Commercials that Fail

[MetalPants]

I saw a Burger King commercial that advertised Tony Stewart likes one of the sandwiches there so much, that he went and worked at a BK for a day. For me at least, this commercial is a total failure because I have no idea who this person is or why I should care that he likes a Burger King hamburger.

So what commercials fail for you?

 

[Trekker4747]

The "I'm a Mac" commercials where PC -a dorky looking guy- makes some new acomplishment or has some struggle and Mac -a cool, laid back, jackass- rips PC to shreds in his own failure.

Not sure how that was supposed to sell me on buying a Mac, esp. considering PC's problems were cliche'd "PC problems" that I've either never experienced because I know how to use a computer or I have experienced and was easily able to correct the problem.

 

[Starbreaker]

I saw a Burger King commercial that advertised Tony Stewart likes one of the sandwiches there so much, that he went and worked at a BK for a day. For me at least, this commercial is a total failure because I have no idea who this person is or why I should care that he likes a Burger King hamburger.

So what commercials fail for you?

He's a popular NASCAR driver.

 

[Brandonv]

How about the Mr. Bucket commercial from the 90's?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV1hv6L0R74

"The first to get their balls into Mr. Bucket wins, but look out, because the balls will pop out of his mouth".

 

[Quantum_Penguin]

The most ignoble commercial I've seen recently is for Life Alert where the old woman slips in the shower and is lucky that her daughter stopped by that day. The problem isn't the melodramatic reenactment or the assumption that people with decades of life experience can't figure out why a personal alert system might be useful without a painfully obvious demonstration. It's that the daughter yells "MOM!" at the top of her lungs when she realizes her mother is in trouble. When ever it comes on it's a race between my brother and me to see which one of us can mute the TV first.

It's as if it was designed specifically to pierce eardrums and ruin speakers, not to mention that it's supposed to wake up old people napping in front of the TV so they can hear about Life Alert's stupid product. Overall, it's cloying and self-important and I find despicable the assumption that its intended audience must be cowed into buying the product.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

All those stupid dumbass Yahoo! ads that I have to sit through whenever I watch a game on MLB.TV. It's like they picked the ads that are the LEAST likely for baseball fans to give a crap about.

They do have a Keith Hernandez ad (some kind of sports website where you can track player stats - Keith calls it "Mustrash Talk" ) that is really funny though.

 

[Hermiod]

Pretty much all adverts that attempt to sell a product to men.

 

[sojourner]

Saw a commercial the other day for a home pregnancy test. First line in the commercial: "1 in 4 women cannot read home pregnancy tests." Something about the way it was said just sounded like an insult to the target demographic. It would have come off much better if they had said "people" instead of "women".

 

[trekkiebaggio]

There's an advert for a car...Kia I think I'm not sure who its manufactured by. But the first bit is about how they've got loads of researchers and think tanks to work out that 7 is bigger than 3. So they're giving a 7 year warranty.

I'm thinking...if you have to get all these people to work out that 7 is bigger than 3 why the hell would I buy anything from you.

 

[JoeZhang]

Saw a commercial the other day for a home pregnancy test. First line in the commercial: "1 in 4 women cannot read home pregnancy tests." Something about the way it was said just sounded like an insult to the target demographic. It would have come off much better if they had said "people" instead of "women".

Dude, I hate to tell you but no matter how many times you pee on that stick it ain't going to work..

 

[Admiral Shran]

The "I'm a Mac" commercials where PC -a dorky looking guy- makes some new acomplishment or has some struggle and Mac -a cool, laid back, jackass- rips PC to shreds in his own failure.

Not sure how that was supposed to sell me on buying a Mac, esp. considering PC's problems were cliche'd "PC problems" that I've either never experienced because I know how to use a computer or I have experienced and was easily able to correct the problem.

This.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEAGmBRC1dc

 

[Trekker4747]

That video always makes me laugh, I love it when he kicks the iMac Classic and it just explodes into pieces.

 

[Mistral]

All of the "Flo" Progressive commercials.
She makes me want to switch away from Progressive.
Diablo Cody without any style or intelligence.

 

[Ood Sigma]

Every Hanes commercial with Michael Jordan just rubs me the wrong way - wearing Hanes gives you the right to be an insufferable jerk? (Not saying he is a jerk, but his portrayal on those commercials most definitely is.)

Also, there's a commercial for some deli meat (can't recall the brand) where a 10 year old boy is in a school classroom auctioning off a sandwich made with said meat. He eventually sells it for a pony. I guess the point is that such a sandwich is worth a lot (even more than a bag of candy), but my question is, if the sandwich/meat is so good, why is he trying to get rid of it in the first place?

 

[Trekker4747]

Every Hanes commercial with Michael Jordan just rubs me the wrong way - wearing Hanes gives you the right to be an insufferable jerk? (Not saying he is a jerk, but his portrayal on those commercials most definitely is.)

Also, there's a commercial for some deli meat (can't recall the brand) where a 10 year old boy is in a school classroom auctioning off a sandwich made with said meat. He eventually sells it for a pony. I guess the point is that such a sandwich is worth a lot (even more than a bag of candy), but my question is, if the sandwich/meat is so good, why is he trying to get rid of it in the first place?

These are tough times, bologna sandwiches are easy to come by. Ponys? Not so much.

Wait. What kind of self-respescting 10-year-old boy wants a pony?!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Any commercial where the voiceover SHOUTS AT YOU AS THOUGH YOU WERE AN IDIOT and then, in the last .005 seconds of the ad, reads what sounds like the entire US tax code. Why the hell can't they make it clear?

Also: All pharmaceutical ads. They should just ban the lot. I know they get around the loophole by saying "Talk to your doctor" but we all know that's just that, a loophole.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Wait. What kind of self-respescting 10-year-old boy wants a pony?!

Maybe he's a good capitalist and intends to sell the pony for even more bags of candy than he could get from just the sandwich.

Or maybe he was more interested in the girl with the pony. I'm lending more toward that interpretation.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Any of the stupid Travelocity (I think?) ads with that stupid garden gnome...

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Thestral]

Saw a commercial the other day for a home pregnancy test. First line in the commercial: "1 in 4 women cannot read home pregnancy tests." Something about the way it was said just sounded like an insult to the target demographic. It would have come off much better if they had said "people" instead of "women".

Dude, I hate to tell you but no matter how many times you pee on that stick it ain't going to work..

That ain't no etch-a-sketch. This is one doodle that can't be undid, homeskillet.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

I saw a Burger King commercial that advertised Tony Stewart likes one of the sandwiches there so much, that he went and worked at a BK for a day. For me at least, this commercial is a total failure because I have no idea who this person is or why I should care that he likes a Burger King hamburger.

So what commercials fail for you?

He's a popular NASCAR driver.

Tony Stewart aka "Smoke" is a Two Time 2002 & 2005 NASCAR Winston Cup/Sprint Cup Champion, among other accomplishments

For me its that hat Dell "Lolli-Pop" comercial
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ijH3cRJ1BY[/yt]