I thought this was posted already, but I may be thinking of the snopes boards. Dasani was yanked from the shelves in Britain, after it showed higher levels of bromide then legally allowed. I believe bromide is a carcinogin if ingested in larger enough quantities.

My question--Dasani is muncipal water, filtered within the area in which it's sold. It's not piped in from afar. So if Dasani had higher levels of bromide then allowed, what does city water have? Has the city water been tested? What levels of bromide are in it? Is the filtering system Dasani uses inferior compared to the municipal system? That's what I've trying to figure, but those questions have not been asked or answered, from what I've seen.

IIRC, the Dasani had that high level because in Britain, there are levels of calcium the water has to have in order to be sold. We don't have that requirement in America.

I know this isn't going to help, but I swear I just saw a commercial with Sharlene from Another World. The problem is, I don't remember what the commercial was for, lol. Has anyone else seen it? All I remember was that I said, "Damn, Sharlene still looks old."

"Builten"? Has anyone else seen the Volvo dealership ad with a guy talking about building volvos for years. He's in a suit, it's a close-up more or less (think of those ads with the Ford heir)...I swear he said
"I've builten Volvos for 25 years..." Not "I've been building" becaue there's no syllable before "built."

Now that I have actually seen Series 1 of "The Office" I'm perhaps better understanding the current run of office-based Burger King commercials...and I'm horrified. Please tell me these aren't REALLY supposed to be an homage to that series?

There's a commercial on now that I don't understand that I bet I WOULD get if I knew more about the sports and the NCAA. During the basketball tournament there's a lot of commercials with these attractive young athletes talking about themselves, and the tag line is something like "there's about 360,000 student-athletes in the NCAA, and most of us will be going pro in something other than sports."

That's great! I...don't know why I'm supposed to care, though. Am I just thinking too hard, and the point is just to say "hey, sports are good and the NCAA helps kids play sports?" Or is there another buried issue?

Dang, that United "light bulb" commercial is on again. I don't know why United is taking credit for this woman's good idea.

Oh, how I hate the e-bay commercials with the people suddenly bursting into song to explain how to use it. Just weirds me out.

Today's Boondocks is a hilarious parody of a current ad campaign. I feel I should warn anyone unfamilar with Boondocks that it's a very liberal political cartoon. Just so you're not surprised, is all.

Ha! I can't believe the Geico people didn't think of that. With a GWB impersonator.

That's awesome. I didn't see that joke coming at all.

Am I the only one disturbed by the KFC ad that also serves as an ad for Chevrolet's new truck/Beetle thingy? It's stuff like that that makes me worry that we're getting a little too close to the day when there's only one corporation left to sell us everything ...

Thanks, phxchic and TheCustomofLife. I've been following this thread for a long time, but I don't recall having seen anything about Dasani. And...uh, that kinda sucks, because it's my favorite kind of bottled water. I'm probably safer with NYC tap water, I'm guessing.

Best. Political. Cartoon. EVER.

The Dasani is fine here in America. It's not spring water or whatever they're touting, but drinking it won't kill you. Not here, anyway.

I think their point is that the NCAA is an association of college sports, and that all the athletes playing in it are in college. So even though not all of them get to play professional sports, they will still get college degrees. I haven't seen it, but I think it's kind of like a "Stay in School" message.

The problem with Dasani in Britain results from the combination of the calcium they have to add and the purification process they use.

Anyone know why Britain requires calcium be added to bottled water? That seems weird.

And that corporation shall be known as ... WAL-MART!!!

Actually, there's a lot more to it than that. The 64 teams in the Division I Men's College Basketball tourney represents about one-half of one percent of the student athletes who are participating in one of the NCAA's three divisions. For the handful of people we see on our TVs every year at this time there are hundreds of thousands of other student-athletes, who juggle classes, jobs, practice, and games, and for those who are in Division II or Division III, they will either never play in the pros or they're in sports that they can't "go pro" in (like water polo, field hockey, etc.).

Those kids, like the students that work for me (I'm an administrator at a university that is a member of the NCAA's Div. III), play because they love it and because they want to be part of a team, they want to learn leadership skills, and they want to have the experience of competeing in collegiate athletics - and believe me, they won't ever get to play on prime time television.

It's not so much a "stay in school" message, but it's more along the lines of "there's more to being a student-athlete than playing sports".

OK, a question I've been pondering for a while. You know that new Pepsi ad, where there's this guy watching a baseball game while his wife has a baby behind a curtain nearby? Yeah, that stupid one. Anyway, is that the same guy who plays one of the business men in the newest series of IBM commercials? They look very similar to me. And if it is the same actor...why? Is this guy so good that he has to be in two prominent nationally-run ad campaigns at the same time?

