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Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

Maverick

By Maverick
in Commercials

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Zevious Zoquis
Zevious Zoquis

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that this is the wrong 470 page forum thread for you.  lol

Eliot
Eliot

Speaking of "awful and cruel" ads, the one for that home healthcare company, Brightstar I think it's called, makes me want to scream and throw things at the TV. It's narrated by a woman whose mother i

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millennium

millennium

On 2/8/2023 at 10:47 PM, littlebennysmom said:

Their actors say stuff like, "I needed money and after purchasing the Miracle Spring Water, I received a check for $100,000 in the mail!"  Really?!  REALLY?!

I am reminded of the classic short story, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs.   A woman uses a magical charm (a dried-up monkey's paw) to wish for a thousand dollars or something like that.  The next day her son is mangled in the factory where he works and the company sends the body home with a compensation check for $1000.   Lucky for her she still has two more wishes left ... (things get even worse, lol)

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peacheslatour

peacheslatour

26 minutes ago, millennium said:

I am reminded of the classic short story, "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs.   A woman uses a magical charm (a dried-up monkey's paw) to wish for a thousand dollars or something like that.  The next day her son is mangled in the factory where he works and the company sends the body home with a compensation check for $1000.   Lucky for her she still has two more wishes left ... (things get even worse, lol)

Yeah, they do. Much like Pet Sematary.

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Prevailing Wind

Prevailing Wind

6 hours ago, millennium said:

Regarding

 

Why is it acceptable for this commercial to use an ethnic stereotype for humor?    I don't have a problem with it per se (other than Cecily Strong's fake enthusiasm comes off as very annoying) but it strikes me that this spot would have been "kaput" if it used an actor who isn't of a certain ethnicity to play up that ethnicity for laughs. 

It's not an ethnic stereotype. He's supposed to be Einstein. Can a real person be a stereotype? Seems to me, Einstein was a prototype.

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millennium

millennium

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

It's not an ethnic stereotype. He's supposed to be Einstein. Can a real person be a stereotype? Seems to me, Einstein was a prototype.

I would suggest that it's a caricature of Einstein and that there was zero intent to create an authentic portrayal.   Creating caricatures of people -- especially ethnic caricatures played by actors who are not of that ethnicity -- by broadly exaggerating their mannerisms, accents, etc., doesn't seem to be considered acceptable anymore.

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proserpina65

proserpina65

13 hours ago, millennium said:

I would suggest that it's a caricature of Einstein and that there was zero intent to create an authentic portrayal.   Creating caricatures of people -- especially ethnic caricatures played by actors who are not of that ethnicity -- by broadly exaggerating their mannerisms, accents, etc., doesn't seem to be considered acceptable anymore.

It's a caricature of a specific person, not an ethnic stereotype and perfectly fine in my opinion.  Not funny but not verboten either.

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millennium

millennium

(edited)
4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

It's a caricature of a specific person, not an ethnic stereotype and perfectly fine in my opinion.  Not funny but not verboten either.

If Paul Giamatti were to do a caricature of, say, Confucius, would that be okay?  The point I'm trying to make is that some ethnicities seem to be off limits, while others are considered fair game.   I think it's a double standard.

FWIW, I'm fine with actors stepping outside their own ethnic backgrounds, cultures, orientation, whatever.   It's called acting and it has been a tradition since Mt. Olympus was a thing.  The problem as I see it is that this world we live in now keeps inventing new rules ("cultural appropriation," etc), but fails to apply them evenly.

Edited by millennium
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millennium

millennium

48 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

She looks Asian-American to me, not that it makes any difference. Lots of people take all kinds of self-defense classes.

She looks Asian-American to me too.  And you're right, lots of people take all kinds of self-defense classes.   Which is exactly why it stuck out to me that of all those people they chose an Asian-looking woman.

 

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Prevailing Wind

Prevailing Wind

Why we're still seeing Medicare Advantage ads: According to the AARP Bulletin, open enrollment for regular Medicare is the one we're familiar with - October 15 to December 7; Medicare Advantage's open enrollment is January 1 to March 31.  This is news to me, but it certainly explains why we have commercials now.

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Crashcourse

Crashcourse

8 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

Who the hell drinks right from a bottle that size, especially outside of one’s home?!

I just remembered the guy in real life who was skateboarding down the street and drinking Ocean Spray Cran Raspberry from the bottle and it got a lot of coverage.   His Tik Tok went viral and Ocean Spray even bought him a truck.  So, I guess that's where the advertisers got the idea of her drinking from the bottle?  I still hope she got charged and the clown sued her ass.

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Gharlane

Gharlane

(edited)
On 2/16/2023 at 3:04 PM, millennium said:

Regarding

 

Why is it acceptable for this commercial to use an ethnic stereotype for humor?    I don't have a problem with it per se (other than Cecily Strong's fake enthusiasm comes off as very annoying) but it strikes me that this spot would have been "kaput" if it used an actor who isn't of a certain ethnicity to play up that ethnicity for laughs. 

I have no idea what you're talking about! 🤷‍♂️

Edited by Gharlane
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KWalkerInc

KWalkerInc

Airbnb has an ad where, instead of playing music like they normally do in various spots, they just have a phone ringing the entire time.  Who thought that this was a good idea?  I suppose they think it is good because it can get people's attention, and it did (in a negative way) the first time I saw it.  I was confused that the TV was ringing and thought something had somehow gotten screwed up with the voice/cable hookup (which lists the caller on the screen before the actual phone rings) and was going, "Did I do something?"  I was relieved to realize it was a commercial but not happy with Airbnb.  Now I just mute it every time it comes on.

