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Ten Annoying TV Commercials I Never Want to See Again

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By pgrundy


Whats wrong with these people?
Whats wrong with these people?

I Know, I Know... Turn Off the Set!

Already I am breaking my promise to myself to write 100 hubs fast and dirty, just push to myself over the 100 Hubs in 30 Days Challenge hump and get on to earning wheelbarrows full of ad revenue. Already I am dawdling. On the first day.

I don't know why I have to write this one, but I do. It will take too long. It will get me worked up.

But it's too late now.

Once upon a time, I didn't watch television. Honest. I had a little 12 inch portable set and I didn't subscribe to cable. I actually read books. Then, I met the love of my life, and he helped me develop a wicked cable news addiction, circa Hurricane Katrina. Now we both watch television every night.

It's sad really. What might we have become without this terrible addiction? Cardiac surgeons? Pulitzer Prize-winning poets? The first co-Presidents in U.S. history?

Nah, we'd probably still be just a couple of aging hippies, but for sure we'd be $100 a month richer. (Our cable company actually went bankrupt this year, even charging all that.)

These days we mostly watch MSNBC news, the John Stewart Show, Steven Colbert, and Meet the Press on Sunday mornings. Recently we also got into The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on HBO Sunday nights, and if I can stay awake, we watch Bill Maher on Friday nights too.

I also enjoy some of the more upscale, literary-type artsy shows such as Monster Quest, Ghost Hunters, UFO Hunters, and What Not to Wear. Antiques Roadshow is also most excellent. (I just know we have some piece of crap laying around here that is worth at least $100K, and as soon as I find it, I'm outta here...I'll think of you all here at Hub Pages often though! On the beach. Naked. With booze. Served by hunky men. Naked.)

Seriously though, watching TV is bad for your mental health, especially if you watch the commercials. (And how can you not watch the commercials? It's like trying not to look at a burning building, or your plumber's butt cleavage, or a 300 pound woman walking through the grocery story in a tube top and spandex bicycle shorts...You know you should turn away, you know you should stop looking right now before something terrible happens, but it's like catching the gaze of the Medusa. You turn to stone, you can't stop...)

What follows, in no special order, are ten of the most irritating, most noxious, most baffling commercial advertisements on prime time television today: the ones that make me swear and hop up and down and throw things at the set.

Instead of making the same smart ass remarks to Bill over and over, I thought I'd share them here.

Feel free to add your own in comments or amend the list as necessary.


#1 The Cialis Bathtub Series

Seriously, what is wrong with these people?

Why do they spend hundreds of dollars on a little pee pee pill (OK, the point of the pill is to make it not little, but you get my drift) just so they can end up sitting in separate bathtubs and watching the sun set? Can't they do that without the pill?

Here's what I think: I think they forgot why they took the damn pill in the first place, so by the time it takes effect, all they can think about is how great it would be to take a nice hot bath (her) or a nice cold shower (him), but because they've been married for like a gazillion years, they're way past that argument about who gets to go first and who left pubes on the soap--they long ago got separate bathtubs.

These poor people think they are taking a hallucinogen.

And here's the really sad part:

It's working.


Real investment advice for pretend people.
Real investment advice for pretend people.

#2 The Charles Schwab Talking Cartoon Yuppies

Chuck, come clean: Did you make cartoons out of these people just so I wouldn't personally track each of them down and slap the terminal smug right off their overpaid yuppy faces?

It's so hard to get good help these days, isn't it? Nobody kisses rich people's butts the way they once did, and if you want to run for office or be appointed to a cabinet position or anything normal like that, you can't even have a Nicaraguan slave chained to your Cuisanart anymore. Some people in some gated communities have even been forced to pay taxes!

Times are tough alright! What's a robber baron and his bitter little Talbots-wearin' wifey to do when they need a total stranger to tell them how to spend their own money?

