[Windswept]

Originally Posted by Bryson Has anyone else seen the ridiculous Viagra "language" ads? Example Don't you find them irritating? And does Viagra really need advertising? Please - I'm pretty sure every guy with a droopy penis knows what to ask the Doc for...

I was in a drive-thru pharmacy lane at Walgreen's once, late one Saturday afternoon, when an expensive convertible with the top down pulled up in the lane right in front of the drive-thru window.

The guy's Viagra prescription wasn't ready yet, and he was furious! He kept pointing out that he was a doctor, and how dare he be inconvenienced in this way (my words, but his attitude). He was middle-aged, and obviously all dressed up and ready for a hot Saturday night date.

The whole thing was kind of embarrassing to watch and hear. But I think I cupped my ear so I could hear better. haha

[Banana]

Bryson,

Reading your post without clicking the link made me think "The doctors must be really getting annoyed with guys miscalling Vigara for Vagina so they probably wanted to make it clear."

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Bryson Has anyone else seen the ridiculous Viagra "language" ads? Example Don't you find them irritating? And does Viagra really need advertising? Please - I'm pretty sure every guy with a droopy penis knows what to ask the Doc for...

That might be the most idiotic commercial I've seen in a long time (and that's really saying something).



I don't like any of those wang stiffener product commercials...Viagra, Levitra or Cialis. They try to be so real and, yet, coy at the same time. Something about them - how they're filmed, the actors in them, the music, the lighting, etc. - just bugs me. But it's a huge, growing business.











I swear I didn't realize the double-meaning of that until after I typed it...I decided to leave it.

[psmith2.0]

Didn't need to start a new thread, so forgive the bump...

I just saw a new one of those "middle-aged men sitting around and singing about their hard-ons for no apparent reason" spots for Viagra.

Instead of a roadside juke-joint like the previous commerical featured, this one was set in a recording studio. And they've "country-fied" it, with appropriate amounts of denim, flannel, stetsons and trucker hats (always the sign that some out-of-touch Hollywood twat is doing the casting or wardrobe because the only people who wear those hats are wise-ass twentysomethings, trying to be ironic or hip). No self-respecting redneck or trucker has worn a hat like that since about 1978...even they think they look stupid.

Anyway, so there are about five or so guys sitting around, singing that "Viva Viagra" song, with bluegrass instruments (acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and dobro), with two other smiling, understanding guys in the control room ("hey, let's overdub that line about 'steel-driving hammer' one more time, guys!').

Personally, I'm waiting for the rocking one (the same group of 40- and 50-something guys in leopard print pants and pointy guitars), or, even better, the hip-hop take on the subject. Because, as you know, rap doesn't get any better than when it's done by 52-year-old white guys with droopy peckers.

"Yo, yo I take a blue pill...so I can gets a new thrill, Moto say it's ten o' clock, my dick's like solid rock...and my bitch got her a new toy, fo' inches of pure joy...Viva Viagra...what what?".

Can't. Wait.

[Windswept]

There's a commercial (probably on HGTV) with a guy who bounces a nail on the flat side of a hammerhead, and then he takes a big swing, hits the nail in mid-air, and slams it through the wall, or a clock, or something.

Pretty cool commercial, mainly because it's so different. I think it advertises the DIY network.

Has anyone else seen it?

[MBHockey]

I haven't looked through the rest of the thread, but this is without a doubt THE most annoying commercial I have ever seen. It was on TV all the time in upstate NY during college:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uCpaW77XR2I

There were such priceless moments when you would see someone watch this commercial for the very first time.

[psmith2.0]

Those are still on, and they've even got some new ones for joint pain and so forth. Same low-grade production values and annoying voiceover (like those 1980's Ronco slicer/dicer things, shot on tape and with awful type graphics).



Some of the new ones even acknowledge they're annoying pains-in-the-butt, with a guy walking into frame to interrupt the voiceover and saying something like "I know our commercials are annoying, but this stuff works!".

I doubt it.

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Windswept There's a commercial (probably on HGTV) with a guy who bounces a nail on the flat side of a hammerhead, and then he takes a big swing, hits the nail in mid-air, and slams it through the wall, or a clock, or something. Pretty cool commercial, mainly because it's so different. I think it advertises the DIY network. Has anyone else seen it?

Are you sure that's not yet another Viagra/Cialis/Levitra spot?



You can understand why I might be wondering...

