Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[CrystalBlue]

34 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

She could have threatened to pee on his shoe.  That ought to get him moving.

Yeah, in the other direction.  "Clean up on Aisle 4" is not what she should be going for.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Disagreement is fine, but civility toward fellow posters is the rule here.  This includes both snarky rejoinders AND calling other posters rude.  Let's stick to commercials. 

[susannah]

6 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Lisa should have asked the man for help.  Maybe even flirt a little.  Men are afraid to approach women these days because they don't want to be taken the wrong way and end up on some #MeToo list.  It all started with so-called feminists biting off the heads of guys who would dare to open doors for them.

Disagree there. "Flirt a little?"  Men who don't sexually harass or abuse women don't have to worry about ending up on a MeToo list. I don't know if men are "afraid" to approach women these days or for what reason, but if they are, they need to look to the behavior of other men, not women.

[Yeah No]

7 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Lisa should have asked the man for help.  Maybe even flirt a little.  Men are afraid to approach women these days because they don't want to be taken the wrong way and end up on some #MeToo list.  It all started with so-called feminists biting off the heads of guys who would dare to open doors for them.

I generally agree with you but in this case I think he was just being lazy.

I am short and now that I'm older I often need to ask for help in stores.  When I was younger men often used to offer me help without my asking for it because I was more attractive then, and because in my opinion people were generally more polite.

I also think men refrain from helping women today because they don't want their offer to be seen as condescending a woman's ability to take care of herself.

I'm probably about your age.  My mother was a feminist and took me to bra burning demonstrations as a kid.  I have always considered myself a feminist but these days I often feel that the concept is being taken a bit too far.

Edited June 5, 2021 by Yeah No

[Yeah No]

16 minutes ago, susannah said:

Disagree there. "Flirt a little?"  Men who don't sexually harass or abuse women don't have to worry about ending up on a MeToo list. I don't know if men are "afraid" to approach women these days or for what reason, but if they are, they need to look to the behavior of other men, not women.

Not to get too far off topic, but I actually know men that are suddenly afraid to approach their own girlfriends for sex because they are afraid they might make them feel "uncomfortable".  I think that's going too far but sadly it's not surprising to me in the current climate.

[CrystalBlue]

27 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I generally agree with you but in this case I think he was just being lazy.

I am short and now that I'm older I often need to ask for help in stores.  When I was younger men often used to offer me help without my asking for it because I was more attractive then, and because in my opinion people were generally more polite.

I also think men refrain from helping women today because they don't want their offer to be seen as condescending a woman's ability to take care of herself.

I'm probably about your age.  My mother was a feminist and took me to bra burning demonstrations as a kid.  I have always considered myself a feminist but these days I often feel that the concept is being taken a bit too far.

I agree that the commercial was probably going for "occupied" employee which makes him look disinterested or lazy.  He was probably sexting his girlfriend.  Burning bras is good.  I'm all for equal pay for equal work and equal opportunities.  But I don't think a flirty little smile or ask for help is a crime.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Folks,

We are getting far off topic here.  This is not the place to debate the impact of the #MeToo movement or feminism.  Let's get back to commercials.

[Yeah No]

4 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

I agree that the commercial was probably going for "occupied" employee which makes him look disinterested or lazy.  He was probably sexting his girlfriend.  Burning bras is good.  I'm all for equal pay for equal work and equal opportunities.  But I don't think a flirty little smile or ask for help is a crime.

Actually I don't think they were going for "disinterested employee"  The female commercial announcer says pretty clearly that this woman didn't get any help because she didn't have a tool belt, which implies that it's because she was a woman.  I've been to big hardware stores many times and I seriously doubt I've ever not been helped because I wasn't a man and/or didn't have a tool belt, and I'm pretty sensitive to stuff like that.  I still think disinterested employee is more like it.  Of course in either case ideally she shouldn't have to flirt or or grab his attention to get help, he should come to her. 

I think if I were a man and worked in a hardware store that commercial would piss me off.  It makes it sound like it's a thing that women don't get help in hardware stores because they're women.  Meanwhile is that really true or fair to imply in a commercial?  I can actually think of better examples than that one, like dealing with independent landscapers, car repairmen or contractors, LOL.  It's much easier and we get better results when my husband deals with them and even my husband agrees.

[Blergh]

17 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

She could have threatened to pee on his shoe.  That ought to get him moving.