Not to worry! Chuck is here! The nice folks over at Charles Schwab want you to know that they really really do care about your money. Your money, that is, not you personally. You can go on a snipe hunt with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig for all we care, you freakin' cartoon you! (And don't invite Dick Cheney. Or do...Like we said, we don't care. Just give us your money.)

Just hand it over, Sponge Bob. Talk to Chuck and rottsa ruck.

And get off my TV screen before I get my gun.

Have you seen my bathtub?
Have you seen my bathtub?

#3--Born to Be Senile!

Clearly, they killed the wrong guy in Easy Rider. Because Nicholson would never, ever stoop to this. No, no... Nicholson gets to play the Devil, not work for him.

Well, never say never.

I mean, I've been out of work since October of 2008, and when I was working, I was in a call center. So I'm a big whore too. So I guess if someone asked me to sit on a red plastic chair in the middle of a desert highway and use my rep as a radical artiste to pimp for the financial services industry, I'd give it a think-through if the price was right. Of course I would. I'm not going to pretend I'm above all that. (I'm writing 100 hubs in 30 days aren't I?)

But I'd at least have the decency to then take the money and retire to the Canadian NW Territories and hang my head in shame, never again to show my face publicly or be heard from again.

That's the very least I could do.

Are you listening Dennis? You, my friend, need a plan.

And here it is: Three words:

Mobile Meth Labs!


Just stay on the line and nobody gets hurt...and gimme that Beemer, white boy.
Just stay on the line and nobody gets hurt...and gimme that Beemer, white boy.

#4--The Fidelity Arrow

Are there really so many people in America who have so much money they can't finish spending without professional help that it warrants this unending prime time public flogging with investment house commercials?

Or is this trend more a case of the 'Million Dollar Pencil Theory', whereby the one or two hundred really, really rich people in America who do have this kind of money have billions and billions of dollars worth of it, so all you have do is sell the "I'll spend your money for you" idea to just one of them. You know: Sell just one one-million dollar pencil instead of a million one-dollar pencils.

Just one.

Just catch Steve Jobs or Bill Gates on the way to the medicine cabinet for...damn! Forgot which drug I was on the way to get AGAIN! (But a nice hot bath sounds good all of a sudden...)

Just catch either of those guys once, and your irritating chirpy commercial with the big green line has done it's job.

I wonder if I can apply that to writing somehow?

(Hey Gates! Need some web content?)


Are you peeing AGAIN, you big loser?
Are you peeing AGAIN, you big loser?

#5--The Detrol Discussion

Are you a woman over 50, forced to work in a cubicle attached to a headset for 8, 10, or 12 hours a day even though you have a three hour bladder?

Are you not allowed to use the restroom except on one of two 15-minute breaks that you have to use to do the work you don't have time to finish on the clock because of stupid performance stats that determine your very survival? Before you rush out and stock up on Depends, it's important for you to know that there is a better solution:

TAKE MORE DRUGS!

Did you know that urinating after age 50 when you are a working woman is a certifiable, bonafide physical condition? Yes indeedy, it's all kinds of physical: physical through and through, you can't help it, it's all about the bodily urges and the bladder and so on. It's a medical kinda thang.

I'll bet you never even counted how many times you pee each and every day until you got that great job at Gigantocorp! Well, not to worry. Gigantcorp is counting how many times you pee. And it's shocking. It really is. I mean, God, girl, get a grip. There are guys working here who haven't peed since 1973. You think they're paying you to pee? You're already in constant danger of losing this crappy hellish job you big slacker you. One more tinkle and you're outta here, sister.

Besides, isn't it embarrassing that other people know that, even though you are lucky enough to have a poorly paid job with a multibillion dollar corporation and you're older than dust, you still urinate? It's shameful I know, but there's no reason to suffer or avoid the problem.

Take this cartoon character into your doctor's office and beg for drugs.

Oh yeah, you'll get drugs alright. Trust me. He'll fix you up good.

