Commercials You Hate - Page 2

I'll eat at Carl Jrs, if only because I can hope they'll pay me every time I add "...brought to you by Carl Jrs" after every sentence.

Christ, I feel old remembering this jack-ass...

Oh, absolutley, that's where I'm coming from with it too. I completely love her, she's got one of the most beautiful voices on earth, and I love the causes that she stands for. But after I bawled, donated, and traumatized Edison by sobbing into his fur, I just can't watch that commercial anymore. I do the same thing, I high-tail it into the other room as soon as it starts, even though I'm completely on board with what they're saying. I don't hate it - I just can't take it. But as pointed out, they got me to donate (even though I donate to animal charities all the time anyway - they got me to donate *again*), and they likely got a buttload of other people to donate, which is always good.

Holy crap, you're eighteen?

No. LOL.

That shit was five years ago. How does that make you old exactly?

I thought that started in '99.

Who cares. Now back to annoying ads.

5 years ago? Really? No, must've been older than that. Right? Jesus.

Yes, one human year is equal to seven "Annoying commercial asshole" years.

Those Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints commercials...

Anything from "The Partnership for a Drug-Free America." Not only are those things usually packed with lies and willful misrepresentations but they have the following things wrong with them as well. 1) They encourage kids to be dicks. Their office has put out commercials and other promotional materials basically encouraging kids to bully their classmates if they suspect they have a drug problem. Yeah, I know that if I were a kid who so lacked the skills to cope with the pressures of school that I developed a drug habit at that age, having a bunch of the kids who take those campaigns seriously call me a fucking loser would really help set me straight. 2) They play up the fact that terrorists secure financing through the drug trade and downplay little inconveniences like the "War on Terror" has actually BOLSTERED the Afghani heroin trade and terrorists get far more money through the oil industry, which we help subsidize, and diamond trafficking than through drugs. 3) Like a great many things originating from our government, they seek to condition the behavior of kids through fear rather than legitimate education.

From Berkeley, CA, eh?

Doctor Who is awesome. Your argument fails.

The Truth ads are actually funded by the tobacco industry as a part of the Master Settlement Agreement, not the federal government.

Those "You Wouldn't Steal a..." anti-piracy ads that precede the forced trailers on every DVD I've bought in the past three years. I just bought a licensed copy of the goddamn movie, son.

Commercials on the radio have nearly driven me to the booby hatch. Sit & Sleep will never get a nickel's worth of my business. "You're killing me, Larry!" is not endearing, but a promise that's sadly gone unfulfilled to date.

Ah yes Sit & Sleep. between that and hearing Wayne Resnick on the radio makes me want to set up the rifle sites every time.

I hate the local commercials for Hesser College and Rhetts Technical Center. Besides the ridiculousness of super-happy actresses pretending to be medical assistants telling you how great it is to work with doctors (I work with doctors. It ain't that great), but you have the annoying voice overs as an added bonus - "I don't have any money because I can't get a job. I can't get a job because I don't have any skills. I don't have any skills because I didn't go to school. I didn't go to school because I don't have any money." Around and around and around.

I hate that Comcast commercial with that fat fuck and his annoying Roy Scheider looking son about missing the movie because of their slow internet connection. Why do you need directions to the theater? Plan ahead, numb nuts . I also hate the ad with that crotch demon at the bank who shoots various objects at an unsuspecting customer's car through the deposit tube. Why does the customer have to call his insurance to get his car repaired? I'd sue that bank for a fucking Aston Martin. And fuck that demon's whore mother for not watching her son.

This is the only answer I can get behind. And to be honest, I've only started to hate them more as they've become more professional. In the old days, it was easy to dismiss them. Now people come to work and ask "Have you seen that commercial...?" Not a sporting event, not a movie, not a news item, but a fucking commercial. They are now considered discussion-worthy events. I refuse to ever put myself in a position to even see them anymore. I TiVo everything, and never watch TV "live" anymore.

Fuck all commercials.

I wouldn't go that far. I do find some commercials genuinely entertaining. And they haven't made me any more likely to use those products than I was before seeing them just because they're entertaining. Like any other field of human endeavor, it takes genuine skill to make a good commercial. And I can appreciate it when one gets made. This thread is, I think, more devoted to the ones that AREN'T well made, or that we have pet peeves about.

Oh, and add to the list anything with the creepy, silent Burger King. Just fucking stupid.

If it's beyond you, how can you say it's wrong? It might be wrong, but how can you say so if you don't know?

You're right about the government making up shit and getting away with it, though. I'll give you that.

There's actually plenty of proof, but it sounds like you're dead set against believing it. Unless you're one of those insane "smoker's rights" people, I'm not sure why this is such a big deal to you. The reason that the death from smoking statistics are so much higher than the illegal drug deaths is that more people smoke than do illegal drugs by a massive margin. It's not that hard to believe, really.

