Wow! To me it is totally obvious they are making fun of those letters, because the over-dramatic readings of the actors emphasize all of the dorkiness and child-like phrasing. Also, not in the Samuel Jackson one, but the other one, at the very end of the commercial, the actor (Why can't I remember who that is? I just saw it last night!) makes a snarky off-the-cuff comment to the effect of, "Gee, Mr. X, I'll have to have you write my resume..." or some such sentiment, followed by an amused chuckle and the guffaws of the crew or whoever is there out of the shot.

Well now it sounds like I'm outraged and ranting in self-righteous indignation at the mistreatment of poor letter writers everywhere. When in all actuality, I TOTALLY make fun of poor letter writers, in fact poor writers of all sorts, all the time! It's practically my job.

I just thought it was a stupid ad campaign.

That is all. Carry on.

Diet Lime Coke

[Johnny Carson] I did not know that. [/JC] I learned something today. And word to whomever upthread said that Diet Lemon Coke tastes more like Lemon Pledge. I've been saying this since the beginning, but people just look at me like I'm crazy. I hope the lime version is better than the lemon.



They have a similar Coke tasting room at Disney World, and I tricked my family into drinking the Beverly (Italian version). I know. Bad Quag! The Beverly was nasty like cough syrup can be nasty, but not that bad.

I want to add my hate to the Smug Small SUV Family. The girl who asked, "Dad, isn't it Saturday?" is so very smug that I want to backhand slap her. I also hate the follow-up ad where all SUVs, except for the Smug Family's SUV, all look like huge bulldozers. Whatevah.

Although I seriously covet DirecTV with TiVo, I hate one of their ads. It's the one where at the end, the dish is spinning around with remotes move around on top of DirecTV boxes. The remotes squick me the hell out. They look more like dancing penii than remotes. They just look gross. Just me?

*crickets*

I thought so.

The BEVERLY!!! We used to "initiate" the new Epcot cast members by making them drink that shit! Then we made snowballs out of the faux-snow that collected near the entrance and stuffed them down their pants. Good times....

I agree that the Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture DVD commercials are gross, but it is one fun game! Mom gave it to me for Bagel and I loved it!

I also liked the Christina Aguilera-Bat mitzvah ad on MTV. I could have sworn I posted so a few days ago....

Andy Garcia is the actor. And I thought he meant it in a good way--as in, "you are so complimentary of something like satellite TV, I ought to have you write my next review so it makes my movie sound great, too."
Perhaps I am simply living in an alternate universe (northern WI can be a little strange) and that explain why we are interpreting these ads totally differently. BTW, I think the Samuel L Jackson ad you are referring to is the Laurence Fishbourne one. Unless I missed SLJ. LF is the "Jumpin' Jehosephat (I know this is misspelled, sorry)" one.
I want DirecTV. Damn you, Dish Network for not having Green Bay locals.

It is in fact Laurence Fishburne, and I interpreted Andy Garcia's "review" comment the same way you did, Tornado25.

Man! I just must be on edge, or something. Cause I totally thought those ads were bitchy (in a way that was funny to me, but nevertheless...)

I guess I get what DirecTV was trying to do, now that I see your interpretation.

But I think I have to persist in reading a snarky subtext, just for my own amusement. Join me, anyone?

For a company that does insult its customers, I give you the new Comedy Central campaign that hails its viewers as stupid, drunk, and slutty, among other things.

Vermicious Knid, I think I'm a little bit in love with CBS' vice-president from that article about ads that they won't run during the Super Bowl. His response to the PETA representative's charge that she's seen ads against drunk driving and smoking during the Super Bowl:

You can actually hear his eyes rolling at this moron.

Re: Lime coke, I tried it this weekend. Made me wish I had some 151 rum to splash in it. Okay, but I'm not a coke person.

On Food Network this Saturday they will air a show called Super Sales Pitches that talks about effective sale pitches past and present.

Also in tvguide's The Robins Report there this little factoid:
In the 80's for every 3 hours of prime time there was 28.5 minutes of commercials, in the 90's 38 minutes of commercials and in the 2000's a whopping 52 minutes.

No wonder we spend so much time talking about commercials.

I don't get this either. Subway was so itchin' to jump on the Atkin bandwagon they are basically trashing the rest of their line. Why?

Kind of like the Drano Gel commercials that slam the watery drain cleaners as being useless, thus admitting that all previous versions of Drano were useless.

The "I'm Lovin' It" commercial I see incessantly is the one with granny swiping her card. It bugs to no end. The rapper is gangsta-rapping to the effect of "So I'm at my McDonalds and ole' lady gets in front of me and I'm waitin' and waitin' . . ." as if the middle aged, suburban white guy behind her is the one doing the rap. Uh, don't think so.

Wow! That's harsh. I mean, we're not stupid! ;)

It's unfortunately, in my view, that PETA has chosen to taken a rather "right-wing wacko" approach to their positions. It makes it very difficult to take them seriously when this sort of thing goes on. I recall a campaign a while back where they encouraged people to "drink beer, not milk". Now aside from the sheer idiocy of such a statement, nothing is ever going to make me think drinking milk is somehow the equivalent of eating meat (in terms of cruelty to cows).