Real men pee bountifully!
Real men pee bountifully!

#6--On the Other Hand, You Guys Out There

You guys should be peeing a hell of a lot more than you are.

What are you, girly men? Real men pee all the time, and not just little thin streams of pathetic old man pee. No, no, we're talking big robust Young Man Pee, the kind of Pee that made Milwaukee famous!

What? You're working at Gigantocorp too now?

Dude, that's just... disturbing. I don't want to hear that again, OK? I mean I've got my own problems to deal with here, I don't want that image in my head too. When I call Gigantocorp I expect to get a nice pretend computer-lady who keeps asking me to repeat things over and over until I scream and smash my phone into little pieces--I don't want to dial an 800 number and end up talking to my former insurance agent or the 70-year-old accountant who used to do my Dad's taxes--much less hear about his urinary problems.

You know what? If your supervisor has a problem with how often you pee, pee on her! Bountifully and with manly pride!

So here's what you do: Get some DRUGS. Get 'em today. Then, pee all the time. Join one of those cool men's support groups where everybody goes to football games and talks about how they used to not pee but now they do. That's what real guys do!

You're a guy aren't you?


From the nice folks at Citibank, a new beginning...
From the nice folks at Citibank, a new beginning...

#7--Talk to Your Credit Card Company

Have you seen these ads yet?

In one of them, a plump 50-ish lady moves in with her daffy elderly Mom so they can make cookies together and go for walks and stuff, but she has to quit her job to do it, so of course she falls behind on her credit card payments. Her Mom, who most of the rest of the time is so out of it she's making sock puppets out of other people's socks and talking to the cookie dough, gives her daughter some "good advice" which is "talk to your credit card company. They're there to help."

By the time it's all over, the whole experience was so warm and fuzzy the 50-ish lady declares, "It's just a new beginning," thanks to the great, kindly, tender-hearted people at 1-800 number for Citicard.

On another spot (also produced by Citi), a black female yoga enthusiast (I'm not even going to touch that, but anyone else who wants to, feel free...) has an asthma attack and her credit card company is so concerned about her uninsured self they tailor a plan to help her pay off her $20,000 hospital bill in installments, and this time, it isn't just a new beginning--this time, these former rat bastards actually save this woman's life. She glows when speaking of them. The nice folks at Citi make Mother Teresa look like a cheap hooker.

Nobody mentions the fact that over the past five months, four out of five people who still have credit cards have seen their rates increase by as much as 10%, and many have had that interest applied retroactively, to all old balances. Fees are spiking, credit lines are closing, and CC companies are using taxpayer money to lobby Washington not to pass any regulations or limit their BS in any way, shape, or form.

It's a new beginning alright. Bend over and say "Ahhhhh!"

(Also, can I have some drugs now? Maybe I could pay for them in installments?)


#8--I Have to Pee

No, seriously, I do. I know I've only written eight of these boogers, but I have to run to the grocery store, I have to pee, and I have to plant a Mother's Day plant that is dying outside my window at this very moment for lack of water.

Still, I ended my first Hub Challenge day with three hubs.

Tomorrow I will stay more focused and do four.

Maybe.

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Nancy's Niche profile image

Nancy's Niche  says:
7 months ago

I am sick of commercials so you have my vote. Now, you have to sit through them at the movies. How ridiculous is that!

CJStone profile image

CJStone  says:
7 months ago

The one about Dennis Hopper doing a financial services commercial reminded me of our own dear radical punk, John Lydon - aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols - doing butter commercials. And Iggy Pop doing an insurance commercial. How punk is that?

PS You're doing very well on this challenge.

Whikat profile image

Whikat  says:
7 months ago

I never watch T.V so I do not see any commercials. Thanks for reminding me that I am not missing anything. Funny hub. I really do enjoy your sarcasm. :-)

CJStone profile image

CJStone  says:
7 months ago

I thought you might like to see those commercials, just so you know you weren't missing anything:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYnydYrZPp8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mSE-Iy_tFY

Whikat profile image

Whikat  says:
7 months ago

Your the Man CJ, Thanks for the links.

