Ernos
Feb 16, 2004 @ 4:42 pm
I'm not that old, but I remember the days when you never saw people chewing gum in gum commercials.
Really? Wow, and I thought
I was an old-timer, heh.
I get you, though. I still think the Charmin "bears shitting in the woods" ads, while cutely drawn, are rather tasteless. And some of those Axe body spray commercials ("Well, as long as she meant nothing to you." "Do you mind if my friend joins us?") are also both funny and tasteless. Still, I don't think it happened suddenly...Like the FOX network's ultimate transformation into all hardcore porn all the time, it's happening so gradually we hardly even notice.
CarlosTheDwarf
Feb 16, 2004 @ 5:13 pm
thanks StephenTrendy and FfraulienN
Difficult Child
Feb 16, 2004 @ 6:56 pm
add_duck, I haven't seen the Phillips defibrillator, but if it's like a regular AED, the system actually checks the heart rhythm and won't deliver a shock if the rhythm is normal.
Topic? Um, the spongemonkeys freak me out...
Sincerity
Feb 16, 2004 @ 8:06 pm
I'm not that old, but I remember the days when you never saw people chewing gum in gum commercials.
Speaking of gum commercials, I was watching something that I taped off of television a couple years back, and that darned Doublemint commercial with the twins was on it. You know, if I saw two adult twins laughing and chewing gum together, I'd be thinking less of 'I wonder what kind of gum they're chewing, they look like they're having so much fun, and it just HAS to be because of the gum', and more of 'I wonder why they still dress alike. I think I'll run this way now.'
I know this has been said a million and one times, but TRUTH ads bug me. Gah. I hate those Crazyland ones. That kid shouting "In (insert year here), all canned grapes were pulled off the shelves because of (insert amount here) of cyanide was found, blah blah blah, there's three times that amount in a single cigarettes blah blah blah." I always light a cigarette when those commercials air out of spite.
TheCustomOfLife
Feb 16, 2004 @ 8:24 pm
Weren't the Mowry twins from Sister Sister in those ads? And those porn model twin boys?
Eegah
Feb 16, 2004 @ 9:41 pm
Okay, for a little more positive stuff I have to talk about a commercial I like for the plus-size dog bone Jumbone. There's some kind of dog staring blankly into the camera and appropriate objects are put in front of him during this song:
This dog doesn't want this little bone
Any more than he wants to play a trombone
In fact, if he could use the telephone
He'd be sure to order the Jumbone
StephenTrendy
Feb 16, 2004 @ 9:45 pm
Okay, this Pepperidge farm commercial for "Twist Bread" is seriously making me wanna go out and buy it. I'm a bread-addict, and they always make bread look so good on commercials.
Ernos
Feb 16, 2004 @ 9:50 pm
Awww, the Jumbone commercial. It's cute. The tune is, I think, "Them Bones," that old "hip bone connected to the...leg bone, leg bone connected to the...knee bone" thing.
I've seen way too many old movies.
Sincerity
Feb 16, 2004 @ 10:00 pm
Oh, I LOVE that Jumbone commercial. Now you've got me singing the song, which of course I'll be doing all night.
TheCustomOfLife
Feb 16, 2004 @ 10:07 pm
I love the Jumbone commercial, especially when they pronounce telephone as "telly-phone." It makes me smile.
steering fish
Feb 16, 2004 @ 10:49 pm
The Jumbone commercial is so incredibly terrible that it's actually really good.
It's a really, really big, really big, big bone and that's why we call it Jumboooone.
Sandman87
Feb 16, 2004 @ 11:37 pm
I finally caught the Quizno's ad today. Those cute little guys kinda remind me of one of the pictures on the back cover of
this album.
Current ad that I'm lovin features some corporate big cheese, followed by a pack of toadies, and he's yelling "No, no, no, WRONG!". I don't remember what the ad is for, but I pity the poor person who asks me a question and gets a negative response for the next couple of weeks.
