What commercials do you think are horrible?

The Rob Lowe ones are grating on my last nerves…

Old Spice and the creepy parents stalking their children.

And no child needs to hear about 4 hour erections every 10 minutes when sports are airing over the weekend.

@JLeslie You mean this one? If so, the dad appears to be sleeping at night. I would assume the mom is around at the same time. The beginning of the commercial is during the day.

@yankeetooter I can barely watch the Rob Lowe commercials they bother me do much. Awful.

@anniereborn Yes, that one. I liked it in the first few seconds, because I like the message that when you are responsible for a kid you don’t get to do whatever you want, the child’s needs come first. I know people who take NyQuil to go to sleep even when they aren’t sick. I’ve never taken it, but people talk about it knocking them out more than it clearing their congestion. Nothing in the commercial mentions his wife being there.

Even if she is there, does she need to work the next day? I would assume so if the husband has the responsibility of the kid. Her sleep might be more important. It’s just a cold.
I asked Facebook a week ago and most moms said no way they would take anything that would impair them when their child was very young. Others didn’t see a problem. One friend of mine mentioned she didn’t drink the first 4 years of her son’s life.

The one about Hopper mobile television.

A young teen boy is standing on the front stairs yelling that he doesn’t “want to go to Aunt Judy’s” because she doesn’t have TV – while holding his smart phone. Dad is in the driveway by the car, pleading with the kid to get in the car.

Next the Hopper mascot (stuffed animatronic kangaroo) helpfully takes the kid’s smart phone, sets up Hopper, and says, “You’re all set. Now you have TV.”

The dad is exasperated but thankful toward the Kangaroo as the kid finally gets on the car.

——

In my world, I woud’ve taken away the kid’s phone for a month, banned TV (in general) for a week, and said, “Get your ass in the car. We are going to see your Aunt and I expect you to be polite.” I might’ve even kicked the meddling kangaroo across the street.

I agree about Bob Lowe. Two others I can’t watch are Time-Warner Cable’s “Coach” (former Former Pittsburg Steelers Coach Bill Cowher), who invites himself into various family settings, and “Flo” for Progressive. As a former TV commercial writer, I find both these characters endlessly annoying.

I think you are asking the wrong question. Most ads are horrible, insipid, and insulting.

My suggestion would be to ask the question:

“What ads stand out as being of high quality?”

What I find hard to tolerate are the prescription medication ads. Vague symptoms, just pop a pill. Do you urinate more than 4 times a day? You have a bladder problem. Have dry skin? Take this medication but get your liver checked every few months, because now you may have a liver problem as a result. They show people doing everyday things like watering plants, doing dishes or taking a walk in a field, always gazing off into the distance and smiling slightly, as if they know the secret that we all need to know.

To throw in an ad that I liked, it was for Swiffer, and it featured an old couple, probably in their 80’s or early 90’s. They opened the box and marveled over what it was. I read an article about them, and they’re actually a real couple, married for many decades, and they’re both actors.

I agree. Those commercials are terrible, will lead to the downfall of society, and whoever wrote, filmed and released them should be imprisoned for a long long time.

When my daughter was a baby and we were home a lot, this commercial was very popular and has a catchy, Reggaeton tune. It’s kind of a fun commercial, even if it is a commercial – after hearing it a lot, the phone number was stuck in my head. 877–393-4–4-4— aaayyyyt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytnF8WYM3EY

I’m with @jca

Prescription drug ads are designed to sell unnecessary pills to people.

Ad: Are your legs itching. Like, really itching? Itching, itching, itching!

Viewer: Huh, I guess I kind of feel an itch.

Ad: If so, BUY THIS!

Viewer: OK

I agree the prescription drug advertisements are the worst, take a pill for this and take a pill for that even though the side effects often include the risk of heart attack, stroke, depression, thoughts of suicide, etc.

All of the ones that have some kind of musical ditty, like they need one.

Any fast food commercial.
The actual burgers do not look anything like the thing in the spot.
It is false advertising and should be illegal.

I’ll add another vote for the Rob Lowe commercial. I find it very offensive. I thought it was only me. On the positive side, I kinda like the one with the 3 women saying push it, I think it’s GEICO but I’m not sure. I’ve seen it a thousand times and still not sure what I’m supposed to buy so maybe it’s not that effective.