Yeah, but then she'd also had to have gone straight home to change her entire wardrobe below the waist AND take a bath (being careful to somehow protect the carseat in the meantime) so I'm not sure that would have been worth carrying out said threat regardless of how annoying he'd been. 

[bankerchick]

Is the whole idea of the Tide commercials to use guys whose names have something to do with 'cold' (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ice-T [or Cube, I'm not sure which one he is]?)  Because neither of these guys strike me as someone who either does laundry or worries about saving $100/year.

[AnnA]

1 hour ago, bankerchick said:

Is the whole idea of the Tide commercials to use guys whose names have something to do with 'cold' (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ice-T [or Cube, I'm not sure which one he is]?)  Because neither of these guys strike me as someone who either does laundry or worries about saving $100/year.

The only one I know is Ice-T - I have no idea who the others are.

[Katy M]

2 hours ago, bankerchick said:

Is the whole idea of the Tide commercials to use guys whose names have something to do with 'cold' (Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ice-T [or Cube, I'm not sure which one he is]?)  Because neither of these guys strike me as someone who either does laundry or worries about saving $100/year.

Yeah.  (and he's Ice-T).  They also call Vanilla Ice.  And Ice T calls Mr. T.

[bankerchick]

OK, thanks.  I get Vanilla Ice, and I guess the Mr. T ad is probably all about, 'hey Mr. T, it's Mr. T.  Ice-T.'  But they also call Mark Messier, so is that because he was a hockey player and hockey is played on ice?  I think I am overthinking this, but I don't hate the commercials.

[ams1001]

Lume commercials. All of 'em.

Why does YouTube insist on showing me so many Lume commercials?!?! 

And no, I'm never going to watch nearly four minutes of the creator talking about how she changed "everything" about deodorant. No, you didn't.

[SmithW6079]

Progressive ads are hit and miss for me. I loved the Zoom meeting ones during the pandemic, but the ones that feature Jamie in some kind of fantasy are awful, and I especially hated him in the test drive commercial. Is that a thing? I've never ridden in my car with an insurance representative. Also, he was out of character by being so self-absorbed. I could see if it was Mara (she's the nasally, whiny one, right?).

 

[AnnA]

20 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

Progressive ads are hit and miss for me. I loved the Zoom meeting ones during the pandemic, but the ones that feature Jamie in some kind of fantasy are awful, and I especially hated him in the test drive commercial. Is that a thing? I've never ridden in my car with an insurance representative. Also, he was out of character by being so self-absorbed. I could see if it was Mara (she's the nasally, whiny one, right?).

 

I love Jamie!  The commercial with him in the car was supposed to be ridiculous.  He was there monitoring her driving until she finds out there's an app to do it.   It's one of those safe driver discount thingeys.

The only progressive commercials I hated were the ones with the guy twirling a sign.  

Edited June 7, 2021 by AnnA

[Prevailing Wind]

On 5/24/2021 at 5:39 AM, KWalkerInc said:

There is an ad for the Zebra, which I guess compares car insurance rates, that has a woman riding around in an invisible car (she is seen just floating around a few feet off the ground in a sitting position with her hands out like she's holding an invisible steering wheel) because she "likes transparency."  It has a disclaimer at the bottom that says, "Invisible cars do not exist.  But your seatbelt does."  They could have just put a seatbelt on the woman instead of including the disclaimer, but I guess they were worried that that might have looked too stupid!

I wonder how much her insurance really is, since nobody can see her car. They probaby run into a whole lot.

On 5/31/2021 at 12:54 AM, susannah said:

I heard him thank Mrs A but it was a talking pig! Hopefully he was just "wheeing" and not weeing! Yeah I just watched it again on youtube and  it was just the one where he says thanks, didn't see him get out, but he does have his seat belt on and only has his head and one arm? foot? out the window.

 

Whenever I saw Maxwell "Whee! Whee! Whee!" all the way home, I wondered where the other 4 piggies were. Well, we know one little piggy stayed home, one went to market, one had roast beef and the fourth had none. As a child, I always wondered if the roast beef came from the piggy who went to market. Did he go to market to shop? or was he inside the butcher's display case?  I was a weird kid.

On 6/5/2021 at 4:14 PM, bankerchick said:

OK, thanks.  I get Vanilla Ice, and I guess the Mr. T ad is probably all about, 'hey Mr. T, it's Mr. T.  Ice-T.'  But they also call Mark Messier, so is that because he was a hockey player and hockey is played on ice?  I think I am overthinking this, but I don't hate the commercials.

