How do you define "insulting peoples' intelligence" and give examples?

I hate the new JC Penney campaign with Ellen DeGeneres. I find it insulting.

My vote goes to the cialsis ads. In case of loss of vision or hearing see your doctor. Huh?

@marinelife would you get into it more?
@Adirondackwannabe I second that.

I don’t know why these celebrities do ads period, anyway, whether Ellen is doing it for JC Penny or others.

Isn’t this the whole idea of marketing (to get you to buy things you don’t need)?

@tom_g yes there is no question about that, no question at all. But some just tell you about the product period. There is marketing and then marketing.

@Adirondackwannabe probably the legal dept. says no way to not including that.

The first thing to come to mind is the ‘beauty’ products directed at men. As if Suave shampoo for men is any different than regular old Suave shampoo. “Must buy this one! More manly!”

When they employ gender stereotypes and use sex (or should I say the female body) to sell like it’s never been done before. I deliberately try to avoid purchasing products with offensive ads. I boycott a lot of shit – my house is nearly empty.

Like @tom_g says, the basic idea of marketing is insulting anyway.

Whenever I see a commercial or an ad that features people smiling, laughing and acting like the Second Coming just happened over some new type of phone or multi use kitchen knife, it just makes me wanna barf.

I have, therefore I am.

“Romney for president”

Thank you all. How about product placements? OMG!

@Keep_on_running yes but there is different kinds of marketing different levels of insulting.

I don’t live in the US where they have those ads for cleaning products, but someone made me aware of them by linking to a woman who was making fun of them, using satire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZqDzKad2Q3M

A friend of mine in Norway couldn’t believe that those ads were real. She thought the whole thing was some really bad comedy skit.

@cazzie
The question is give examples of ads that insult peoples’ intelligence.
The link you posted seems like real skit (except for the brand name and image of “Swiffer”). So, that is not what this question is about.
Give me examples of insulting ads (I asked it in this permalink)

@flo The swiffer ad is insulting to the intelligence of a woman, no? I find it so.

@SpatzieLover That is my point, that is why I put it in whisper, meaning it is less than perfect. All the products in it should be illegible, unidentifialble, not brand name.

All the products featured in that clip are real @Flo. That’s the point of this satire. The lady (comedian) making fun of the ads is pointing out how stupid the advertisers think the audience is.

I just happen to think (being in the USA, myself) that the swiffer mop ad is dumb.

Why do you feel all of the ads should be unidentifiable @flo? The point the person is making is that she didn’t have to look far for her comedy…she just turned on her TV and there it all was laid out for free.

The four hour erection.

Those ARE real ads she is showing to demonstrate her point. I don’t get your point, all products should be illegible and not brand name? What do you mean by that? They are ACTUAL brand advertisments, made and paid for by those companies to be shown on TV. They insult the intelligence of women everywhere, I should think. Not yours, though, @flo?

They are ridiculous. I hate the one for paper towels. The muddy dog is jumping on the sliding glass door, husband lets the me muddy dog in, then he dumps coffee on the counter and the wife just looks at him lovingly and proceeds to clean up all the crap with a paper towel while the husband stands by looking stupid.

I am pointing out that link that you gave seems real satire. Except it could have been better. There was no need to mention the name of the brand of one of the products since it defeats the purpose, they are giving them a free ad. Even if it satire people still end up getting roped in. It could be an oversight.

@cazzie @SpatzieLover See how people are giving examples of insulting ads? What does it mean that you keep bringing up “satire” or satire? Not one example?

@cassie? ”...Not yours, though, @flo?”??? What is the post about? It is not about satire.

There was no need to mention the name of the brand of one of the products since it defeats the purpose, they are giving them a free ad.

A free negative ad.

Even if it satire people still end up getting roped in

No one gets roped in to anything without allowing it. Every person is 100% responsible for their decisions.

Again, the comdienne was showing the absurdity or common TV ads.

@SpatzieLover it doesn’t matter if it is negative or not (“just spell my name right”) people don’t remeber all the ads they see, it is in the back of their minds.

”No one gets roped in to anything without allowing it. Every person is 100% responsible for their decisions”
Even if you are responsible for protecting your property, the person who conned you into handing it over is still guilty of conning you.

You keep refusing to see that I agree that comedienne is doing satire,though not perfect.

Now where are your examples of the insulting ones?

I gave you the example above…the mop. Every ad on TV insults one’s intelligence if it says “You need this”...when you’ve been living without the product for decades.

No one can get conned unless they allow it to happen. The person advertising something is responsible for selling something. I don’t assume their intention is to con people.

What pisses me off is that all cleaning products commercials are geared toward women, and all car commercials are geared toward men. Which is dumb.

@flo Since the satire bit did include real commercials for real products (named or not), it resulted in several examples of the type of ad you’re talking about. I don’t understand why you think she didn’t gave you examples.

@augustlan I was blinded by something, yes she did.

@Dutchess_III amazing, isn’t it? If you buy this product, (whatever the product is) the women will be eeeasy. Sheeesh!