"Drive that steel nail home, daddy...hard and deep! And don't pull it out unless you've gone in at a weird angle and bent it...".

[MBHockey]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Those are still on, and they've even got some new ones for joint pain and so forth. Same low-grade production values and annoying voiceover (like those 1980's Ronco slicer/dicer things, shot on tape and with awful type graphics). Some of the new ones even acknowledge they're annoying pains-in-the-butt, with a guy walking into frame to interrupt the voiceover and saying something like "I know our commercials are annoying, but this stuff works!". I doubt it.

HAHA Yeah! The african-american guy comes on the screen and goes, "Head-on...I HATE your commercials but your product WORKS"... :serious glare:

hahaha hysterical.

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Are you sure that's not yet another Viagra/Cialis/Levitra spot? You can understand why I might be wondering... "Drive that steel nail home, daddy...hard and deep! And don't pull it out unless you've gone in at a weird angle and bent it...".

Getting a little carried away there, aren'tcha, Paul?

Well, I saw it again, and he bounces the nail on the rounded head of the hammer, not on the flat side. So that's even harder to do. But when he swings and slams it into the wall... Holy moly.

Hmm. I don't think he's wearing a shirt. Well, maybe he is. I can't remember.

Anyway, NO, it's not a Viagra or Cialis commercial, Paul. It's on the HGTV network, advertising itself, I guess.

OH, I saw a funny commercial last night. It shows a bunch of balloons at a high school reunion party, and they all bounce around, filled with water.

They are supposed to be... *bladders* - human bladders, filled with liquid. They even have bladders playing in a band, or rather, colorful balloons, filled with water, playing in a band up on stage.

I can't remember the name of the product, but it works on tightening muscles and preventing 'accidents'. It's just funny.

It took me a while to figure out what the heck was going on, and then I saw a sign that said, high school reunion Class of '68. So, then I figured it out.

[psmith2.0]

I'm getting really tired, in general, of all the prescription medicine spots. They're on constantly, for every little thing imaginable. And you can tell one the minute it starts, too. There's just this look/style to them (if you see a commercial start and it's a group of guys of every ethnic background you can think of, and they're playing backgammon or roller blading together (and laughing way too much for the activity at hand), you can bet your last dollar you're about to see something for some sort of ailment or condition...saggy wangs, cholesterol, joint aches, etc.

And if you see a bunch of women sitting around in soft focus and tinkly piano music, get ready for something involving twitching legs or vaginal allergies.

Good grief. I have to wonder how many people see these things on TV, and the next time they get an itch on their hand or neck, they're "asking their doctor about" whatever product they saw a commercial for that addresses that?



I think we make ourselves sick. Or, rather, we do enough at-home, TV-based, half-assed diagnoses that we stroll into our doctor's offices practically writing our own prescriptions at this point. I think some people see these spots and are convinced "that's what I got! Holy crap, I need some Medifloxilfen CR!"



I'm telling you...25-30 years from now, there's gonna be a reckoning. If the cell phones don't get us by frying the shit out of our medulla zenyatta mondattas, we're going to medicate ourselves into oblivion (some folks are already there, unfortunately). We'll be able to look back and pinpoint this particular timeframe..."yep, that's when we really ramped it up to the next level...kids, babies, old people, middle-aged folks, teens...everyone was on prescription medication for every damn thing imaginable. Did it fix the ailment? No, it just treated the symptoms and introduced 8-12 side effects and other conditions that were 5x worse than the initial 'runny nose and itchy eyes'".

Our legacy. I feel a huge "I told you so" moment coming on in a few decades...

[scratt]

Two things on that....

I am convinced that Erectile Disfunction is going to rise simply because if you keep telling people 100 times a day in their inbox that this is such a widespread problem them you may start believing it.. I wear a tin foil hat when checking email and can report that my 'little friend' is just fine and dandy right now thanks very much.

The background levels of prescription drugs in Western drinking water supplies are a huge concern. People are going to slowly get more and more dependent on these 'background levels' of drugs and become less and less able to fight disease themselves naturally. People should eat more mud, and get colds from time to time and let them run their course...

We are definitely medicating and Spamming ourselves into extinction!

[psmith2.0]

I think if you hear enough talk about erectile dysfunction - and then you're in bed with your s.o. and you start to think about this or that - performance, am I measuring up, am I as hard as I was 10-15 years ago, etc. - yeah, it's got an effect.