Jeebus Cripes
Feb 16, 2004 @ 11:41 pm
I got a good chuckle out of the new Priceline commercial. The one where they tell Shatner they're replacing him with Leonard Nimoy. I loved Shatner in those old Priceline ads. "You know what to do dog... bust a move!"
archbrow
Feb 16, 2004 @ 11:46 pm
Has anyone seen the curiously ominous SBC commercial, voiced over by Tommy Lee Jones, where he narrates how back in 1970-something an idea was born, or something like that, and while he tells us about SBC's ground-breaking idea which has led to the supermega-amazing ultra-wired world we now live in--these cables snake through the ground and up poles and into houses and into outlets and such, all of their own accord?
*shiver*
Those creepy animated snakey cables give me the heebie-jeebies. They're like the vines in Jumanji.
This is the reason I always close the closet door before going to bed. Damn you SBC!
JenD
Feb 16, 2004 @ 11:49 pm
I'm catching up on my TWoP reading after the weekend, so I just went to the ebay auction for 867-5309 from a few pages back, and its up to $201,000!!!
Who are these people who have that kind of money to spend on a damn phone number!!! I guess I'm just bitter cuz I can't even pay off my student loans.
skittl3862 your sister could've made a small fortune.
OT - Count me in on the Jumbone love...I always sing along :)
Mangetical Anji
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:01 am
My hatred for AT&T has begun anew with the airing of YET ANOTHER commercial featuring the Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop". Jesus, I'm glad Joey and Dee Dee are gone so they don't have to witness their song being used to shill tracfones. Yes, I know their families and such are getting the royalties. But still... -sniff- It's just not right.
ChinkyGirl
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:07 am
Aww,
JenD, don't worry! You can always bid on
Jenny's phone number in a jar instead!
Shelwood
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:14 am
My new "hobby" is listening for the phrase "wireless bill" so I can hit the mute button before the screaming starts in the T-Mobile ad. In doing so, it occured to me -- am I hopelessly unhip for not calling it a "wireless bill"? I'm afraid to admit I use the phrase "cell phone bill". Does this mark me as one of the not-cool kids? Should I go one step further and Madonna it into referring to my "mobile", with a long i? No, really, "cell phone": old fogey, retro or normal?
Shelwood
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:15 am
DDP
Cleo256
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:25 am
No, really, "cell phone": old fogey, retro or normal?
Normal. Actually, I rarely hear the full "cell phone" anymore. It's usually either "phone", and the "cell" is implied, or "cell", when you want to distinguish it from a landline.
e.g. #1: "I'll be out all day, so call me on my cell."
e.g. #2: "Oops, almost went out the door without my phone."
I've never heard "mobile" or "wireless phone" or anything, outside commercial-land.
And some of those Axe body spray commercials ("Well, as long as she meant nothing to you." "Do you mind if my friend joins us?") are also both funny and tasteless.
Aw, I kind of liked that commercial. "Our body spray will make you so desirable to women, they'll take leave of their senses." Except there was the one woman whose acting was so awful: "You'll remember my birthday next year". She hits "remember", when clearly she was meant to hit "next". It didn't make any sense to hit "remember". That bugged, but I liked the woman who said, "She meant nothing to you? Oh, then I forgive you."
naugastyle
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:34 am
I read the ebay listing for Jenny's number in a jar, and...I don't get it. Why are people bidding a typed piece of paper in a jar with a giant cork stopper? Is that seriously worth $20? I mean, I realize it's not on the same level of ridiculousness as the number itself being sold for multi-thousands, but...whu? $20 is on my level of affordability, and there are so many damn things you could get for $20 plus shipping...and there's a SECOND guy claiming to also have the number, although he has no picture.
I saw it at $150 thousand. Was there a different auction that ended? There's one for and SF number now, starting bid $5000. By the way, I clicked on the "about me" link and the current high bidder for the NY number is a guy who owns a bed & breakfast in Connecticut.
Tornado25
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:39 am
Okay, this Pepperidge farm commercial for "Twist Bread" is seriously making me wanna go out and buy it.
Yeah, but is it Atkins-friendly?
