their razors, but mail-order-guy really wants you to buy his.  The retail store security guard has booby traps and tasers for anyone who wants to buy a razor, including the tasing from behind of the old, frail-looking man (so hi-LAR-ious!).

 

I understood the marketing concept of exaggerating the faults of the competition, but this goes FAR beyond that into some science fiction fantasy version of retail. Where do these people shop, anyway?  I always just buy razor blades pretty much like everything else: you put them in the basket and go pay for them.  Never been tazed or groin punched in over 40 years of razor buying!

[Bastet]

I order mine online, but I notice that in the stores near me (a low-crime suburb, mind you), the razor blades are locked up in cabinets and shoppers have to get a store employee to unlock them.  So the part where the guy wants the razor cabinet unlocked and the guard starts interrogating him makes me laugh (but I don't like the tasing tag after the sales pitch).

 

I have to have someone at the hardware store unlock the specialty battery cabinet in order to buy one, and I understand they do it for the same reason stores lock up razor blades - they're small and valuable, and thus easy and tempting to steal - but I also understand the, "Really, all this so I can shave my damn face/legs?" reaction the commercial plays on.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Bastet

[iMonrey]

I hate the Sonic commercials to begin with.   Those two morons sitting in their car being morons does not inspire me to eat there.

 

I will never understand the logic of "Let's have our TV spokespeople be idiots." What kind of success do you strive for in business by implying that your customers are morons? The message is "Idiots eat here, you should too!"  Does that work? Sonic food is actually not half bad, as fast food goes, and I miss the old days when they played up how retro the drive-up was and Frankie Avalon was their spokesperson. I don't know why they ever greenlit this "two morons eat here" ad campaign.

 

 

My real gripe about that commercial is there are two versions of it. Having one slightly shorter edit of a spot is not uncommon, and not something I object to in general, but the shorter one of this skips the part where she pushes a button of any kind. Drove me nuts the first handful of times I saw it because it made no sense to me what was happening, why she'd keep singing, not notice the music in the car stopped, confused conference room dudes, etc.

 

OHHH! Is that what's going on? I couldn't make heads nor tails out of it either. Thanks for filling me in.

 

I hate how the suburban mom just adores how her son is too special a snowflake to follow the rules.  The loveable rascal!

 

Not to mention that "wait one hour until swimming" has been disproved as an old wives tale and it's extremely unlikely there would be an actual sign at a public pool, much less a life guard monitoring for this. How the hell is he supposed to know the last time everyone there has eaten??

[GaT]

I will never understand the logic of "Let's have our TV spokespeople be idiots." What kind of success do you strive for in business by implying that your customers are morons? The message is "Idiots eat here, you should too!"  Does that work? Sonic food is actually not half bad, as fast food goes, and I miss the old days when they played up how retro the drive-up was and Frankie Avalon was their spokesperson. I don't know why they ever greenlit this "two morons eat here" ad campaign.

 

 

 

The commercials were originally done with a male/female couple who seemed like they were married. Then all of a sudden it was the two guys. I wonder why they changed it?

[erikdepressant]

The commercials were originally done with a male/female couple who seemed like they were married. Then all of a sudden it was the two guys. I wonder why they changed it?

The commercials all kinda came out around the same time, but I don't know why they're still using the guys.  I liked the commercials at first, because I think they were created with improv actors just hanging out, coming up with funny lines.  That was years ago.

[erikdepressant]

I was only tired of the Progressive Flo campaign until I saw this one a few minutes ago:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=645P1WwxIiA

 

Way too far.

 

In their hilarious nod to centuries of genocide, oppression, and human suffering, maybe Progressive has subconsciously shown their awareness of the misery they've inflicted on the audience; maybe they know we want the Flo campaign to die.

[Rosieroo]

 

Oh, wait, I guess that's crazy pee pants...

 You're gonna get me fired!  

 

They're all in the running for second place because those mentally challenged sonic guys will take first place every time.  

[Bastet]

It appears the backlash to this GoDaddy ad has resulted in the company pulling it from the Super Bowl (and hopefully altogether).  If only the same thing happened every year for all their other awful ads.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-ts=1422327029&v=X2AHrCtOHqc&x-yt-cl=84838260

[Janet Snakehole]

Wow. That was super mean. How did they think that one would go over?

[photo fox]

And now it's gone. What was the premise?

Eta: never mind, I found another copy...

http://youtu.be/24efR_zhWlA

That's awful.

[Bastet]

Here's an article about it.

[mojoween]

Sounds like it was reminiscent of puppy farming

[BubblingKettle]

Here's an oldie from ABC Warehouse:

I have a love/hate relationship with it. Been looking for it for years for the lols though.

"Gordy you asshole" XD lol

It never gets old, any annoyance aside.

Thank you for posting that one -- it gave me a good laugh!