O.M.G, Now I Know that I am not missing anything! :-)

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Thanks Nancy's Niche and Whikat. If it was up to me, I'd ditch cable TV and go back to reading more, but we do really enjoy watching the saritical guys together. And I need Ghost Hunters. I do.

CJ--That is way, way more than I need to know about Iggy Pop and John Lydon and his butter, does it get any more depressing than that? He should look up Dennis Hopper and they could make some toast and gum it to death.

What ever happened to, "Live hard, die young?"

badcompany99  says:
7 months ago

I like Hopper even in a commercial but deff agree they so spoil a good program.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Hi badcompany--He has to need the money to do it though. I've followed his career since Easy Rider and it isn't all roses, but then, mine hasn't been so hot either. I think I'm more annoyed by the commercial than him personally--snarkiness is expected on a hub about commercials, but really, he's just trying to pay the bills like the rest of us.

Staci-Barbo7 profile image

Staci-Barbo7  says:
7 months ago

We love commercials so much that we usually record programs on DVR for at least twenty minutes and then play them straight through, skipping commercials, and rewind when we want to review something.  When we were at a movie in the theater recently, we couldn't make out what the main character said, and I reached for the DVR remote to replay!

Triplet Mom profile image

Triplet Mom  says:
7 months ago

I think for 9 and 10 you should add any of those late night commercials that are for phone dating services. Those are truly annoying. Good luck with the challenge. I am sure you will do well.

Artisan Walker profile image

Artisan Walker  says:
7 months ago

Here in Oregon, we're being tortured by Kiefer Kia Princess commercials -- incessantly! I hate her and I hate them!

I looked for it on YouTube but they aren't posted, so I can't inflict on you ... hey, I tried.

PS: I have to admit, I like the animation-overs in the Charles Schwab commercials.

There, I said!!!

C.Ferreira profile image

C.Ferreira  says:
7 months ago

That first one is hilarious. Everytime I see that commercial, I think to myself, "Who does that? Who would sit in a bathtub outside?"

There is another one, I think for the same or similar product that has a couple on a bed outside...it is so ridiculous!

dkrainwater profile image

dkrainwater  says:
7 months ago

The only commercials I care about is on the Superbowl. Not that I like sports, I hate them. So we fast forward the football game to watch commercials.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Thanks for your comments guys. :)

Staci, isn't rewind great? I need a pause button though. I have the same impulse at the movies--where's the pause button?

Thanks Triplet Mom! Infomercials are their own category, aren't they? But yeah, the dating 800 and 900 numbers, and also all those EHarmony commercials...ick. Now that you mention it, that's good fodder for a future hub...thanks!

Artisan Walker--I still respect you even though your like those pretend people who talk about Chuck Scwab. But you're on thin ice. LOL!

C. Ferreira--I think it's so dumb, and it's kind of embarrassing too. I mean, it's like being forced to think about your parents' sex life. Ick. Why do have to go there? It's just wrong.

Teresa McGurk profile image

Teresa McGurk  says:
7 months ago

Yeah. I don't miss TV. Although there are commercials on Hulu, you can choose (I'm not kidding, I couldn't make up something like this) what kinds of commercials you prefer (if you're signed in). So at least I get commercials about the arts and charities, instead of any of the above.

Rochelle Frank profile image

Rochelle Frank  says:
7 months ago

Well, Pam, at least you made the most of them, and now I will have to smile when subjected to any of the above. This was great!

Pam Roberson profile image

Pam Roberson  says:
7 months ago

Great ones Pam! This was so funny to read because you echo what lots of us are probably thinking when we see these stupid commercials.

I hate ALL pharmaceutical commercials because most of the time they don't even tell you what the pills are for, they just say to ask your doctor about it. Right.