Speaking of the same actor in multiple ads, I thought I spotted the H&R Block "Shoebox" commercial lady (the black agent talking about shoeboxes) in at least two other ads for different products, but I don't remember what they are now.

Ah, the Burger King campaign. I always like to figure out the underlying message ad campaigns are sending. In this case, it seems to be, "Eating BK will lead to highly awkward social situations at work." That's certainly persuasive. Anyway, I was really confused by one of the first in that series, where that one geeky guy starts babbling about being "The Champion" and dancing around. And the rest of them sullenly clap for him instead of doing what I would do, which would be to say, "Champion??? What the FUCK are you talking about?" Because I don't get it. What the fuck IS he talking about?

Finally, for those of you in the Austin area: I wish Leif Johnson of Leif Johnson Ford would die and go to hell and take his stupid ads with him. (I love the Chapman Motors girls though.)

Yes it is the same guy -- Richard Speight, he also played Skip Muck in Band of Brothers. He is pretty damn good but I would watch the BoB guys read the phone book.

This commercial is an oldie but a baddie: for anybody who has ever lived in Maine: Maine Pine Log Homes. The man in that commercial (I have no idea if he owns Maine Pine Log Homes or if he's just the spokesperson) has the most nasal, awful voice ever imaginable. Add a little bit of Down East accent, repeat the phrase "Maine Pine Log Homes!" loudly several times in the commercial, and voila! The most annoying commercial in my memory. I was talking to my dad yesterday and I heard that commercial playing on his television- I made him go shut it off.

Count me in on the BK Hate Train. To me, the ads seem like yet another entry into the most baffling advertising trend: "Our customers are pathetic idiot losers. We mock you. Buy our product." I. Don't. Get. It. It's gotten so widespread that I'm beginning to suspect it's being taught in Advertising School. It's one thing to say, hey, you've got problems, it's kinda funny, but our product will make your life less loserly. But now the message is, you've got problems, use our product while we look on you with contempt. Oh, yeah, I'm there. Don't laugh with me, Madison Avenue, laugh at me. And take my money, too. Feh.

yep, it's the same guy. The other guy who's on pretty much every commercial is the weird looking black guy with the bad afro (McDonald's Tiny Umbrella commercial, Zima, Best Buy...)

and on the BK Sniffing the Wrapper commercial, I'm surprised no one's mentioned the act of a guy sniffing a woman's panties. That has to be the idea behind it.

and it still blows.

I saw a really creepy PSA tonight. These kids were out walking on the beach and they came across a fat belly buried in the sand. They poked at it with a stick and it jiggled. Then they said something like, "someone must have lost this walking on the beach." Ewwwwwww!!!

That sounds like a commercial I saw where a guy brings these two weird lumps of flesh to a guy at a desk. He says, "I found these in the stairwell" or something. The desk guy says okay and logs this in some kind of lost and found register. Then the finder guy asks, "What are they?" Desk guy answers, "They're love handles. Lots of people lose them while taking the stairs instead of the elevator." That really creeped me out. What the heck is that ad for? That people exercise more? Is it for a gym or something?

WORD! I actually think the whole homage to The Office thing was just an assumption on the part of the author of the article (said article was posted here awhile ago about the BK commercials).

Cress, it is a government PSA. Smallstep.gov.

ETA you can view the ads at the above web address. If you dare. That is the stuff nightmares are made of. *shudder*

Here's a little something for the spongmonkey lovers and/or Bush haters out there (scroll down to the second cartoon):
http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/TVads2004/3.asp

So much funny. I've been reading this thread for well over an hour and I've been laughing so hard I hurt. And I read back for well over 15 days, but I have to ask, though I fear to: where the Hell did the glittery hoo-hoo come from?

And I have to extend some love for the Halfbakery. Very few of the ideas therein are as idiotic as the "curse armband," and many are truly laugh-till-it-hurts-then-offer-money-to-get-it-patented brilliant.

I know it happens all the time, but there are two ads that are currently bugging me because of the inappropriate use of a song.

One ad is for Fidelity Investements that uses Blondie's Call Me. Considering that the song is about a gigolo, are we to assume that Fidelity offers services other than financial investing?

The second is Gatorade's use of James Brown's Sex Machine. I know they used it for the refrain 'get up!' as athletes bounced back from adversity, but James is singing about something else getting up and I keep thinking about Gatorade as the poor man's Encyte whenever I hear that ad.

That Boondocks cartoon (and the spongmonkeys) are some of the funniest things I have ever seen!