 

I am so sick of the Checkers/Rally's commercials with the dumbass Mr. Bag. His annoying voice and the jingle are starting to piss me off.  What genius thought that the Mr. Bag would entice people to eat food from those highway rat-traps?

[wovenloaf]

I just saw a McDonald's commercial where they tried to draw parallels between egg mcmuffins and wedding rings, because they are both... round? It had a woman singing that 'With This Ring' song about how the ring symbolizes her love or something, while showing an egg mcmuffin being made and accentuating how the egg part is round. How idiotic.

Edited January 28, 2015 by wovenloaf

[peeayebee]

I guess GoDaddy has pulled all instances of that ad. I read the description of it, but I wish I could see it for myself.

[mojoween]

I do too. The descriptions in the articles don't make it sound as bad as the outrage so I would love to make up my own mind.

Some in the media have posited that it's all marketing and Go Daddy made a deliberately rage-invoking ad just to pull it.

[janie jones]

I was watching the local news this morning, and they were talking about the GoDaddy ad.  They showed part of it, and then one of the the anchors was like, "And then we just showed it for free.  They knew what they were doing."

[photo fox]

I do too. The descriptions in the articles don't make it sound as bad as the outrage so I would love to make up my own mind.

Some in the media have posited that it's all marketing and Go Daddy made a deliberately rage-invoking ad just to pull it.

I'm 99.9% positive the whole thing is a marketing ploy.

I only saw it once, but here goes:

There's a truck driving down a country road, adorable yellow lab puppies in the back. They hit a bump, and a puppy goes flying and lands (gently) on some grass. Then quick cuts of the puppy valiantly fighting his way over hill and dale through all kinds of weather, finally running up the driveway and into a picturesque barn at home. The lady is ecstatic to see him, scoops him up, and cries out, "you're home!"

"I'm so glad because I just sold you online via a website from GoDaddy!" And then the last shot is of the puppy whimpering in a box as the van doors close on him and pull away.

I'm not even a "my puppy is my child" type of person, but I thought it was horrible. He tries so hard to get home, just to get shipped out again. Awful.

eta: I just found it again on Today's website. GoDaddy must not have enough legal pull to make them take it down.

Edited January 28, 2015 by photo fox

[Bastet]

I doubt GoDaddy wants it taken down from media websites; yesterday this was something being discussed on pet forums, now it's all over the place, and I find credible those who think that was the plan all along.

 

Although I have read that the company initially issued some defensive statements, so maybe they really were that tone deaf (let's make an ad celebrating irresponsible dog breeding, yay) and then decided they could make hay while the sun shines by pulling the ad, and making a media production out of doing so.

 

GoDaddy probably has one or more of their usual sexist commercials ready to go for the Super Bowl.  Ads which won't generate nearly the same level of controversy. 

Edited January 28, 2015 by Bastet

[iMonrey]

I finally saw the Eggo commercial that was discussed upthread, with the family sitting around the kitchen table phoning and texting each other not to take the Eggo that was about to pop out of the toaster. Aside from the absurdity of toasting one of these things at a time, what really annoyed me was the propping of the communication dysfunction children are growing up with these days. I'm sure there really are kids who sit around the breakfast, lunch or dinner table that are so wrapped up in their cell phones they'd actually text one another rather than look up and speak to one another like normal people. It's kind of scary, to me anyway, how wrapped up in their cells phones kids are getting (and some adults, too). 

 

Maybe I'm just old.

[peeayebee]

Thanks for finding that link, photo fox. I'm not convinced that Go Daddy purposely created an ad that would force them to pull it because of backlash. They probably thought some people would find it hilarious that the puppy went thru all that only to be shipped off somewhere else, while other people would think it was mean. I don't think that Go Daddy considered that people would object to the puppy farm aspect of it.

[90PercentGravity]

Did you know Geico commercials with Kenny Rogers get old pretty fast?

[Aquarius]

I finally saw the Eggo commercial that was discussed upthread, with the family sitting around the kitchen table phoning and texting each other not to take the Eggo that was about to pop out of the toaster. Aside from the absurdity of toasting one of these things at a time, what really annoyed me was the propping of the communication dysfunction children are growing up with these days. I'm sure there really are kids who sit around the breakfast, lunch or dinner table that are so wrapped up in their cell phones they'd actually text one another rather than look up and speak to one another like normal people. It's kind of scary, to me anyway, how wrapped up in their cells phones kids are getting (and some adults, too). 

 

Maybe I'm just old.

 

I agree with every word of this post.  And I know I'm not old.  Even if the kids on my lawn are annoying me more every day . . .

[Notwisconsin]

This is brilliant. Why did they pull it? http://youtu.be/eH5wdm1Caoo

[Rick Kitchen]

They were accused of animal cruelty.  Even if it's only simulated animal cruelty.