I am disgusted by the tons of money pharmaceutical companies spend on ads, brochures, and seducing doctors, overall I don’t mind the commercials and ads because it boggles my mind how often doctors are ignorant about treatments available and contraindications. The ads and commercials help the public know what is available. Or, I should say I felt very strongly about this 25 years ago. Now, most people have access to the internet so it is a different world, but even still it can be difficult to research sometimes.

I didn’t ask what gimme facials are great, because we have had those Q’s before. Plus, I was really annoyed by the NyQuil and puking ad, and those were both in my TV recently.

All, never watch any cuz they get on my tit ends.

I agree with the ads from the pharmaceutical industry. It’s kind of amusing, really, to have the speaker saying, “may cause liver damage, blindness, loss of bowel control or death ” at the same time that the people are smiling, holding hands, smelling flowers and cuddling while watching a sunset. Sort of contradictory.

The snotball running down the street annoys the heck out of me. I think it’s Muselex or some such medicine. Nasty.

What about that dark-haired woman selling Progressive insurance. She doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies…

@elbanditoroso I LOVE Progressive Flo! You’re not invited when we marry!

Regarding prescription medications – there’s the one that says if you urinate more than 5 times a day you have a problem. I’d say then that according to that, probably 50% of the world has a problem.

@jaytkay – progressive flo sounds like something a urologist would prescribe.

@jca That does sound a little ridiculous. I would say 5 is a pretty low number to equate with a problem.

That insurance one with flo. Alllll the boner ones for Viagra and cialis. The one where her depression follows her around. Thank gooood they don’t have those here…oh and the one where they’re like robots made of pipes that go out shopping and she keeps having to pee

@trailsillustrated: That’s the one I’m talking about – the one where they say if you urinate more than 5 times a day you have a problem. Then if that’s the case I definitely have a problem. I think about half of the country does, too.

I probably take a piss 10 times a day, but then I also drink ridiculous amounts of liquid.

I like creepy Rob Lowe, but then I love Rob Lowe.

One of the reasons I watch almost zero television is because of the ads. If I were the censor, most ads would fail to get past me, because I consider borderline lying, misleading, insulting intelligence, being annoying, extremely inane, corporate political propaganda, ads for GMO food, and cultural erosion to all be detrimental to society as well as to my own psyche.

So thankfully, I don’t have many recent examples.

* Circa 1986 there was “BUSHELS OF FLAVOR, SWIMMIN’ IN THE FLAKES OF KELLOGG’S FRUITFUL BRAN.”

* Just about all ads for drugs, especially prescription medications. As my doctor says, “if it has a TV ad, it’s a bad drug.”

* Ads telling you not to vote for local GMO food labeling laws.

* The Bob Dylan Chrysler commercial

* Ads for needless cosmetic surgery.

* The ads for Microsoft laptops with interchangeable screens, that have choreographed dancers ecstatically leaping about swapping screens to the beat… though it actually does a good job of quantifying how ridiculous that product is.

* All ads that make the viewer unpleasantly aware of some awful health situation someone has, and dramatizes it.

* All ads that try to get you to buy into some annoying way of thinking and accept it as the inescapable truth.

etc…

I don’t particularly care to be watching TV with friends and have ads for tampons, maxi pads, vaginal itch, vaginal smell or douche be shown on TV. It’s like, can we crawl under the coffee table now?

Vagina commercials, prescription drug commercials are banned here thank lil baby jeesus…

@trailsillustrated What about drugs like Viagra? Are those commercials banned too?

@JLeslie I know you asked @trailsillustrated, but yes, they are banned, by me. Everyone already knows about viagra who has any business knowing about viagra, and no one ever needed to see any of the viagra commercials I ever saw.

Some things should be left to people to ask their doctors or other specialists about, and should not be advertized about on TV. This includes erectile issues, butt sores, stinky digestive issues… etc.

There was a commercial I heard on the radio many years ago while living in Chicago. It started with the following sentence:

“Isn’t it wonderful that we live in the day and age that hemorrhoids can be discussed openly on the radio.”

Now that was a commercial I didn’t want to hear.

@Jaxk – that was a sore point with you, eh?

@elbanditoroso – That’s hitting below the belt.

Do not be so anal about it.

This is becoming quite a pain in the ass.

Now you’re just being cheeky.