I did a thread about this a while back, but we're in a dick-obsessed period of history right now. You turn on your TV after 1:00am, and half the infomercials are boner pills and "size enhancers". Then in the daytime, you've got the non-stop onslaught of ED meds.

I've thought more about my own dick in the past 2-3 years than I ever have. And I'm not flippant with its use (I'm no Eliot Spitzer). But damn...

I'd like to declare a cease-fire on the wang talk. Just for a year or two. Let us get back to a time when it wasn't constantly shoved in our face (so to speak).



As for the other thing - overmedication and presciption drug abuse/reliance - I know people in town - friends of friends, and the like - who have kids, and they are so medicated and sheltered that I sometimes wonder "holy crap, if this kid skins his knee on a rock, he'll die...he's never learned to deal with anything." Just pumped full of stuff, from such an early age. That becomes your life, following intake schedules and refills.

We're a very pill-centric culture. We fancy ourselves as too busy (or important) to take a long, hard and real look at anything...it's all surface. So, with a Double Whopper Xtreme in one hand and a heart/cholesterol pill in the other, we zip down the freeways, straddling two lanes and talking on our cell phones about nothing, 24/7/365.

"I ain't got time for any real solutions or fixes, dammit...just write me a prescription and give me a pill for it!"



We almost don't deserve ourselves. I think we - humans - are about the funniest thing that has ever been. And we get even nuttier with each passing year, it seems. We think we're progressing, getting smarter. But it's just surface glitz: blinking lights, buzzwords, iPhones, etc. In fact, we're turning into tadpoles and manta rays. We just don't realize it because it's happening so slowly. We'll be dragging our knuckles again within, say, 175 years.

[babelfish]

I really like the Sony Bravia adverts. Those and the Honda 'Power of Dream' ones would have to be my favourites.

[Freewell]

Along the lines of Paul's sentiments here, my favorite "commercial" was a spoof drug advert that was perched amidst the trailers before a movie we saw a few years back. (Spiderman maybe?) We laugh about it all the time, but aren't quite sure which movie we saw it in... The gist is that this drug will do everything from enhance your sex life to get you better job offers, (or the like) improve your communication skills, make you drop-dead gorgeous AND Mensa level 'intelligent', etc... Then it begins to list the "side-effects" wrapping up the horrendously long list of ailments that ranged from annoying to the downright hideous, with a dramatically toned "...And DEATH!!" It was great!!! Their catch line, repeated throughout was "[Blahsie whatsit drug]... Making you BETTER than you really are!"

[Windswept]

Damn, I really do despise the ad that is running for Lennox air cleaners.

It shows a stocky, middle-aged, balding guy in a tight red body-suit, carrying a suitcase and being evicted from another guy's house. Red jumpsuit guy represents "Bad Air".

At one point, Bad Air grabs the homeowner in a fierce hug, and then actually jumps up and wraps his legs around the homeowner's waist in a desperate attempt to stay in the house.

The homeowner roughly fights him off, and then Bad Air slinks away with his suitcase.

Omg, it's such an awful ad. The Bad Air guy completely creeps me out.

Surely there must be a better way to advertise a home air cleaner... like showing grassy meadows with flowers and butterflies, or something.

Anyone else get the creeps from that ad? Just wondering.

[Bryson]

Well, this is more of a class of ad, rather than any particular ad.

I'm disturbed by the number of ads for things that simply do not need advertising.

Toilet Paper. Why is toilet paper always sold on the basis of: A: it's liquid absorbency and B: That you can use less of it ? Toilet paper is primarily used for cleaning shit off your anus. Now, unless you are ill, that shit is not a liquid. It's a soft solid. So why is it sold on the basis of absorbency? And who actually thinks "oh, I've bought the expensive toilet paper, so I'll just use one square." Unless you're in the army, you pull off reels of the stuff.

Or have I just misunderstood and all the toilet paper ads are actually targeted at squaddies that have diarrhea?

Poise / Depend. People who piss their pants know that they need to do something about it. They don't need reminding that adult diapers exist. They are painfully aware of the fact.

Are tampon adverts getting more and more explicit? Do they really have to? Do I need to know that the little "skirt" thing prevents you accidentally bleeding onto your panties? Seriously, women have this under control - why must I watch ads about it?

I'd prefer a moratorium on the advertising of any product designed to catch bodily excreta. We all know what to do with them. We will continue to buy them, we promise. Just stop telling us about how fucking absorbant they are. I don't really want to think about it that hard.

