Commercials you really hate

[PrintDriver]

Time enough to stick fingers in ears and go "Lalalalala"

[Red Kittie Kat]

Lol

[<b>]

Three or four years ago I realized that I hadn't turned on the television for a long, long time. I think my television watching just lessened over time until, at some point or another, it just stopped. If there's a program that I hear is good, like Mad Men or Breaking Bad, I'll download it from iTunes or rent it from Netflix.

Consequently, I never see television commercials. I don't miss them, of course, but it leaves me with an increasingly large gap in my knowledge of current popular culture. Being a designer, I'm worried that it might not be good to lose touch with these sorts of things.

[Bob]

^ I'm exactly in the same tidy bowl <b>. I have no clue about any of the ads mentioned in this thread so far, but at work meetings it's a source of a big gap. Likewise TV shows beyond a small group, and/or BBC productions.

Friday afternoon I was making a rather impassioned argument against some video casting ideas for a series of 'reality' promo videos that were being discussed and at one point someone says, "You know, like 'Friends'" and to expediate my argument I just said, "I don't know because I've never watched that show". Which, of course, is followed by an almost freakily instant silence in the room.

I find that having a TV vocabulary might get you into harmony with more people in the room with certain topics, but TV ignorance also makes you that much more aware of the depth of the cognitive bias people develop as fans of any particular show or series. A bias that seems to instill a kind of blindness to the fact that any great show requires a ton of work and resources and were most likely made by people thinking way beyond the 'it would sort of be like this show' creative mentality.

[Tea]

I found the weeping/sobbing, mother/daughter one quite funny. But, I understood them and will say I know for a fact, I've only seen it twice. Anything that keeps repeating is annoying.

I too seem to watch less tv and more than commercials which I can mute or walk away from (I mostly DVR the shows I want to watch) is those damn station I.D.s or "coming on next" banners that take up the screen real estate. More than once I will watch something where they have subtitles below and yep...they cover them up. I know what's coming on next, I know what station I'm watching...grrrr.

I too have missed shows that I have no reference to draw from. One is SNL. I used to work nights waiting tables and DVR and even VCR's were not part of the program for me then.

[Gromit801]

I know what you mean <b>. There might actually be two or three programs we watch somewhat regularly. Usually it's a sporting event, a movie, or BBC America. The rest is warmed over dreck.

[artistsdad]

Subway $5 Footlong commercials. Annoying as hell on the radio.

[JMV Design]

I hate all commercials on Bell TV (Canadian satalite company).

I hate them because there are apparently only 3 of them, which play on a single loop during EVERY commmercial break. I'm not talking about 3 commercials FOR Bell TV, I'm talking about 3 commercials total ON Bell TV. It is rediculously annoying.

If I'm especially lucky, I'll get the exact same commercial played twice during the SAME COMMERCIAL BREAK!

Thankfully I have 4 tvs hooked up to PVRs (DVRs in the U.S.), so I rarely watch live tv.

[vectorzomby]

Originally Posted by Lith

That reminds me. That car commercial where the family starts singing "Crazy Train." Sharon Osbourne must be stopped.

THIS.

But nothing beats a local dealership commercial, at least in the south. Here there's this one jerk that sings 8675309 and replaces it with his number... and they always gotta show their kids dressed up as princesses shooting glitter at the giant red text with a blue stroke around it...

[garricks]

Wow. ABC "Duets" commercial just totally ripped off the Apple "1984" commercial. o_O

Woman in track shorts ran in with a mic stand to throw it at the screen. VO talked about how this would be different from any other singing competition.