Cleo, you're right on with the examples. Funny thing is, when I went to England last year, I asked my niece about her cellphone and she gave me this screwed up look and asked "why do you call it a cell phone"? They call it mobile, but fortunately they don't have the annoying long i.
dzdzsty
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:57 am
Has anyone seen Zora in the Nutrisystem ads? She is way too skinny, she looks like a skeleton. That is all.
I haven't seen one of these in a while, but the first time I did I actually didn't recognize her, she looked so different. And not in a good way. Not really a good way to advertise your products, Nutrisystem.
My two cents on the Truth ads: They don't bother me, and one of them inspired my roommate to stop smoking, so I appreciate them.
Vermicious Knid
Feb 17, 2004 @ 2:21 am
I'm betting that auction will end up getting pulled for fraudulent bids.
People must have been complaining about the Quiznos' spongemonkeys, or they've noticed the revulsion out there on the Net. I saw a truncated version earlier tonight where they just get sing "Eat Quiznos subs!" then it cuts immediately to the description of the subs, and then they just pop up again at the end to say the same thing.
So no one shares my disgust at the Mentos ad with the French-kissing dog?
steering fish
Feb 17, 2004 @ 3:22 am
So no one shares my disgust at the Mentos ad with the French-kissing dog?
I can't even watch that ad. I always look away when the dog jumps on the guy. It reminds me too much of my roommate and her boyfriend.
OK, that was really mean and uncalled for. But what the hell. :)
Jeebus Cripes
Feb 17, 2004 @ 3:33 am
I kinda like that Mento's ad, Vermicious. I'm partial to commercials featuring dogs, even if they're being disgusting. I really like the Sierra Mist ads-- the one with the dog airing himself in front of the air-conditioner was funny as hell. Also, I get all warm and fuzzy inside, when I see a commercial with a puppy. The toilet paper ad with the talking puppy that sounds like Bruce Willis? Gets me every time...
I noticed they changed up the Quiznos ad as well... and um... I refuse to admit that those creepy little bastards are starting to grow on me. Nope. ::shakes head:: Not me.
ChinkyGirl
Feb 17, 2004 @ 6:53 am
I read the ebay listing for Jenny's number in a jar, and...I don't get it. Why are people bidding a typed piece of paper in a jar with a giant cork stopper? Is that seriously worth $20? I mean, I realize it's not on the same level of ridiculousness as the number itself being sold for multi-thousands, but...whu? $20 is on my level of affordability, and there are so many damn things you could get for $20 plus shipping...and there's a SECOND guy claiming to also have the number, although he has no picture.
Just a guess, but I'm thinking the seller is just being incredibly stupid and is getting his friends to bid on that crap just to get feedback, or possibly to incite other idiots to bid. Stupider things
have been done on ebay, so I'm not surprised.
I saw it at $150 thousand. Was there a different auction that ended?
If you check out the bid history, you'll see that tons of those people's bids had to be retracted b/c they didn't respond to email, etc. So, we'll never know what it could really end at...wanna take bets? I don't even dare ;)
By the way, I clicked on the "about me" link and the current high bidder for the NY number is a guy who owns a bed & breakfast in Connecticut.
Brilliant.
charlieboo
Feb 17, 2004 @ 8:36 am
I am upset by the new Tropicana ad (I think it's Tropicana) about their "healthier" orange juice.
Eliot, this is from pages back (took the long weekend off). I agree with your assessment of the ad, but what bugs me more is that OJ has to now advertise itself as healthy thanks to that wonderful Atkins diet. Yeah, you can eat a bucket of KFC and a friggin' chalupa wrap, but it's that glass of all-natural orange juice that'll make you fat and unhealthy!
A little common sense please, people!
And regarding the Axe comments: I can never concentrate on the commercials because I always wonder if the product was supposed to be called "Ask" and just got mispronounced!
FfrauleinN
Feb 17, 2004 @ 8:51 am
Those creepy animated snakey cables give me the heebie-jeebies. They're like the vines in Jumanji.
Eep. Never seen that one, but there's a commercial where the cable wire comes to life, becomes this hideous hissing "cable snake" and attacks its owners. No thank you, Dish TV people or whoever the hell you are.