[cinsays]

The ones I hate, hate, hate are those commercials for natural gas with the lovely blond in the black pantsuit criss-crossing the country telling us how they SAFELY are getting the gas by fracking the hell out of the earth.

Fracking is not safe and that his woman is willing to sell her soul to promote this practice infuriates me.

[Bastet]

I just looked that up and completely agree with you.  The actor looks and sounds familiar; who is she?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32VgYHuj_mk

Edited January 28, 2015 by Bastet

[merylinkid]

 

Did you know Geico commercials with Kenny Rogers get old pretty fast?

yes.   Every time it comes on I have that song stuck in my head for quite awhile.    Make it stoooooooooooop.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I just looked that up and completely agree with you.  The actor looks and sounds familiar; who is she?

 

She's familiar to me too, Bastet, but I can't think of who she is, and the comment option has been disabled on youtube for that video, so I can't ask. :-/

 

Also, that video for GoDaddy is not funny, its rage-making. They should go back to using Jean-Claude Van Damme as their spokesperson.

[Rick Kitchen]

The voya ads with their "orange money" are just stupid, but I enjoy this one, just because the bitchy wife gets her comeuppance.

 

[Prevailing Wind]

 

Did you know Geico commercials with Kenny Rogers get old pretty fast?

Everybody knows that.  Did you know Geico isn't part of "everybody," so they *don't* know that.  Sorry. Gotta fold 'em & run...

[peeayebee]

She's familiar to me too, Bastet, but I can't think of who she is, and the comment option has been disabled on youtube for that video, so I can't ask. :-/

Brooke Alexander.

[BradandJanet]

Go Daddy woman looks like Glenn Close. Cruella De Vil?

[Rick Kitchen]

Brooke Alexander.

 

Not surprising she used to work for FOX "news".

[xaxat]

GoDaddy probably has one or more of their usual sexist commercials ready to go for the Super Bowl.  Ads which won't generate nearly the same level of controversy.

 

Yes, I didn't think the new ad was that bad. The older, sexist ads were truly offensive.

 

Back when they first started running Super Bowl ads, I read that GoDaddy kept running them despite the controversy because the CEO liked them. He struck me as a DNGAF kind of guy, so I'm surprised the puppy ad was pulled.

I instantly disliked the Audi "Swim" commercial:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeCW-M4hDYo

 

Challenging convention to pursue excellence is not the same thing as just arbitrarily breaking rules.  Also, having a car as a status symbol just means that you're striving to be at the top of the conformists.

 

I hate how the suburban mom just adores how her son is too special a snowflake to follow the rules.  The loveable rascal!

 

I know the imagined consequences for breaking the pool rules are jokingly exaggerated, but what irritates me the most about this commercial is that the kid assumed there would be consequences, but just did what he wanted because it's fun.

And we all know that it's white males that are disproportionately oppressed by the modern police state.

Edited January 28, 2015 by xaxat

[mojoween]

Dammit, I shouldn't have caved and watched the Go Daddy ad. Now I feel like the puppy in the adorable Budweiser ad that will air on TV this Sunday is the same puppy, since he shows such a predilection for escaping moving vehicles. I don't want to think that nice farmer is buying puppies online.

That lady in the Go Daddy ad seems mean. I hope that puppy WAS bought by a hot Clydesdale farmer because it has to be better than living with her.

[riley702]

 

She's familiar to me too, Bastet, but I can't think of who she is, and the comment option has been disabled on youtube for that video, so I can't ask. 

 

 

Brooke Alexander.

She's a former beauty queen and was Samantha Markham on "As the World Turns" for several years. Do you guys watch that show, maybe?

[Bastet]

No, but the time period she was on ATWT was right at the tail end of my time watching Guiding Light, which came on right after, so maybe I caught glimpses that way.  She was in an episode of L&O: SVU, too, so maybe it's from there, although pulling up the description of that episode (which is from long after I quit watching, although sometimes I'll watch in syndication), I don't recognize it.  I just know her voice and face were familiar, so I've seen her on something even if I can't place exactly what that was.

 

But between Faux News and shilling for the energy companies, I'll take a pass on delving into it any further.

[Bort]

Brooke Alexander.

She's a former beauty queen and was Samantha Markham on "As the World Turns" for several years. Do you guys watch that show, maybe?

No, but the time period she was on ATWT was right at the tail end of my time watching Guiding Light, which came on right after, so maybe I caught glimpses that way.  She was in an episode of L&O: SVU, too, so maybe it's from there, although pulling up the description of that episode (which is from long after I quit watching, although sometimes I'll watch in syndication), I don't recognize it.  I just know her voice and face were familiar, so I've seen her on something even if I can't place exactly what that was.

Brooke Alexander was in the There's Just Something about Ice Cream commercial that was in HEAVY rotation in the late '80s. By the time she showed up on ATWT, I was already good and sick of her.

http://youtu.be/pfV0RBaP3gc