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CrystalBlue

CrystalBlue

2 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

Airbnb has an ad where, instead of playing music like they normally do in various spots, they just have a phone ringing the entire time.  Who thought that this was a good idea?  I suppose they think it is good because it can get people's attention, and it did (in a negative way) the first time I saw it.  I was confused that the TV was ringing and thought something had somehow gotten screwed up with the voice/cable hookup (which lists the caller on the screen before the actual phone rings) and was going, "Did I do something?"  I was relieved to realize it was a commercial but not happy with Airbnb.  Now I just mute it every time it comes on.

I mute most of the TV commercials when they come on anyway. 

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TVMovieBuff

TVMovieBuff

On 2/19/2023 at 5:50 AM, Prevailing Wind said:

Heaton. No, that's not her. She's a lot older now.

No she has a mild fleeting resemblance to Patricia Heaton, but this Ocean Spray woman is over-Botoxed with excessive lip fillers. 

On 2/17/2023 at 6:22 PM, RedElf said:

Ocean Spray thinks assault and battery is funny.

 

I am amazed to see this kind of needless violence in a commercial in this day & age. What was everyone thinking, all the hands this had to go through to make it to air? I hate it!

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janie jones

janie jones

On 2/17/2023 at 9:57 AM, proserpina65 said:

It's a caricature of a specific person, not an ethnic stereotype and perfectly fine in my opinion.  Not funny but not verboten either.

Yeah, I don't think it's a stereotype. It's not like he strolled up eating a sausage and walking a wiener dog. I'm not so sure it's even a caricature. All he's doing is a German accent (maybe not a good one?) and wearing an Einstein wig. I don't know what Einstein sounded like when he spoke English, but I assume he did have an accent, having learned English in middle age, and without the wig, you wouldn't even know it was Einstein. It seems like they were doing the bare minimum to make it clear who it was.

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Deskisamess

Deskisamess

6 minutes ago, janie jones said:

Yeah, I don't think it's a stereotype. It's not like he strolled up eating a sausage and walking a wiener dog. I'm not so sure it's even a caricature. All he's doing is a German accent (maybe not a good one?) and wearing an Einstein wig. I don't know what Einstein sounded like when he spoke English, but I assume he did have an accent, having learned English in middle age, and without the wig, you wouldn't even know it was Einstein. It seems like they were doing the bare minimum to make it clear who it was.

I'm just disappointed to see Paul Giamatti doing a Verizon commercial. He's way better than that.

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CrystalBlue

CrystalBlue

(edited)
1 hour ago, Jaded said:

Here's the Speedo commercial that was discussed last week. In case anyone hasn't seen it. Finally found found the commercial on YT so it could be embedded here. The video says it was uploaded 9 days ago.
 

 

Gross.  The red! Speedo on the Dad bod "Dad" is totally unnecessary to demonstrate the clear skin claim of the drug.  The little girl thinks it's gross. I guess they were trying to inject humor into the prescription drug ad for yucks?  Yeah, it's yuck alright.

 

 

2 minutes ago, CrystalBlue said:

 

 

Edited by CrystalBlue
quote box got in post and can't delete.
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Crashcourse

Crashcourse

15 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

Airbnb has an ad where, instead of playing music like they normally do in various spots, they just have a phone ringing the entire time.  Who thought that this was a good idea?  I suppose they think it is good because it can get people's attention, and it did (in a negative way) the first time I saw it.  I was confused that the TV was ringing and thought something had somehow gotten screwed up with the voice/cable hookup (which lists the caller on the screen before the actual phone rings) and was going, "Did I do something?"  I was relieved to realize it was a commercial but not happy with Airbnb.  Now I just mute it every time it comes on.

I just saw that commercial for the first time and, yes, it's annoying as hell.

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marceline

marceline

On 2/8/2023 at 12:32 PM, mbluecpa said:

Car Shield hasn’t cropped up on here for a while.  I keep seeing a version of their ad on the gym TV (so muted) and finally looked it up online.  It starts with a quote along the lines of “if you’re afraid to offend then you can’t be honest” then later states that the future of our country rests with its people and describes its potentially scammy product as “protecting your freedom.”

I guess they’re trying to align their product with “patriotism” or something. Whatever.

They've been headed that way for a while. Previous ads were all about how "the world is changing all around us" and that people need to make sure they are safe.

All their advertising is dog whistles.

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chessiegal

chessiegal

25 minutes ago, TattleTeeny said:

Oh, same here. But I just feel like if they don't think it's beneath them, neither should anyone else. Plus, it's fast and easy work and pays well (at least that's what I've heard, haha; I don't personally know, of course!).

I agree. Most of the people we see in commercials are actors. Why shouldn't an actor known outside the world of commercials do the same? I assume actors enjoy working, so a commercial is another opportunity to do their craft.

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Jaded

Jaded

 

3 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

I don't get why it's sad or bad for an actor to do a commercial if they want to.

I usually don't mind them being in commercials unless it's for something like a reverse mortgage where they sound like they're giving viewers financial advice to those watching. I probably shouldn't have been surprised at Tom Selleck doing them all while being on a long running TV show. I was though. Henry Winkler kind of disappointed me by doing commercials for them too. I'm just one person though and know in the grand scheme of things my opinions on what they do don't really matter.  

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janie jones

janie jones

3 hours ago, TattleTeeny said:

I don't get why it's sad or bad for an actor to do a commercial if they want to.

I think because commercials generally are seen as something you do on your way up.

I don't think it really matters, although it seems a bit money-grubbing to me, and even if commercials aren't beneath Paul Giamatti, the weird Einstein role might be.

But I do think actors should be careful about their timing with commercials. Remember when Katherine Heigl was doing cat litter commercials? For all I know she didn't need the work, but after her career kind of slowed, it made it seem like no one else would hire her.

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