Jon Stewart showed this on the Daily Show Thursday. He quipped that he gets the idea that they don't solve a lot of murders in that town.

Tabbyclaw, I'm afraid I'm mostly to blame for glittery hoo-hoos. An interesting meld of tampons and glitter deodorant and a dropped purse, IIRC.

Basically...

That's probably one of the more realistic commercials out there, I could somewhat relate to that one. Even though I was tired of it being played during every.single.commercial break during World Series of Poker but a good commericial nonetheless.

My problem with the "Are you sniffing my wrapper?" commercial is that the way she enunciates the question, it's like she's saying something somewhat annnoying, but usual. Like "Are you stealing my paperclips?" When, in reality, she should be saying "Are you sniffing my wrapper?!?"

I love the NCAA sports ads - the split screen is a nice touch. But I'm sad they're not showing the curly-haired swimmer/sociology major from last year. She seemed nice and my roommate and I wanted to be friends with her. Whatever, I know we're weird. Right now, I'm liking the basketball player/psych major and last shot/first day on the job ads.

I hate the Miller Lite parody of the Viagra commercial. It was entertaining the first 3 times I saw it - 400 more, not so much.

I know the Empire Carpet ads were covered pages and pages back, but doesn't that mean it's time for a revival? I remember the Empire Carpets discussion, but I don't recall this aspect of this particular one being discussed, and even if it was, I (a pregnant woman married to a very smart man) saw it over the weekend, and it really got up my butt.

I hate the one where the very pregnant wife says to her husband, "Honey, it's time..." and then, when he starts frantically running around looking for the phone or for something to do, she condescendingly says, "To get new carpet," and gives him a look like, "You stupid-head, can't you tell the difference between labor and the need for new carpet?"

You know, because when a very pregnant woman is sitting quietly on the sofa and then suddenly says, "Honey, it's time..." the first thing I think about is the burning need for carpet, and not that "Honey, it's time" is the time-honored way pregnant wives tell their husbands to get a move on and take them to the hospital.

The fact that the wife is so snotty about her lame husband's concern for her, her contempt for the fact that he isn't thinking "Carpet First!" is the other thing that gets me.

I really abhor the trend in advertising of treating men like they shouldn't be let out of the house without their helmets. You know, "Me man. Me too stupid to do laundry." Or "Me man. [drool] Me think of pregnant wife instead of carpet. Duh-huh." In general, I think it's a bad idea to treat any of your demographic as if the members of it are all mouthbreathers (something that the advertising industry seems to do in spades). I'm not exactly from the "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" school myself, but really, is it wise to insult the people you'd like to buy your products? Or the spouses of the people you'd like to buy your products?

Was that the idea behind the McDonald's ad which featured the guy sniffing his wife after doing her laundry with a cheseburger wrapper instead of a fabric softener sheet?

The first real "insult the customer" commercial I remember was for an x-box Mortal Kombat-type game, with two nerds drooling over one of the female fighters. It was so obvious the company was saying "This is how we see our customers. Please buy our stuff!"

That reminds me of a Cascade/Dawn commercial. It's for some plastic thing that you put into the dishwasher. The ad has the man staring at the product like it's the most amazing thing he's ever seen. Like a caveman discovering fire. And then the wife comes over all condescending and tells him to just put the thingy in the dishwasher and the dishes will come out all clean and sparkly. She's talking to him like a two year old. Bitch!

What gets me is that we'd never see the opposite on a commercial. A woman staring at a lawnmower (or some other "man" product) and the man talking down to her explaining how to use it.

Except the man who explains to his wife that the vehicle is better not because of the "DVD" (not the "DVD player") but because of the hemi. Though that still winds up making the man look like a dumbass.

But yeah. Women everywhere (probably myself included) would be horribly offended if there were commercials that offered up a treatment of women similar to the way men are portrayed, and there would be, I reckon, a very ugly backlash. Sometimes I feel sorry for men - they're not allowed to defend themselves without being smacked down. No wonder that guy seems so happy when he's singing "Man, I Feel Like a Woman."

No hate yet for the "SUNDAY! SUNDAY, SUNDAAAAAY!!!!" Hemi ads? Or did I miss it?

I finally saw the Swoops ad yesterday. Approximately a thousand times. Hate it with the Fire Of A Thousand Nuns.

You make it sound like this is a bad thing. (Ahem). Sorry, moving on. Back to topic, I do like the Hartford ads, because to me, they seem realistic--the most recent one is at the ballpark and "when you retire, do you want to be sitting in the upper deck or the box seats" Hmm, good point.