Ok, my big time hate commercials are the ones with waving, smiling "Bob" and Enzyte. I guess that's right up there with your number one Cialis bathtub series. :D

RooBee profile image

RooBee  says:
7 months ago

Nice! I hate each and every one of these, too. Good list, and as usual very nice to read - love your writing style.

I am with Teresa McGurk about Hulu - its pretty cool and I get to watch all my beloved geeky old sci-fi shows that I can't see anywhere else.

dineane profile image

dineane  says:
7 months ago

Love it! I'm glad you took the time - I've had a hard time keeping hubs short for the challenge, too. I do love my DVR. I hardly watch anything "live" anymore because the commercials annoy me so much! But I'll be back to see how you round this out to 10 (if you do) :-)

Paper Moon profile image

Paper Moon  says:
7 months ago

I loved the commercial where Dennis H sniffed the shoe. I almost pee'd myself. But good ones are few and faaaaaaaar between. I dont really watch tv anymore. come to think of it, I did kinda make a commercial on my last hub in the Amazon box. Hmmm. OK, so shoot me. :D

KStyle profile image

KStyle  says:
7 months ago

I like watching the show Castle, he's a writer who actually lives his books. Check it out next season if you get a chance.

VioletSun profile image

VioletSun  says:
7 months ago

The 50'ish peeing commercial turns me off, and I haven't seen the credit card one where the bank insures with concern the Yoga teacher.  LOL!  I am not very impressed by banks right now; last week our experience with banks was not very good, we received a lot of misinformation which wasted our time.

Good luck with 100 hubs challenge!

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Hi Teresa--I remember seeing a commercial about Hulu--now I have to go see what it's all about. It sounds cool.

Ditto Roo Bee--I'm a sci fi geek myself, so anything that would allow me to indulge that would be very useful. (Like I don't alrealy find lots of ways to avoid work...still, it's a neverending task, isn't it? Avoidance I mean. LOL!)

Rochelle--Thanks for commenting! I'm glad you got a chuckle from it

dineane--I know, this 100 hubs thing is harder than I guessed it would be. Plus, weirdly, Sunday and Monday I made NO adsense money, not even one penny. I don't think that's every happened. Not an encouraging way to kick this off! lol!

kstyle--I'll check that out, it sounds good.

papermoom--I don't think I've seen that one. How could I miss it?

Violetsun--Oh you HAVE to see those CC commercials. You will think you've fallen into an alternate reality for sure. Thanks for you comment! :)

robertsloan2 profile image

robertsloan2  says:
7 months ago

Thank you, thank you for reminding me why I am glad we don't have cable any more and the television isn't in my room any more. I've taken to watching painting or drawing videos on YouTube and various artists' websites, documentaries online, and occasionally buying a documentary so I can see it over and over in background.

When I got Meerkat Manor for my grandkids after a couple of years away from the cable thing, I got confused at the pacing -- every two or three minutes it would halt and introduce itself again and explain what the show was about again. It got repetitive. It got crazymaking. I was used to movies, and the kind of art videos made by the artists that you pay them something for and you get a 50 minute video that is 50 uninterrupted minutes of art instruction, never made for airing with commercials.

It got scary.

I have seen some of these, like that loony Cialis one. Once in a while I'll be reading Yahoo news and see a clip I want to watch, then actually have to sit through a commercial per clip. Usually science clips. Most news, I don't have the patience or a burning need to watch it as video and listen to narration. I want to read at my normal horribly fast reading speed and get it faster without interruption or hurting my ears with sound tracks.

Thank you for doing this hub. You've picked up on the bizarre things that creeped me out while watching news clips on giant squid or new dino-discoveries and left me understanding just where a lot of the nastier ideas and habits circulating in "American culture" come from.