[Freewell]

If there were a prize for the funniest post of the week/month/whatever... I am pretty confident you just won it!!! I am totally with you on this one!!


Seriously dude, that post deserves a whole box of cookies!!!

[psmith2.0]

I despise these new Subway commercials for their $5 footlongs. They show all kinds of weird scenarios (a Godzilla take-off, etc.) with someone looking into the camera and holding up five fingers, and then placing both hands side-by-side (palms facing each other).

Taken out of context (if you have the mute on and you don't know it's a Subway commercial advertising a deal on sandwiches), it just looks like someone is saying "Stop! I have a penis this big." (or if it's a woman, she's telling us just how big she prefers 'em).



Very weird, even with the sound on (which is when you'll hear the annoying, equally off-putting jingle).

Ah, here's the commercial on YouTube!

Tell me that traffic cop doesn't look like he's telling the scooter chick what he's packing in his holster at the beginning of the commercial.



Then you got the horny stewardess, who you know likes them big. And the Japanese girl is telling Godzilla "no, I can only handle 12"...you're way too big!"

And the weather forecaster is saying "we're looking at five days of sunshine, and plenty of dick!"

EDIT: Reading those comments at YouTube, looks like I'm not the only one who gets this particular vibe from these commercials!

On the flip-side of the above, I've got the raging hots for the woman in the new Zyrtec indoor/outdoor allergy commercial. She's got short, dark hair and is wearing a yellow blouse. She's a total cutie!

[psmith2.0]

Here's something I've noticed happening more and more in these idiotic prescription medication commericals (there are only about 7,000 of them on the air, at any given time): before, the anonymous voiceover used to list the side-effects or potential hazards. Now, on quite a few of them, they try to work it into the "natural sounding" dialogue amongst the actors themselves. It's far, far worse because you immediately think "who in the hell talks that way, and would do that?"



I first noticed it about a year ago, in some commercial for a cholesterol medication. Some old coot doctor and his young, wide-eyed medical students were making the rounds and talking about this pill. And the doctor goes into the whole "be sure you're not masturbating on a unicycle when taking Chlorforminex, because...", and his students (a gaggle of twentysomethings, representing, of course, every possible ethnic makeup the producers could possibly come up with) are all chiming in with their leading questions and statements, and it's just awful. So unnatural and "glommed on".



Here more recently I've seen both a birth control (four club-hopping women, where one of them happens to be a doctor, going over the side effects and drawbacks, worked into matter-of-fact conversation in the most inelegant, shoehorned way you could imagine...just shy of "so if I get good 'n' liquored up tonight and let one of these guys here bang my eyeballs out, is this thing going to keep me from getting knocked up?"). And, again...white girl, black girl, Asian girl, Latino girl. All best friends, all on the prowl for club dick (and hoping to God their daily dosage of OvaEZ kills those sperm dead).

And then I saw one last night, and I admire them for simply going straight for the business (no elaborate acting or set-pieces)...some guy is in his doctor's office(!) - as opposed to tandem hanggliding or mountain-biking up a volcano - and the doctor is laying it all out for him. The most realistic, expected scenario, sure. But it's still weird dialogue that no human would say in such a way. Nothing casual or conversational about it (and how can there be...it's a mouthful of boring disclaimers and medical jargon - or butt-covering legalese).

They just always strike me as funny when they take this approach. I kinda prefer hearing the voiceover guy do it, rather than see it scripted into the dialogue and acting. Because it's three times as unwatchable there.

[PKIDelirium]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0xyQx7d-Eik

Annoying. As. Fuck.

[Windswept]

Originally Posted by PKIDelirium http://youtube.com/watch?v=0xyQx7d-Eik Annoying. As. Fuck.

Ugh. This commercial is actually revolting in so many ways, especially when the son hugs the dad and sings to him that he'll love him till the end of time... for getting him a cell phone.

The people are thick-bodied, sweaty/greasy and creepy looking, hang out in a garage, and appear to experience massive and intense excitement over this advertised special.

Just... eeewwww.

[psmith2.0]

You guys know that is Meat Loaf (the dad), right? No, doesn't make it any better. But I'm just sayin' that explains one of the guy's "thickness" (although he's looking slightly better than he used to.)



That's his "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" song they're singing.

Sorry if you already knew this.



It is a weird, annoying commercial. And the fact that it's on 400 times an hour certainly doesn't help.

