TV Ads Which Just Won't Go Away............TV Ads Which Make Me Mad W/OMar 23 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line These ads are so irritating, I'm thinking of tossing the television into the alley.
The Doc and I recently bought a television. I hadn't owned a TV since 1993, and somehow never thought I'd even have one again. I could just as easily watch the news on television at work, or when staying in a hotel. While watching over the past few months, a few advertisements have seared their images into my brain through the sheer marvel of Marketing. It is sadly true that one will often remember the product associated with an annoying commercial even more than the subject of an ad which is witty or clever. So to proceed, here are a few which have proved themselves annoying to no end. Perhaps the most ubiquitous reptile on television is the Geico gecko. I'll admit that for the first couple of times, the gecko was different, almost cute. The ads have become progressively stupider. There comes a time when every advertising campaign has reached overexposure and must come to an end. Alright already! It's time to squash the little green pest. Wouldn't you just love to see it flattened by a steamroller, boiled in a pot, or carried off by a hawk? While we are preparing gecko stew, we could just throw the AFLAC duck in the pot for good measure. Any, and I do mean ANY commercial for the Ditech corporation. I'm not just talking about the ones with Ron Michaelson, the plump, cross-dressing actor with the smug face, but all of them. The one with the loud buzzing noise is equally terrible. Not only are these ads tiresome, but the product they are flogging is annoying. Ditech would be the last place I'd go for a loan. The Fitness Made Simple ads featuring John Basedow hurt me just to look at them. Preying upon people's natural vanity usually works, but why feature someone who looks like something out of a carnival sideshow? Would you want to look like that creepy guy? Maybe they should call it Malnutrition Made Simple. Ouch. The "I've Been Everywhere" ad for Choice Hotels uses a piece of an old Johnny Cash song to attract interest. After you have been bombarded with the thing constantly, you really do want to pull the plug on the set. While we are talking about old songs, I'm offended by the Applebee's ads which take old songs and mangle them beyond recognition. I guess if you are selling crummy food, you have to find a way to make people remember it. In the department of just plain stupid, I'd nominate the ridiculous talking stick of gum shilling for Wrigley's Extra. Can't they do any better than this? A few old ones stick out in my memory for sheer idiocy. The commercials for Shoe Town, a cheap shoe store in Baton Rouge, once featured "Crazy George", a guy in a clown costume who beat a drum and screamed at you to go to Shoe Town. I always thought the man had just escaped from Eastern State Mental Hospital and really needed his Thorazine. It made me want to throw my shoe at the screen. Maybe that was their idea all along. I'm sure every city has annoying ads where the proprietors trot out their children to have them flog the product for their parents. We, the gullible public, are supposed to think this is somehow endearing. I do not want to look at some unfortunate child mumbling "Save more money at Cost Plus!" and the father (who looks like a child molester) implores the audience to do likewise. There was a particularly offensive ad for a car place in Virginia Beach which featured the owner's son. "But Dayud.....we cain't lower our prices any mowuh"..."No Juniuh... we will always have prices lowah than anyone!" Will all of you just go away? Maybe take a course in public speaking? Occasionally, bad commercials lent themselves to mischief. Do you recall the talking loaves of Wonder Bread? One afternoon, when I was about eight years old, I was happily watching when the familiar loaves came on the set. This time, however, they were talking to each other about how to stay regular. Someone at the station had deliberately switched the soundtrack with one for Hailey's MO, a laxative. Someone had to have arranged that one ahead of time. You have to admit that it must have been a fun way to get fired from the station. Most of the cable ads are long and irritating. They used to be less "slick" as well. There was one ad for a miniature vacuum, when those things were new. The ad listed everything you could do with one of these miniature wonders, including cleaning up around the cat box. They were even kind enough to show us one, complete with a cat inside. In order to make the tabby stay inside the box, they'd given it something to eat. You put the images together....bleccch. Thanks to Savanna, we all have the opportunity to relive bad moments in television history....Join her write-off today.... http://www.epinions.com/content_4253261956 Oh, and special thanks to the Doc who made me go buy a television again. Thanks a lot.  |
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