Maybe his clothes are messier, so he needs a strong detergent? It's all meaningless to me - the condo association pays for my hot water. Even if I save by using cold water, my condo fees will remain the same.

[bankerchick]

46 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Maybe his clothes are messier, so he needs a strong detergent?

You could be right, because most of the commercial is Stone Cold pronouncing the name as 'messier' and Messier trying to correct him 'mess-e-ay'  But then of course he tells us that he has been doing it for years.  Maybe to make up for the decades this his equipment guys had to practically sterilize the equipment to get the smell out.

Here's the thing:  is $100/year ($2/wk) a selling feature for those who might not want to use cold water?  I'm a cheapskate and it wouldn't sway me.

[janie jones]

On 6/5/2021 at 3:38 AM, Yeah No said:

Actually I don't think they were going for "disinterested employee"  The female commercial announcer says pretty clearly that this woman didn't get any help because she didn't have a tool belt, which implies that it's because she was a woman.  I've been to big hardware stores many times and I seriously doubt I've ever not been helped because I wasn't a man and/or didn't have a tool belt, and I'm pretty sensitive to stuff like that.  I still think disinterested employee is more like it.  Of course in either case ideally she shouldn't have to flirt or or grab his attention to get help, he should come to her.

I don't know what goes on in the minds of people who think women are helpless, but wouldn't thinking someone didn't know what they were doing make you more likely to help them? It seems like a woman would be more likely to get unsolicited help than get ignored.

Also the tool belt line seems like them trying to avoid implying it's because she's a woman, although they could be going for an "and you know what we mean by that <wink>."

Either way you shouldn't have to flirt to get an employee's help, when their literal job is to help anyone who asks.

[mmecorday]

Quote

I love Jamie!  The commercial with him in the car was supposed to be ridiculous.  He was there monitoring her driving until she finds out there's an app to do it.   It's one of those safe driver discount thingeys.

Jamie rocks! Seeing him do those dance moves in the passenger seat tickles me.

The Peleton ads continue to be annoying AF. "Lock in, light up, come on!" The guy sneaking down the stairs like he's on his way to a secret rendezvous brings out my inner Bette Davis.

[KLovestoShop]

I understand why they scream Peloton while people are biking, but why do they still scream it when people are off the bike doing regular exercises?  I really hate all those exercise commercials. Why do all the men wear lose, boxy shorts and the women are stuffed into the skin tight bras and yoga pants?  

[peacheslatour]

31 minutes ago, KLovestoShop said:

I understand why they scream Peloton while people are biking, but why do they still scream it when people are off the bike doing regular exercises?  I really hate all those exercise commercials. Why do all the men wear lose, boxy shorts and the women are stuffed into the skin tight bras and yoga pants?  

Good question and I think we all know the answer, more's the pity.

[susannah]

18 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Whenever I saw Maxwell "Whee! Whee! Whee!" all the way home, I wondered where the other 4 piggies were. Well, we know one little piggy stayed home, one went to market, one had roast beef and the fourth had none. As a child, I always wondered if the roast beef came from the piggy who went to market. Did he go to market to shop? or was he inside the butcher's display case?

I just recently read a thing online about that little piggy. I have always pictured him setting off to market, with his straw hat, little blue jacket and basket on his arm? Foot, probably from a picture book.  It never occurred to me until I read that that the "market" could mean something extremely less cheerful. It was funny though, the author said that for her, she is going with the piggy going shopping, and so am I! 😀 What I want to know is why no one shared with piggy 4!

[smittykins]

“Crankypated.”

The way the cartoon woman sashays out of the ladies’ room, I picture her thinking, “W00T!  I just took a colossal 💩!”

[proserpina65]

On 6/7/2021 at 1:15 PM, bankerchick said:

You could be right, because most of the commercial is Stone Cold pronouncing the name as 'messier' and Messier trying to correct him 'mess-e-ay'  But then of course he tells us that he has been doing it for years.  Maybe to make up for the decades this his equipment guys had to practically sterilize the equipment to get the smell out.

Here's the thing:  is $100/year ($2/wk) a selling feature for those who might not want to use cold water?  I'm a cheapskate and it wouldn't sway me.

For some people, yes, $100 a year would be a selling feature.

[Suzn]

11 hours ago, susannah said:

I just recently read a thing online about that little piggy. I have always pictured him setting off to market, with his straw hat, little blue jacket and basket on his arm? Foot, probably from a picture book.  It never occurred to me until I read that that the "market" could mean something extremely less cheerful. It was funny though, the author said that for her, she is going with the piggy going shopping, and so am I! 😀 What I want to know is why no one shared with piggy 4!