[Moogs]

Like:

1) Dude... particularly the SuperBowl variant. Air travel variant was also good but they missed a Golden Opportunity to portray the annoying person seated next to you, or sick baby..

2) I am the NHL Playoffs on Versus - particularly the lawn chair variant, goal post variant... narrated by Kiefer Sutherland.

3) Virtually no one will have seen this but the NHL Network has a silent ad with some type of orchestral music that accompanies a "montage" of professional and amateur (for fun) hockey players that slowly builds up to a cool crescendo. One of the few very professionally done ads I've seen from the NHL.

...can't think of too many others right now, mostly been watching the Science / History type channels (though History is rarely airing anything historical anymore seems like) and Versus during the playoffs. I'm sure there are other good ones.


Hate:

1) Every Pharmaceutical Commercial Ever Made. [soapbox]Big Pharma should not be allowed to advertise anywhere other than in medical journals and similar venues. I find it so comical and pathetic that people watch drug ads on tv and then go demand them from their doctor because they self-diagnose, and then the doctors give in for fear of malpractice suits... despite the fact that if the people had never seen the ads they are unlikely to have been bothered enough by their occasionally twitchy leg, their "weak stream" or other imaginary "illness" to even go to the doctor. Way to help produce a society full of hypochondriacs, big pharma. Profiteering assholes. Worst of all your commercials blow. PS _ love the long list of side-effects for your "Fast-tracked" drugs. Worse than the maladies they claim to fix in many cases. [/soapbox]

2) Any product that you buy over the phone that costs $19.95, and which gives you "extras" for "free". I would've thought by now, all of America would have figured this little magic formula out and put these snake oil losers out of business. See also: anything starring "Billy Mayfair" or Mr. Shamwow. I love it. They even put the word "sham" in their product and people still buy it. Ooooo. Made in Germany?! Must be good! There's one born every minute...

3) Those salisbury steak frozen dinner ads with the bumbling idiot from Spin City. I really, really want to hit that guy square in the nose and watch him bleed for a minute or two before throwing him a wad of cotton to cram up his nose... with a friendly warning never to take part in such an add ever again.

4) Any commercial showing an SUV tackling rough and rugged terrain (or I should say anything but urban streets and mall parking lots, because that's where 98% of them go).

5) Dramatic Reality Show ads (desperate mom swap, desperate marry the rich guy, etc.). Dear reality producers: please die.

6) Meatloaf... and for that matter any ad with a classic rock song that the artists allowed to be used for some POS product. Sacrilege!

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by Moogs [b]6) Meatloaf... and for that matter any ad with a classic rock song that the artists allowed to be used for some POS product. Sacrilege!

I'm telling ya, I get the biggest kick out of Mellencamp's "This is Our Country" thing for Chevy(?) trucks. 20 years ago in a Rolling Stone or Spin interview he went off on a huge rant about artists and rockers who do this. He was ripping people up and down, naming names, saying that's not what he's about and would never do it and that "for better or worse, I didn't write 'Hurts So Good' to pour fucking Heinz ketchup to" (or words very close to that).



Fast-forward a couple of decades...and he's shilling for Chevrolet!

Putz.

Goes really good with that blue-man, every collar (wait...flip that) and "against the grain rebel" image, sure.



Yeah, I know...we all evolve and grow (goodness knows I don't believe in the same horseshit I was spoon fed 20 years ago, and I see things slightly different now). But still...when you're Famous™ and you make these huge, cocky proclamations, guess what? Chances are they're being recorded or remembered (again, that "famous" thing), so some times you just come off looking odd. Two-faced and hypocritical, at best. But that's nothing new in some quarters, is it?

"Down with corporations and greed! Wait...you're gonna pay me how much for my song? Deal!"

[MAJB]

Originally Posted by scratt I am convinced that Erectile Disfunction is going to rise...

Pun intended?

[709]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 You guys know that is Meat Loaf (the dad), right?

With Tiffany ("I Think We're Alone Now"), no less.

That kid looks an awful lot like Meat Loaf. I had to Google just to confirm he didn't have a son.

But yes, highly annoying. When the kid bites his lip getting 'ready to rock' I cringe a little.

[psmith2.0]

Ohmigosh, I didn't know that was Tiffany (his "wife").

Wow. So the commercial just takes on a whole extra layer of cheese, huh? I kinda dislike it even more now.

[Moogs]

Only in America...

[Mancomb Seepgood]

Just saw this on tv...

I will definitely be doing this in 20 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMoFIHvUE14