Really annoying television commercials
When I’m down in the big city working, I don’t have time to watch much television. But when I’m up here at Five O’Clock Somewhere, I’m on vacation, and I have satellite – down in the big city, there’s not enough time to watch television, and cable is way too expensive (the last rate hike put the standard service over $50 a month), so we got a nice antenna and make do with broadcast.
Meanwhile, up here at Five O’Clock Somewhere, we have satellite for about a third less than cable costs in the city, and we have twice as many channels. I have developed strategies to maximize my viewing experience, such as finding an alternate channel to escape commercials. When a commercial break comes on, I will switch to another channel. Usually I select a commercial-replacement channel that doesn’t have a plot that needs following, so I often use music channels, such as MTV, VH1, or CMT.
Unfortunately, sometimes the commercial-replacement channel is also on a commercial break when I switch over. And when I’m down in the big city, there isn’t a commercial-replacement channel available. So sometimes, I have to endure commercials. I can mute them, but they’re still annoying.
I have a few commercials that I would nominate for a “most annoying” award. At the top of the list would probably be the Countrywide Mortgage ads. I can’t exactly say why. Maybe the people in those ads are just too artificially cheerful. I just get a bilious feeling in my stomach.
Another set of ads that I can’t stand are the ones for a prescription allergy medication whose name escapes me. A bee with a pseudo-Maurice Chevalier accent is allergic to the flowers he’s buzzing about in. First, there’s a whole lot of fakeness since worker bees are female, and bees would never be allergic to the pollens that they work with. Second, there’s a totally inappropriate level of anthropomorphism, with the bee having human-type eyes and suffering human allergy symptoms. Third, I just plain don’t like that bee. Additional commercials have been made in which the bee woos his girlfriend via this allergy remedy (even more stupid than the first), and in which he markets a children’s version of the medication.
So what commercials would you nominate for the “most annoying” award? What ads make you want to shut off the television rather than keep watching?
Meanwhile, up here at Five O’Clock Somewhere, we have satellite for about a third less than cable costs in the city, and we have twice as many channels. I have developed strategies to maximize my viewing experience, such as finding an alternate channel to escape commercials. When a commercial break comes on, I will switch to another channel. Usually I select a commercial-replacement channel that doesn’t have a plot that needs following, so I often use music channels, such as MTV, VH1, or CMT.
Unfortunately, sometimes the commercial-replacement channel is also on a commercial break when I switch over. And when I’m down in the big city, there isn’t a commercial-replacement channel available. So sometimes, I have to endure commercials. I can mute them, but they’re still annoying.
I have a few commercials that I would nominate for a “most annoying” award. At the top of the list would probably be the Countrywide Mortgage ads. I can’t exactly say why. Maybe the people in those ads are just too artificially cheerful. I just get a bilious feeling in my stomach.
Another set of ads that I can’t stand are the ones for a prescription allergy medication whose name escapes me. A bee with a pseudo-Maurice Chevalier accent is allergic to the flowers he’s buzzing about in. First, there’s a whole lot of fakeness since worker bees are female, and bees would never be allergic to the pollens that they work with. Second, there’s a totally inappropriate level of anthropomorphism, with the bee having human-type eyes and suffering human allergy symptoms. Third, I just plain don’t like that bee. Additional commercials have been made in which the bee woos his girlfriend via this allergy remedy (even more stupid than the first), and in which he markets a children’s version of the medication.
So what commercials would you nominate for the “most annoying” award? What ads make you want to shut off the television rather than keep watching?
posted by Carol Anne | 1:47 AM
4 Comments:
One other ad that I would put on the "most annoying" list is the one for the car loan company that features a spotted dog hand puppet that has a wristwatch for a collar. That commercial is so awfully nausea-inducing that if I were given a choice between eating raw eggs and getting a loan from that company, I'd go for the eggs, salmonella and all.
We get around the problem by not having a TV.
That Gwatzilla has shown up again and you can get her eggs at the car dealer. 10, 20 years ago Gwatney Chevrolet came on the TV yelling at us to buy a car and they put a big Godzilla at the lot, thus Gwatzilla. After a long hibernation, it is back and taking on the radio.
The Lamosil(?) with the little fungi-type characters in sickening yellow is sickening! I cannot watch it, and of course it shows in the evening news just before dinner. The second worst for me was one I think was Nexium, which was depressing. I saw it only once and it disappeared. Perhaps others felt as I did!
Favorite ones over the years have been the Energizer Bunny (haven't seen any lately) and the AFLAC duck and Geico, which also have a variety and change often.
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