The Cialis one deserves top rating. It's an aphrodisiac. Modern Science has created genuine male aphrodisiacs and genuine baldness cures, to great profit and no particular surprise since those products make a lot of money for said researchers who have giant student debts to pay off and a lingering desire for expensive vacations and personal research without the need for grants.

But the creepy prudery of that commercial is just, scary.

They don't show two genuinely old looking people sitting on the beach fumbling under each others' clothes like teenagers silhouetted in the sunset giggling like maniacs and genuinely enjoying themselves. They put nakedness in its proper puritanical context in bath tubs and set them decently apart like twin beds so the marrieds can't touch each other, because after all, they're over reproductive age even if they're still middle aged hot bodies and so shouldn't be thinking about that stuff especially with a spouse.

They don't show a rich old man getting his prescription, grinning wickedly and calling up a hot young supermodel for a date.

They look like they're going to look the other way from each others' perfect bodies while they get back into their long muffled to neck flannel bathrobes and don't even hold hands on their way back to the hotel.

Cialis for real should be some genuine geezer coming on to some genuinely grizzled and wrinkled lady with a light in his eye and then making out with her on the couch, or dragging her up to dance and make out while they're dancing. It could be done PG -- but it doesn't carry that sterility and that assumption that you're supposed to be sexy and always-ready right to the grave without ever actually doing it or enjoying it.

I think the commercials still carry a lot of messages besides selling the product, and it blows me away how much of that gets under people's skins. Thanks for a great Hub -- you're right, this is sanity-endangering stuff.

Janetta profile image

Janetta  says:
7 months ago

"Just hand it over, Sponge Bob. Talk to Chuck and rottsa ruck." - Loved it! Thanks for the giggle and I totally agree - I can't stand the fake people one or basically any drug ads. They always have the people explaining the possible side effects in a conversation. Like anyone actually talks to a friend like that!! "Oh you pee too much? Well, Suzy have you tried Detrol? Possible side effects include..." HAHA :D

scriber57 profile image

scriber57  says:
7 months ago

Thank you SO much for those wonderful insights into commercials we all hate to see coming on. What about the car commercials? I once counted them during the space of one hour and I think there were at least 30 (maybe not that many, but it seemed like it). Keep writing - you'll get the 100 in no time!!

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

hi robert--that is so true, there IS something creepy and puritanical about those Cialis ads. But the overly exuberant Viagra ads aren't much better (Viva Viagra? OMG.) What bothers me is the constant bombardment with this idea that you HAVE to have sex until you're 102 or there's something wrong with you. It's fine, if you're 90 and gettin' it on like you were 19, great, but it there's something so shallow and pathetic about it. Not that sex is shallow and pathetic, but making it into something akin to a bowel movement that you better keep having three times a week or else--that strikes me as shallow and pathetic. Thanks for your comments.

Janetta, thanks! I have a bias against smug nouveau riche people and it shows. I should feel bad about it but I don't.

scriber57--good point! There ARE a lot of car commercials. Doesn't help though, I imagine. I mean, if people aren't working, they aren't going to be buying cars. Thanks for your thoughts. :)

Chris Crow profile image

Chris Crow  says:
7 months ago

Commercials suck. Keep going with the 100 hub challenge--you can do it! I'm aspiring to do it as well. Actually, I'm not aspiring to do it, I am going to do it. If you need someone to commiserate with, I'm here for you. I find that the best way to do it is to just start writing when you have an inkling of an idea and hope that you can write a good hub about whatever it is you're writing about. Most times, once I start I get into it and want to finish straight through without getting up from my desk.

This 100 Hub challenge is teaching me something about work ethic and focus. I think it's positive in this regard.

After these new hubs get indexed, I know we'll pull in some good ad revenue.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Hi Chris--Thanks! Good luck back at ya! I'm up to 6. I gotta step it up. I'm a perfectionist, and that isn't going to wash for this. lol!