This, however, you're completely right about. Most people who start smoking do it at a very young age, at which point death and mortality are the furthest things from their minds. Later, they're completely addicted, and the statistics have a hard time competing with chemical addiction. I really don't see what good these ads are doing.

There's no doubt that a lot of talent is going into commercials now. Many of our up and coming directors are coming from commercials. I think that may be part of my problem with them. All of that talent, skill, resources and imagination going into an attempt to sell a car kind of depresses me.

Another problem with the way commercials are made now is that they forget their purpose, which just seems out of whack. How many times have you remembered a really entertaining commercial, but couldn't remember what it was advertising? A lot of commercials are basically demo reels for the director. He's advertising himself.

I agree this one is getting out of hand. It played twice during an episode of Scrubs and four times during CSI. It's indeed a sad commercial, and I don't see how they expect people to help when the ad is to painful to watch.

But that's the point. In order for a person to decide that it's too painful to watch, you had to have at least seen it once - which means if you've seen it, you'll give all that much faster. That's what happened to me - I can't watch it anymore, but the first time I saw it, I sat down immediately with my credit card and sent a donation to the ASPCA before the commercial was over. And whenever the commercial does come on now, as much as I can't take watching it anymore, that little lightbulb goes on in my head, "Oh - I should send them a little more money." And I generally do. It gets you thinking and acting, regardless of if you can't bear to watch it. It's hardly an ineffective commercial.

Anyone else have fond memories of wanting to stab that "All The Cheese Goes Blub...Blub...Blub" kid from the Ellio's commercials? Fuck him.

But why is their being a demo reel for a talented director a bad thing? Particularly if they go out and make a good movie, if the comercials they made before are what got them noticed, where's the harm? Actors have been getting their start in commercials for years now. I don't think anyone would have a problem with this trend continuing. Although the fact that directors too are getting their feet in some doors is news to me, I don't think it's bad news. With all the dreck movies that get made all the time, one more vehicle for getting real talent noticed and a shot at making good films ought to be applauded, no?

As for the commercials not highlighting the products enough and therefore not fulfilling their mission, you're probably right that this happens, and hurts the people paying for the ad. But since we by and large don't care about the products they're hawking anyway, why should we care?

Maybe it's just my inner Bill Hicks, but I just think that advertising is the most soulless, empty part of any culture at any time. The idea that they're now being treated as art, that they fuel water cooler discussion, drives me up the wall. The money that's spent to advertise a product like Coca-Cola, a product that everyone already knows about, is staggering. And the fact that we now live in a time when a lot of people don't even have to watch commercials (because of VCR's, TiVo, online viewing, and whatnot), but continue to do so on purpose just blows my mind. There are people who look forward to the Super Bowl because of the commercials, and then have extended discussion about which ones lived up to the hype. This is a sign that our culture is too sick to survive.

I think I preferred commercials when they were just a matter of panning over to a guy off the set who told you to smoke these cigarettes. At least that was honest.

"F-R-E-E..that spells free..." fills me with rage.

That "Guys Don't Bake" ad. Fuck you. I bake, and I get laid. Bite me.

Yeah. By dudes! Ohhhh!!!!! Enjoy your pie, Mary.


Just kidding.

After watching so much of the playoffs teh last couple weeks, I can honestly say I HATE the T-Mobile commercial where Charles Barkley asks D-Wade to get him a pair of socks for his "footsies." Some of these Barkley-Wade ads have been funny, but this one just grates.

This thread makes me love TiVo all the more. I just prefer to wait until a show is done (or at least half done) recording before I start watching it.

I'm not really sure, but this one just might be some sort of Dadist masterpiece. I feel like if I could ever understand what Naomi Campbell has to do with CGI lizards has to do with Thriller has to do with vitamin water I will have transcended space, time, and sodium and moved on to a higher plane.

The "Six Flags More Fun!" commericals. Not nearly annoying as dancing fake old man in tuxedo, but still only makes me want to stay away from Six Flags.

I never even thought about commiting homicide until I saw the Meatloaf/Meatloaf's son Go Phone commercial. When I see that commercial I don't care what I kill - man, woman, child, goat, whatever - I just want something to die.

RE: the Sobe ad

I guess they had about fifteen ideas during their spitballing session, and just decided to go with all of them.

Now I have to find out where you live, hunt you down, and kill you for making this song run through my head all day. I hate you. I hate you long time.

I hated the Mentos commercials. I don't know why, I just did.

Why justify it, there's nothing wrong with hating them. Fact is, if there's a place that says you have to like them. I wouldn't want to live there.

Also, I don't know if someone else already mentioned it because I don't feel like going through the thread again, but I hate the financial commercials done in the style of A Scanner Darkly. If those people were so smart, they'd have enough money to not worry about which online investment company they're going to go with.

That's because you're not "Das Freshmaaken".

I've actually found myself at work sitting in my office humming this damn song to myself. I...actually...like it....please kill me now.