It never occurred to me that anyone would think anything other than "going to market" meant piggy would soon be bacon and ham... 

[BookWitch]

Pooping dinosaur. Apparently kids like to watch things poo. I was never interested in that. Not even the Baby Alive from the 70's.

[peacheslatour]

10 minutes ago, BookWitch said:

Pooping dinosaur. Apparently kids like to watch things poo. I was never interested in that. Not even the Baby Alive from the 70's.

Wait...what?

[Cobalt Stargazer]

1 hour ago, BookWitch said:

Pooping dinosaur. Apparently kids like to watch things poo. I was never interested in that. Not even the Baby Alive from the 70's.

Whut?

Also, the comment section for the video has been deactivated, which is even more hilarious.

[ams1001]

18 minutes ago, Cobalt Stargazer said:

Whut?

Also, the comment section for the video has been deactivated, which is even more hilarious.

I think comments are turned off for all kids' videos. Which is probably for the best, given what a cesspool youtube comments can be.

[SmithW6079]

16 hours ago, susannah said:

I just recently read a thing online about that little piggy. I have always pictured him setting off to market, with his straw hat, little blue jacket and basket on his arm? Foot, probably from a picture book.  It never occurred to me until I read that that the "market" could mean something extremely less cheerful. It was funny though, the author said that for her, she is going with the piggy going shopping, and so am I! 😀 What I want to know is why no one shared with piggy 4!

 

4 hours ago, Suzn said:

It never occurred to me that anyone would think anything other than "going to market" meant piggy would soon be bacon and ham... 

Wait, what?! I always pictured the piggy going to market because he's going shopping for food, not as food. My childhood is ruined!

[peacheslatour]

9 minutes ago, SmithW6079 said:

 

Wait, what?! I always pictured the piggy going to market because he's going shopping for food, not as food. My childhood is ruined!

I also pictured him going to market, coupons in hand. 

[ams1001]

3 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

I also pictured him going to market, coupons in hand. 

He just went to the store...

 

[susannah]

10 hours ago, Suzn said:

It never occurred to me that anyone would think anything other than "going to market" meant piggy would soon be bacon and ham... 

well if you had seen the picture of him, you wouldn't think that. Plus, with the next little piggy "staying home," implying he had a choice, and the next one having roast beef, I think reality can be suspended a bit.

5 hours ago, ams1001 said:

He just went to the store...

 

Exactly!!!

18 hours ago, smittykins said:

“Crankypated.”

The way the cartoon woman sashays out of the ladies’ room, I picture her thinking, “W00T!  I just took a colossal 💩!”

That is disgusting.

 

[Yeah No]

10 hours ago, ams1001 said:

He just went to the store...

 

Thank you.  Every drawing both online and in my 50+ year old childhood nursery rhyme books (yes I still have them) shows the little piggy cheerfully skipping along, jacket on, hat on and bag in hand to the market.  Even if the origins are darker I doubt that anyone putting out a children's book in any time period would interpret it that way.

[Crashcourse]

14 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Wait, what?! I always pictured the piggy going to market because he's going shopping for food, not as food. My childhood is ruined!

And so is mine! 😭

[friendperidot]

On 6/3/2021 at 11:28 AM, mmecorday said:

I don't know who came up with the concept of people on public transport singing in an operatic recitative about structured settlements, but that person needs to be gored by Brunhilde's helmet.

I don't mind those ads, I've gotten so used to them, I don't really hear them anymore. But I hated their ad campaign where they had various singers/groups trying out to sing the song, especially the boy band, I wanted to smash their faces in. 

I didn't know that was Snoop Dog in the Corona commercials. I'm just not up on celebrities. And for some reason, I had it in my head that Snoop Dog was a big guy, like football player big. Oh, well, who knew?

 

[SoMuchTV]

1 hour ago, Crashcourse said:

16 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Wait, what?! I always pictured the piggy going to market because he's going shopping for food, not as food. My childhood is ruined!

And so is mine! 😭

In all my years of reading nursery rhymes (3 generations, I guess), I never read "went to market" as going to be the item for sale at said market.  I also never questioned why piggies are okay with roast beef.  I'm still trying to figure out why Goofy is a dog who has a pet dog.