Jim Schreiber  says:
7 months ago

I love the Viagra commercials when a bunch of guys are sitting around, playing and singing (jamming on) the Viagra theme song. Get real!!!

I can't imagine that many men that are thrilled and proud enough about Viagra that they are compelled to sing about it in public. It's just wouldn't happen....

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

No doubt! Don't get me wrong--it's fine, I mean, there's nothing wrong with it. But God, do we have to watch it on TV? It's so idiotic the way they put it out there.

LondonGirl profile image

LondonGirl  says:
7 months ago

Are they allowed to advertise prescription drugs on TV like that? Wow! The only drugs that can be advertised here are the ones you can just buy in the Chemist's, like aspirin or cough syrup.

TheMindlessBrute profile image

TheMindlessBrute  says:
7 months ago

pgrundy,

This is the first hub I've read from you and you are great!Your excellent wit and articulate,playful character really shows in your prose.Rottsa Ruck on your challenge,I've challenged myself to read every one of them!

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Hi LG--It used to be against the law here too and lots of us wish it was again. That topic is actually fodder for a more serious hub, as most of the drugs advertised are not first choice for the condition they're meant to treat--that's why the companies push them in ads.

Hi MidnlessBrute--Thanks! I'm glad you got a giggle out of it. Thank you for your supportive comment. :)

alekhouse profile image

alekhouse  says:
7 months ago

Thanks so much for writing this hub, even if you didn't want to get into something this long. It's right on, funny, and extremely well-written. I love your style. I'm definitely a fan now!

Erick Smart  says:
7 months ago

I am with you on these! Generally I am totally sick of all prescription commercials. They are a bad idea. We cannot diagnose ourselves so we have lots of people running to the doctor saying they have a problem and they need this drug. If I need something I am sure my doc will tell me. I don't need a commercial for that.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Thank you alekhouse! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Erick Smart--I totally agree. I wish they'd ban these prescription commercials again. They are totally unethical on top of being irritating and deceptive.

ratcliffe07 profile image

ratcliffe07  says:
7 months ago

ha! great very witty

KT pdx profile image

KT pdx  says:
7 months ago

How about the crazy Verizon crowd? Now THAT'S creepy, being followed around. And they've even got the use of M. Night Shymalin's movie characters!

Also, the Geico commercials could have their own category. And not just the ones with the gecko or the caveman ones; the whole bunch of them.

Around here (Portland, Oregon), we're bombarded with commercials for Clear internet. In fact, one's playing on the radio as I write. They show a little bit of something (sprinkles on a cupcake, a beard, beer), then increase the amount until it's something that no one would want. Then they compare that to their internet coverage.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Hi KT pdx--Oh yes, the Verizon crowd, that one IS really creepy--and they always make their customers look like such morons. Do they think any of that is appealing? Being stalked by drones and treated like a moron? Geez. Geico, what can I say. Somebody needs to make a lizard sandwich. Maybe one of those cavemen.

I'm also really getting tired of that pathologically cheerful girl 'Flo' on the Progressive commercial. Someone get that a chick a sedative, stat!

Hawkesdream profile image

Hawkesdream  says:
7 months ago

Commercials are great! not, but they do give you time for a pee, make a coffee or a snack, feed the dog, pick in the washing etc etc

Mighty Mom profile image

Mighty Mom  says:
7 months ago

Great topic, Pam. My biggest complaint (along with the many excellent ones you cite) about the couple in the his and hers bathtubs is -- does anyone else but me find it odd that there are two bathtubs outside in the middle of nowhwere? How did they get there? Did the couple drag them outside? No sequitor, hello!!!

I agree with any/all commercials relating to peeing too often, peeing too little, and 4-hour erections. Why do we need to see this stuff as we're sitting down for dinner?

Another one that makes my skin crawl is the two younger women whispering and giggling about some little finger device. An older woman is listening in on their conversation. Just as they wonder where they can order one, the older woman leans over and says, "Relax, girls. You can get it right online. That's where I got mine!"