"Right wing"? I totally agree about PETA having long lost any shred of credibility with these stupid stunts, though.

I noticed the wilderbeast-stalking kitty ad is back in circulation. Yay!

This was sort of a joke with the "right wing wacko" thing. I didn't mean to offend any poster's political views...and I realize they are not "right wing"--far from it. But, they are wackos.

I noticed the wilderbeast-stalking kitty ad is back in circulation. Yay!

That is, without a doubt, my favorite commercial of the last 5 years. Well, that one, and the Zyrtec commercial with the gray cat that looks just like one of mine! (Although the cat on TV is much better behaved than my Jack!)

I saw it as making fun of hammy, overdone, method-maniacs. I've noticed that the actors who struck me as the biggest divas and drama queens in television (Adrian Paul, James Marsters, Maurice Benard, that woman who was on Fresh Aire on Friday, etc.) have been all about The Method.

Is there no funny nickname for Lime Coke or Diet Lime Coke yet? I still call the lemon variety Lemon Pledge.

I saw the kitty in the sound booth ad for Meow Mix. That cracked me up, especially the look on the cat's face when it started coughing. It was much funnier than my guys right before they present me with a hairball.

Are there now 2 other variations of this, because i swear I've seen kitty chsing a few other animals in the past few days.

Well, she's asking because everyone else is dressed to go to work. But no, I don't get the point of the entire ad either.

The SVU on USA ad bugs me. Whats-his-name who plays Stabler "You never know quite what you're going to get yourself into." Why, didn't you read the script? I really hate his character, so maybe that's why this ad bothers me so much. Bring on Munch and Fin!

Hee! It's not as bad as Cap'n Cragen's "We shine a light in a very dark place." WTF does that even mean? And of course, nothing can ever be as bad as Elisabeth Rohm's hand-flipping "That's Life!" spot on TNT. "You only have this hour, with, like, the duh-DUMS!" You're duh-dum, honey. Shut up.

I've found that quote rather disgusting, considering they deal with sexual crimes. I don't need to know literally what they do.

"Hey, good, but let's try that again. By the way, do you know what a 'metaphor' is?"

Thanks for reminding me (too!) that I hate this ad. You know, I have to work OT this Saturday, and I don't even have a car payment. There's just so much work to do that it can't get done in the work week. Thankfully, this is temporary, and I don't have to wear a tie! But not everyone works 9-5 M-F; the first 10 years I spent at my job required me to work weekends. So shut it, brat.

Okay, a Truth ad got to me. The gang o' Truth tellers are roving around, talking to people on the street about people they know who've been affected by cigarette smoking, and the people they chose to include in the ad had some effective stories. They photograph them with an orange cardboard dot that the person holds, then affix the photo to a map. In the final scene, a young man's dot is connected to an older woman's with yarn; she's his aunt and she's waiting for a lung transplant. The reason I like these is because they seem to put the ball in the smoker's court rather than go after the tobacco industry. My take is that rather than ask a corporation or industry to stop producing its profitable product (which won't happen, imo,) they are asking smokers to consider their families before they light up, and it's not that heavy-handed to me. I've definitely seen worse, anyway!

Puds38, there's one with wildebeast and one with zebras, that I've seen...

About the Sprint girl who Coolio-braids her entire family (dog included) while she talks their ear off: wouldn't it be better if her family taught her how to, I don't know, shut up and listen to others rather than slap a cell phone in her hand and give her permission to bother others with her non-stop chatter once the nighttime minute rate kicks in. Ugh, just seeing an entire family catering to an obnoxious brat like that makes my blood boil.

Have you guys paid attention to the monster in the closet in the Sprint cameraphone commerical? The eyeball on that thing is disgusting.

I saw the Snuggle/swimsuit lady commercial tonight. When the camera hits the bear for the first time, I let out a yelp. That is scary.. totally scary.

But, I'll end on a positive note. The new Skittles commerical with the flying fish was sort of cute. The I want a picture of the blowfish for my computer background.

From 6 pages ago



That? Still sends me into a bad case of the giggles. Dam you Custom! :)

Anyways, can I officially hate Dr. Pepper for having the great Smokey Robinson (since I am bizarely forgetful...thanks ya'll below) play second fiddle to B2K?!?! Seriously, that commerical almost pissed me off more than AI tonight (and since that was suckage at it's finest, that's a hard thing to do)

Why doesn't a member of the family slap a regular phone into that girl's hand? Why does she need a cell phone to talk to her friends? Does this family not have a regular phone? Or is that unheard of these days?

I do not get this commercial. The man sees the monster in the closet, and takes a picture of it... for what purpose? To send it to his mother? It sounds like he's the only one who knows what this supposed monster looks like. I... I just don't get it.

Saw an ad for the Sundance film festival a week ago. It was Laurence Fishburne dragging Samuel L. Jackson on the stage and saying something like "I'm Laurence Fishburne and this is Samuel L. Jackson. Please don't make that mistake again!"

Funny as hell.

The Sprint Monster is the Boogeyman. He does exist! See, this blurred, off-color cell phone photo is proof!