[Nicmar]

On 4/22/2021 at 7:54 PM, janie jones said:

Well, one reason people have been praising Billie is because they show actual hair getting shaved, so you can see how well the razors work. (And I agree with whoever said this seems to be their attempt at a Billie ad.) And some razors suck, so I think we probably do need close-up camera shots of people shaving. Does it have to be a bikini line? Probably not. But I'll take a bikini line over an armpit any day of the week. What we don't need is close-up shots of people running razors across hairless body parts.

I rather take a leg or arm then a bikini line or armpit!

[WritinMan]

That Liberty Mutual commercial with the guy selling wet teddy bears from a food cart is so monumentally stupid that it actually makes me a bit stabby.

Damn.

 

[CrystalBlue]

Speaking of armpits, there's a commercial on now for something with loud music and a bunch of very different people jumping and dancing around.  One of the people is a black woman with her arms raised while dancing, with full armpit hair on display.  The next time I see it I'll post what the ad is for.  It's not for razors though.

[peacheslatour]

16 minutes ago, WritinMan said:

That Liberty Mutual commercial with the guy selling wet teddy bears from a food cart is so monumentally stupid that it actually makes me a bit stabby.

Damn.

 

Me too. I hate his voice and the whole concept.

[ams1001]

3 hours ago, friendperidot said:

I didn't know that was Snoop Dog in the Corona commercials. I'm just not up on celebrities. And for some reason, I had it in my head that Snoop Dog was a big guy, like football player big. Oh, well, who knew?

Well, he is pretty tall (google says 6'4"), but skinny.

 

[AnnA]

4 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Speaking of armpits, there's a commercial on now for something with loud music and a bunch of very different people jumping and dancing around.  One of the people is a black woman with her arms raised while dancing, with full armpit hair on display.  The next time I see it I'll post what the ad is for.  It's not for razors though.

Thanks for posting;  I thought I imagined it.   I wasn't actually watching the TV.  I had the TV on in the kitchen while I was puttering around.  I remember thinking that I must be mistaken because "they" wouldn't put a hairy armpit on TV.  

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, AnnA said:

Thanks for posting;  I thought I imagined it.   I wasn't actually watching the TV.  I had the TV on in the kitchen while I was puttering around.  I remember thinking that I must be mistaken because "they" wouldn't put a hairy armpit on TV.  

I think the ad is for the Gap and there's two versions of it, with different groups of people.  Both have "(Aquarius) Let The Sunshine In" by The Fifth Dimension, a song and group I love. 

[KWalkerInc]

I saw a Liberty Mutual ad today with kids jump-roping and doing a song about the insurance.  They start counting off ways it can help you save money or something, and then it cuts to the kids still jumping as elderly people because Liberty Mutual is just so great that they were counting/jumping for decades.  I think this one might somehow be more annoying than the ones with wet teddy bears.

[AnnA]

21 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

I think the ad is for the Gap and there's two versions of it, with different groups of people.  Both have "(Aquarius) Let The Sunshine In" by The Fifth Dimension, a song and group I love. 

You're right - great song!

Edited June 11, 2021 by AnnA

[Prevailing Wind]

On 6/10/2021 at 5:31 AM, KWalkerInc said:

I saw a Liberty Mutual ad today with kids jump-roping and doing a song about the insurance.  They start counting off ways it can help you save money or something, and then it cuts to the kids still jumping as elderly people because Liberty Mutual is just so great that they were counting/jumping for decades.  I think this one might somehow be more annoying than the ones with wet teddy bears.

I've seen one where the kids stop jump-roping, puzzled, because they can't rhyme "Liberty Mutual."

I hate the gecko "having a moment" with his cockamamie eye contact.

[Suzn]

On 6/9/2021 at 2:55 PM, SoMuchTV said:

In all my years of reading nursery rhymes (3 generations, I guess), I never read "went to market" as going to be the item for sale at said market.  I also never questioned why piggies are okay with roast beef.  I'm still trying to figure out why Goofy is a dog who has a pet dog.

I'm sorry to ruin childhoods, but on the farm, animals going to market were going to be food.  No exception.  That's the terminology.  Trying to pretty up reality doesn't change it. That is why I'm vegetarian.

[SoMuchTV]

3 minutes ago, Suzn said:

I'm sorry to ruin childhoods, but on the farm, animals going to market were going to be food.  No exception.  That's the terminology.  Trying to pretty up reality doesn't change it. That is why I'm vegetarian.

Oh sure a lot of things are obvious in hindsight. I was just addressing how I was perceiving things at the time.