I've never heard "mobile" or "wireless phone" or anything, outside commercial-land.
Neither have I. Actually, "wireless" sounds too much like "cordless," as in a portable landline phone.
JRV
Feb 17, 2004 @ 9:32 am
Here's a great article on Nielsen's "Sweeps" where ad rates are set four times a year. It's worth a look because it gives an overview-- the good, the bad, the ugly-- about TV:
See:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2095577/
TraceyBee
Feb 17, 2004 @ 9:52 am
I'm catching up on my TWoP reading after the weekend, so I just went to the ebay auction for 867-5309 from a few pages back, and its up to $201,000!!!
Who are these people who have that kind of money to spend on a damn phone number!!!
Phone porn services. "Call Jenny, she's hot for you! You know the number!"
I can just see and hear the commercials (oh, hello, topic!) now.
Tornado25
Feb 17, 2004 @ 9:57 am
Phone porn services. "Call Jenny, she's hot for you! You know the number!"
Wow, you're exactly right. I never even thought of it. Which is a prime reason I'm not a phone sex operator, I guess.
Cass4
Feb 17, 2004 @ 10:57 am
I like the Dell spot with the grown-up doing all the kids jobs to make money to buy electronics. It's not great, just a major improvement over all the crap ads Dell has been throwing out over the years.
Ilikegrayarrows
Feb 17, 2004 @ 10:57 am
Normal. Actually, I rarely hear the full "cell phone" anymore. It's usually either "phone", and the "cell" is implied, or "cell", when you want to distinguish it from a landline.
I hear "celly" a lot, but I think you're supposed to spell it "celli." Or, even better, "CeLlI."
Oh, I saw an awful commercial for Pringles Hot And Spicy or something. All these people are breathing all weird because the chips were sooooo spicy, but from the ad, the chips would be more appropreatly named Pringles Hot and Horny. Ick.
Vacationland
Feb 17, 2004 @ 11:35 am
They're taking away the spongemonkeys' song??!? Noooo!!! Just when I'd trained myself not to cringe at the sight of them, and then (*gulp*) actually kind of look forward to hearing their little ditty?
::: sulks away, screeching "...they got a peppah baaaarrrrr!" :::
charlieboo
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:10 pm
I like the Dell spot with the grown-up doing all the kids jobs to make money to buy electronics.
I love this ad just for the face he gives the girl when she comes to babysit!
thinkcwik
Feb 17, 2004 @ 12:52 pm
I'm pretty sure the "Jenny's phone # in a jar" is an Ebay injoke. There was a
ghost in a jar offered one time that caused quite a sensation, and a million other "in a jar" products were born. Imagine people taking a joke like that and running it into the ground. Seriously. (monkey.)
Awww, boo on shortening the spongemonkey spots. Damn Snuggle came on Saturday and the only thing that made it better was the spongemonkeys in the very next commercial. My mutant heroes.
JenEx
Feb 17, 2004 @ 1:06 pm
Awww, the Jumbone commercial. It's cute.
Yeah, I thought so too, until I watched Animal Planet with my stepson all weekend and saw it approximately 17,439 times. It was on during every other commercial break. I STILL have the damn jingle stuck in my head.
Strawberryblonde
Feb 17, 2004 @ 1:10 pm
Should I go one step further and Madonna it into referring to my "mobile", with a long i? No, really, "cell phone": old fogey, retro or normal?
I tend to say "mobile" because I was living in Australia when they first became big, and that's what everyone called them. I didn't realize that there was a different term until I came back to the US, and by then I was already used to saying "mobile". So generally, I either say "mobile" or just "my phone" when I'm talking about it.
Freshly Ground Coffee
Feb 17, 2004 @ 1:58 pm
(I tried to search for this, but the function was disabled. Please don't kill me where I stand!)
Has anyone seen the Nutrigrain ad that claims that eating donuts goes right to your middle?
So these people are going about their office business wearing jumbo donuts on their waists, except for the guy who chose to eat a Nutrigrain bar. He enters a conference room and sees all the mutant donut people sitting around a table and slowly backs out of the room.
Then one guy at the table reaches over and picks at the jelly center of his boss's donut with his finger and TASTES it!
Eew, eew, a thousand times Eew! It looks like he picked a festering wound and tasted it!
Is the hidden message that eating donuts also turns people into cannibals??? Again, Eew!
EONdc
Feb 17, 2004 @ 2:23 pm
Yeah, I've seen that and it is pretty gross. Though the picking at it didn't bring to mind festering wound so much as .... well something a little bit more vulgar.
Bach-us
Feb 17, 2004 @ 2:26 pm
You're safe,
Freshly Ground Coffee. The finger job on the jelly hole was a discussion from far more than
fifteen pages/days ago.
I saw the DOOMED! FedEx commercial and I wanted to thank the posters here for the heads up. I thought the actors in that one were doing more than Shatner. It was as if they each picked their favorite hammy overactor and "did" him.
poster child
Feb 17, 2004 @ 2:35 pm
I also tried to search for this, and don't kill me where I stand fishcakes, but here goes. The Applebee's commercial, with the older couple out on a date, and the guy is too shy to ask the woman out for another date, until the wonderful Applebee's waitress comes over and tells them that she hopes to see them both back soon.
A. I hate that commercial. And,
2. Oops, I thought the actress (the date, not the waitress) was the judge from L&O SVU but it's not. So who is she? I know she looks familiar but I can't think of where else I've seen her.
Cleo256
Feb 17, 2004 @ 2:57 pm
Imagine people taking a joke like that and running it into the ground. Seriously. (monkey.)
Ha!
thinkcwik, you are the magic.
JRV, that's a fascinating read. I had no idea Sweeps was only about selling 25% of the advertising. That's just amazing.
FfrauleinN
Feb 17, 2004 @ 3:32 pm
The finger job on the jelly hole
Hee. Hee-hee. I'm eleven, I know.
europa1057
Feb 17, 2004 @ 3:39 pm
Noooo!! Don't shorten the Quiznos ads! I've finally built up the courage to admit to liking them, and they pull it on me.
Mr Europa and I are very critical of commercials, and neither of us would admit to liking the stupid rat mouse monkey roadkill creatures. We're still all stubborn about it, and when it comes on we stare at the TV in disgust. Then the pepper bar line happens and we both bust out laughing. I can't stand that I like those guys!
chris2
Feb 17, 2004 @ 3:51 pm
* Why is John Schneider dressed like a dork? Is he making extra money doing the lawn work at TV land HQ or teaching shop class?
I can't figure out what kind of pants he's wearing either.
I finally learned what channel you have to watch to see those Enzyte commercials y'all have been talking about -
SpikeTV! They run endlessless on that channel, along with a lot of Marine recruitment ads. The Few, the Proud, the Marines.
The most effective anti-smoking PSA I ever saw aired WAYYYYYY back in the 1970's - let's see if anyone else here remembers it. A guy is driving along the highway trying to open up a new pack of cigarettes and get that first cigarette out, which is always a pain. He finally gives up in frustration and tosses the whole pack out the window. "Kick the habit" was the slogan back then. It's the only one I could ever relate to because I know how maddening it is trying to get that first cigarette out of the pack when you're driving. On the other hand, I could care less about the Big Evil Tobacco companies or any of the heavy-handed propaganda of the Truth ads.
Etaoin Shrdlu
Feb 17, 2004 @ 3:51 pm
There's a new ad for Disneyland that was so cute I stopped the TiVo to watch it twice.
There's this little dog (a Jack Russell, I think) running through Disneyland all by himself.
It shows him getting a hot dog, shaking hands with Mickey, riding the Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion rides, and generally having a a doggy blast.
Cut to a shot of the dog in his doggy bed, asleep and doing that thing where their little feet twitch like they're dreaming about something.
Awwww! I want to see it again!
Bigwheels1971
Feb 17, 2004 @ 4:12 pm
I like the commercial with the Bounty lumberjacks watching a soap opera :)
jennifuh
Feb 17, 2004 @ 4:35 pm
I despise the Jumbone commercial.
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