Commercials That Annoy, Irritate or Outright Enrage

[Blergh]

On 1/21/2025 at 8:00 AM, Red Bridey said:

 

And one for something...not sure for what...where a guy gets holes blasted into him and he screams when he looks down at his chest (apparently whatever he doesn't take leaves his immune system full of holes?). The scream is awful and it always startles me and I hate it!

It's for the Airborne supplement that has had disputed claims of how effective the product has been.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Blergh said:

perhaps they saw Progressive having done the same with Flo over the years and thought it might be an effective strategy. .. as a possible a tax write off/loss which they'd be compensated for.

The Flo commercials caused profits to skyrocket for Progressive; I forget the numbers, but the CEO talked about how the success of that initial ad campaign completely transformed the company.  There's never been a loss to write off, as the company is still doing huge business - and still paying Stephanie Courtney (the actor who plays Flo) big bucks because of what the commercials continue to do for business all these years later.  The Flo campaign is heavily cited in advertising classes re. brand recognition.  Toyota Jan.  Jake from State Farm.  Successful brand mascots are big business, and companies/ad agencies are always hoping to find one that hits - and lasts.

[Red Bridey]

11 minutes ago, Bastet said:

The Flo commercials caused profits to skyrocket for Progressive; I forget the numbers, but the CEO talked about how the success of that initial ad campaign completely transformed the company.  There's never been a loss to write off, as the company is still doing huge business - and still paying Stephanie Courtney (the actor who plays Flo) big bucks because of what the commercials continue to do for business all these years later.  The Flo campaign is heavily cited in advertising classes re. brand recognition.  Toyota Jan.  Jake from State Farm.  Successful brand mascots are big business, and companies/ad agencies are always hoping to find one that hits - and lasts.

This is very true. However, in the case of the Burger King's horrific jingle/ads, which, yes, we discuss here *a lot*, I tell you I will never ever ever ever ever ever EVER step foot into a Burger King, even if it were the last burger joint in the world. That's how much I LOATHE their ads. So companies need to be careful.

[Blergh]

18 minutes ago, Bastet said:

The Flo commercials caused profits to skyrocket for Progressive; I forget the numbers, but the CEO talked about how the success of that initial ad campaign completely transformed the company.  There's never been a loss to write off, as the company is still doing huge business - and still paying Stephanie Courtney (the actor who plays Flo) big bucks because of what the commercials continue to do for business all these years later.  The Flo campaign is heavily cited in advertising classes re. brand recognition.  Toyota Jan.  Jake from State Farm.  Successful brand mascots are big business, and companies/ad agencies are always hoping to find one that hits - and lasts.

I'll put it this way: IF Flo(or another advertising character that had a large segment of potential customers who loathed her/him/it) was a bomb who they only kept around  due to being a reliable tax loss. .. .could one imagine a CEO admitting it?

.

P.S. Regardless of claimed popularity by others, until they dump Flo, I wouldn't deign to consider getting Progressive Insurance even if they offered it to me along with the moon on a silver platter.

To each one's own.

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, Blergh said:

I'll put it this way: IF Flo(or another advertising character that had a large segment of potential customers who loathed her/him/it) was a bomb who they only kept around  due to being a reliable tax loss. .. .could one imagine a CEO admitting it?

Progressive is a publicly traded company; its finances are on record. That you hate the commercials, to the extent you'd never be a customer because of them, fine and dandy.  I'm sure plenty of others feel the same.  I don't feel strongly about them in any direction; some amuse me a good deal, a few annoy me, most I find just okay, and I certainly didn't switch insurance companies because of them.  Those are our opinions.  But that profits soared because of the ad campaign is a well-documented fact.

[Blergh]

^

noted.

[andromeda331]

The commercial wear the boyfriend shows up at his girlfriend's and her family's house wearing a Duke t-shirt while the whole family is wearing North Carolina. They treat him crappy but worse is the girlfriend who clearly didn't warn him that they were crazy Tarheel fans. I hate the girlfriend/boyfriend lets them walk into that situation instead of warning them or helping them. Nope just says nothing. Although I do love gymnastics team. 

[Gharlane]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

The commercial wear the boyfriend shows up at his girlfriend's and her family's house wearing a Duke t-shirt while the whole family is wearing North Carolina. They treat him crappy but worse is the girlfriend who clearly didn't warn him that they were crazy Tarheel fans. I hate the girlfriend/boyfriend lets them walk into that situation instead of warning them or helping them. Nope just says nothing. Although I do love gymnastics team. 

How did he not realize she was an avid Tarheels fan and why did she treat him that way? Was this her plan for breaking up with him? 

[mmecorday]

There's an Xfinity commercial with this young girl who achieves success online for her singing and guitar playing. As her popularity grows, she physically gets bigger until at the end she's the size of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. What annoys me most about this ad is the song she's singing. It sounds like something Sondra Huxtable listened to on repeat after breaking up with Elvin on "The Cosby Show." 

[proserpina65]

On 2/2/2025 at 4:30 PM, Blergh said:

[with preemptive apologies to any Forum regulars who actually like the following]: perhaps they saw Progressive having done the same with Flo over the years and thought it might be an effective strategy. .. as a possible a tax write off/loss which they'd be compensated for.

The Flo commercials are definitely not tax write-offs for Progressive.  There've been articles about how their website traffic increased exponentially after those commercials started running.

[HyeChaps]

Looks like Jardiance is going in a different direction.

The new commercial has an animated turtle family and is aimed towards treating kidney problems, rather than diabetes.

No singing.

[andromeda331]

4 hours ago, HyeChaps said:

Looks like Jardiance is going in a different direction.

The new commercial has an animated turtle family and is aimed towards treating kidney problems, rather than diabetes.

No singing.

The turtles are cute.