Like I need the visual of some post-menopausal woman pleasuring herself? No thank you!

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Oh Ick! MM, I (thankfully) haven't seen the little finger device commercial. Yikes. Shoot me.

stephhicks68 profile image

stephhicks68  says:
7 months ago

ROTFL! Your sarcasm and witty analysis of these commercials is great. The "Detrol discussion." LOL. And what about those cartoon people made of pipes (who also need drugs). Makes you wonder what the creative ad agencies were taking....

Our "favorite" commercials are the sickeningly sweet jewelry commercials that run during the holidays, Valentine's month and before Mother's Day. AACKK!!

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Hi Stephanie--Yeah those pipe people are too bizarre! And have you ever seen those "Pajamagram" commercials that run around the holidays? I went checked out their website--their prices, for a pair of pajamas--START at $50! Good lord. That would buy a lot of chocolate.

Laughing Mom profile image

Laughing Mom  says:
7 months ago

I haven't seen the credit card commercials--they sound just weird.

I'm embarrassed to say that we have 7--yes, s-e-v-e-n tvs. I watch maybe 2 hours a week. They are mostly tuned to SpongeBob, Hannah Montana or whatever Wii game is being played at the moment.

I'd be perfectly happy with your 12" portable. Well, maybe not while I'm watching "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" or "Message in a Bottle". But I only need one big one for that. And NO commercials.

earnestshub profile image

earnestshub  says:
7 months ago

Pam, You crack me up! I always expect your hubs to be good and you never fail to entertain. This was seriously funny, I got a major belly laugh out of this every few lines.

We don't have the same ads in Australia. but many are pretty bad here too.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
7 months ago

Thanks earnestshub! I try. I'm glad you got a giggle out of it. :)

LondonGirl profile image

LondonGirl  says:
7 months ago

We tend to avoid adverts by watching the BBC channels, which have none.

Opinion Duck  says:
6 months ago

Only commercials with cute animals or cartoons are worth the time.

Annoying is the shrinking TV screen where advertising goes on during a show. This could be to tell you about what is on next or something else. It takes up about the bottom 1/8 of the screen and sometimes it is done in florescent colors and animations.

Tom Whitworth profile image

Tom Whitworth  says:
3 months ago

pgrundy

Great funny hub. My personal pet peeves are

1. Femine Hygiene condoms-If they can't show them being used don't advertize them. Same with TP (cartoon bears don't count)

2. Phama- I particularly like the asthma medication that increases sudden death due to asthma which seems a quite signicant side effect.

3. Lawyers- Chase the ambulances in person not on TV.

4. Cleaning products- I still find elbow grease both more effective, and necessary.

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
3 months ago

Hi Tom--What's really funny is when you have a dumb pharma commercial followed by a lawyer class action lawsuit ad targeting the same company! Wow, talk about job creation!

Opinion Duck  says:
3 months ago

pg

I guess you could be the target of some advertiser, because you only did 8 commercials and went to pee, store, and MD plant.

:)

pgrundy profile image

pgrundy  says:
3 months ago

Sometimes I think I'm just a walking all-purpose target--advertisers, telemarketers, I'm the female Rodney Dangerfield. Someone's gotta do it!

fastfreta profile image

fastfreta  says:
3 months ago

WOW, pgrundy, I wrote a hub about commercial that I don't like, etc, but it was not half as good as yours. I wrote on the one about Cialis, but I didn't name names, (chicken). See what I mean, I'll never be any good on these pages, (smile), for reading, reading and reading some more.

jwmu311 profile image

jwmu311  says:
2 weeks ago

It's always healthcare commercials. Depression ones are the best. I'm sorry, but if I'm depressed, seeing other people who are depressed it just going to make me even more depressed. And chances are, I'm not going to liven up from a commercial. I'm probably not even watching TV. Unless I have one hooked on to my window ledge.

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