Lingo, I know for sure she was in the VISA ad at Christmas, where they had a contest offering a personal assistant (husband asks "what are you doing today" and she replies "shopping for my parents, your parents, walk the dog, re-roof the house, mow the lawn, shovel the driveway and pinpoint Osama bin Laden's current location before noon"). Not sure if I know what other ad she was in.


WORD! Dear advertisers: I am not married, nor do I have a girlfriend. Therefore, I must not only have mastery of ordinary manly duties like mowing the lawn, I must also be able to operate a wash machine, dryer and vacuum and be able to properly clean a bathroom before it looks like a 6th grade science project. I've made it this far, so I'm pretty sure I've got it down. Thanks. (The bathroom thing reminds me of a Seinfeld ep where Elaine said she broke up with a guy who didn't clean his bathroom. Mold everywhere! Condos were going for a million near the drain!

This is a local ad, so I apologize in advance to those outside the Chicagoland area. There's this crazy furniture ad with a man and a woman, and the man's head is always covered by a cartoon of whatever holiday is nearest: Geoge Washington was last month and a leprechaun was this month. They always start and end with "Itasca, Itasca. It rhymes with Alaska!" I hate them! What the hell store is this?

Big fat major Words to Shelwood, puckish, Tornado25, and everyone else who is so tired of commercials that show contempt to the very people they're supposed to be appealing to! It's like being back in junior high and listening to the top clique mock their sycophantic hangers-on.

Speaking as just one (dirty old) lady, I'd love it if water polo went pro. And was then broadcast. I'd watching water polo every day, all day long. drool

moppet, I'm right there with you. I'd gladly be the "color (wo)man" for a 24-hour water polo channel. That sport is both delightful and delicious!

New commercial I saw yesterday. It was for MLB 2004 or some such video game. But it had Jason Giambi (Yankees first baseman) walking to his car in an underground garage, and when he clicks it open, Tracy Morgan gets into the passenger seat. He's wearing that funny getup with the small sweatshirt, and he's shouting at Giambi. The funniest thing to me is Giambi's face the whole time. He has this stunned look the entire time.

Blink quick at the start of the "Do the Hustle" Old Navy commercial, and you'll miss Weezie! Although, I must admit we do see shots of her (from behind?) later on out on the dance floor.

Is/are Viactiv chocolate potato chips? Candy? Or an actual diet supplement? For calcium, they say. Is it possible to OD on calcium, because I know I couldn't stop with just one!

Man, if that ON chick is saying "Mix it up ,Miami", then she's totally putting the emphasis on IT. Makes sense to me to say, "Mix it UP, Miami" not Mix IT up, Miami'. Dumb ho.

Also, too much calcium can cause kidney stones, I think. My good friend's sister had to go to the hospital for kidney stones and they told her it was because of too much calcium--she ate feta cheese almost every day for months.

I generally agree with you, screamapiller, but I also have a very cynical side that says those ads are just damage control in the wake of all the college athletics scandals that have been surfacing of late. While I do agree with the overall message about the value of college athletics, I can also interpret that ad as saying, "Look, there's more to the NCAA than big ol' cash cow and a lot of sleazy shit goin' on! Honest!"

I am not so much as cynical as practical in my views toward the NCAA, so I am hardly a sympathizer in this regard. However, this ad (perhaps with different athletes) has been around before, so it's nothing new and probably not directly in response to the scandals. (What I want to know is why I didn't get strippers went I went on my campus tour! Oh wait, because my attendance costs the taxpayers money and the tailback running a 4.3 40 makes the athletic department tons. My bad.)

That said, the NCAA would do itself well to take note that for all the "happy happy not all our student athletes will grow up to be self-indulgent, arrogant, gang banger lookalikes in Escalades" image it wants to portray, it is making itself rich off the talent of these supposed students. That's the sad part. They make no money off the water polo and field hockey, but tons of it off the men's basketball and football. These athletes are not students. Except Matt Birk. He went to Harvard. The United Way told me so.

Jamoche, I think it's because we have bad teeth. (that favourite old stereotype) I think fluoride is also added to the water.

Topic, hmmm. We have these "talk to Frank" ads over here, that I think are pretty similar to your PSAs. The only one I like is where there are swimmers standing ready to dive in and at the end of the line there is one guy completely naked, with only pixels covering his modesty. There's probably a voiceover telling us the effects of drugs but I kinda zoned out on that.

Please, can someone tell me who the woman parasailing in this commercial is? I can place everyone else, but this is making me crazy. I obviously am watching way too much TLC...

Rosario, Karen's maid from Will and Grace.

Thank you- it's been bugging me for days.