That blob behind him? Bigfoot.


Lionel Richie? I thought that was Smokey Robinson. If it's Lionel, he has not aged well. Or does B2K (whom I've never heard of till the commercial) rate as popular enough to warrant two ads?

I finally saw the Tampax in a boat ad. Words fail me.

That ain't Lionel Richie. It's Smokey Robinson. Who is to Lionel Richie as the Temptations are to B2K, so you should actually hate the commercial more now!

Agh! How the hell did I confuse Lionel with Smokey? Eh, I'll just blame it on B2K for pissing me off.

I don't get why the Sprint monster doesn't care that the guy is taking his picture. Shouldn't he be a little annoyed or something? I thought he didn't want people to know he existed.

Yeah, and that's only one reason why Boogeyman is not as funny as Big Foot. Another is that Big Foot does that disturbing and hilarious hip wiggle while taunting the guy with the camera phone.

You know, I wondered the same thing. First, I thought he figured the guy couldn't figure out the phone, so he was ok, but when Sprint guy showed up, if I were boogeyman, I'd be freaked. So then I thought, "well maybe boogeyman is just slow and doesn't know Sprint phones are so great". Which is wrong, because boogeyman had obviously succeeded all these years without being caught, so he must be pretty with it, right? You don't get to be an icon by being stupid, right? Perhaps I overanalyzed the ad? No, I pretty sure that's not it.

I love the new Oreos commercial with the man and his grandson sitting at the kitchen table dunking their cookies in the milk. I fell out my chair laughing when I saw the end of the commercial...the boy smiles showing his lack of two front teeth, then gramps smiles back with just gums.

I hate all low carb commercials, but have to make an exception for the new Planters commercial. I mean, how often do you get to see Mr. Peanut get his groove on to the Bay City Rollers?

Tornado25, I totally agree! I absolutely do not get this ad at all. As good as the old Sprint ads were (showing how unclear voices can sound), that's how bad the new ones are (showing how much you need a camera phone). First Uncle Pillsbury and now this one.

Good thing they're still using my commercial boyfriend as their spokesperson or I'd have to turn on 'em!

That commercial is one of many that serve as birth control in my house.

Why are they allowing her to braid their hair? ITA with whoever pointed out that if they're going to cater to her, they could do that with a regular phone. Or does this kid have lots of long-distance friends? What a bunch of push-overs.

Hee. That never gets old. I kind of like when Meloni says, "You never know quite what you're gonna get yourself into," because it sounds like he literally did not get a chance to look at the script.

Correct me if I'm wrong. Is the barefoot woman flipping out over her pre-certified used (I think) Honda one of the "crotch-rot healin' GEWD!" yogurt ladies?

Oh, jennifuh, marry me!!!
Mr. Peanut is rockin' out, allright.
There's a commercial for aerosol whipped cream where Sensei Grandpa is teaching young Grasshopper how to spray whipped cream into his dessert, and he messes up, really bad. Not the cutest, but not the most annoying.
I have been seeing the Krystal booty-smack commercial nonstop during my many, many hours of television viewing. Ugh!

My wife and I like this one. It helps that we have a 6 1/2 year old daughter that will motor-mouth almost that much when she's feeling giddy.

First of all, my take on the commercial is that this isn't her immediate family. It's her grandparents, various cousins and their pets that she is braiding and jabbering to, and indulging a grandchild is what grandparents do. The grandparents are waiting 'til 9 to call her parents so she can blab to them instead. And they're using a cell-phone because it's a long distance call and no one that has a cell phone contract pays to make long distance calls on their regular phone when they have free long distance minutes left on their cell phone. Her real Mom and Dad are enjoying a welcome relief from daughter dearest while she visits grandpa and grandma.

Seriously [monkey], shouldn't that girl be in bed by 9 p.m.?

It is, until they drop salt water fish into a fresh water fountain. The poor fish are going to explode! (Or die from the chlorine, etc, etc, etc.)

Did I see Khrystine (?) Haaje in an ad? The redhead from Head of the Class? If that is her she looks amazing now.

Yeah, that's her. Colds are mean.

I finally saw the Mitsubishi Galant commericial with the people on the street and sidewalks waving to the car. And all of a sudden, you see this little boy, who's seated in the backseat waving to the people. Aw, so cute.

Oh, the uncontrollable laughter!



If you're a real doctor, DoctorNeon, I'll consider it. :-)

Can I just say I'm looking forward to the Superbowl? For the ads? The last two years have failed to impress me, but for a few shining spots, so they'd better bring it this year. Prediction: lots of cute/funny animals and kids, stupid guys, and (possibly) toilet humor. Duh.

Don't forget the obligatory Pepsi super-commercial. Apparetly the Beyonce-Britney-etc one is only going to air in Europe. I've never made a secret that I want Crystal Pepsi to come back, Van Halen commercials and all.

"Right! Now! Hey!" ... oh, sorry; flashback.

Are we getting a new Cedric The Entertainer commercial?

Mr. Peanut rocking out to the Bay City Rollers? I love the ad just for the music. Yep. I loved BCR back in the day...