History Website / AdTurds

In recent years, the creator of the site, thought to be a professionally disgruntled former ad executive in the north of England, has emphasised that there should also be honourable mentions for the very best examples of advertising in British media. Readers have obliged, although the emphasis is on systematic deconstruction of the sort of lazy, cheap, uninspired advertising that drives people up the wall. This very British site can be found '''[[http://adturds.co.uk/2015/07/uncle-bens-dildo-rice-quinoa-advert/ here]]''', and new readers are directed to search the archives where some real gems may be found. Although a very British site in concept, scope, and bilious black humour, many adverts shared with the USA are covered and receive their own bucket of bile. Or sometimes even praise, grudging or otherwise. Do note the language used can get a bit NSFW. [[https://www.facebook.com/AdTurds Also present on Facebook.]]

* EpicFail: [[http://adturds.co.uk/2016/01/27/19-tesco-discount-fails-you-wont-believe/ These utterly pointless "discounts"]], all of which were found on the shelves of a major British supermarket. Two of them require you to pay ''more'' than the original price.
[[invoked]]

** Unless it's ''good''. Burt Reynolds being obviously self-referential in a series of ads for a British optician got a thumbs-up for his being a self-aware good sport. There seems to be a trend for this: Creator/SylvesterStallone has appeared in a series of ads for a bakery where a Rambo-like delivery driver is dedicated to getting the bread from bakery to store, whatever the cost. Creator/AmySolaris, in her Stepford Wife persona, sells cleaning products in a very self-aware way. This - known American stars sending themselves up and showing a good sense of humour — is the sort of thing the British viewing public ''likes''.

A web blog which is written by a man who hates bad adverts. It used to be written by two people who hate bad adverts. but quite a lot of other people joined in and gleefully or vengefully delivered a kicking to adverts on [[Usefulnotes/{{Television}} TV]], on [[{{Radio}} radio]], in magazines, or on the Web, which insulted the viewer's intelligence or were just so cringingly ill-conceived that they left a stunned viewer simply asking "Why?"

** Unless it's ''good''. Burt Reynolds being obviously self-referential in a series of ads for a British optician got a thumbs-up for his being a self-aware good sport. There seems to be a trend for this: Creator/SylvesterStallone has appeared in a series of ads for a bakery where a Rambo-like delivery driver is dedicated to getting the bread from bakery to store, whatever the cost. Creator/AmySolaris, in her Stepford Wife persona, sells cleaning products in a very self-aware way. This - known American stars sending themselves up and showing a good sense of humour - is the sort of thing the British viewing public ''likes''.

* [[Narm/{{Advertising}} Narm]]: The sort of thing that makes you go ''What the fuck was THAT all about?'' without being able to recall what was being advertised.[[invoked]]

* SummonBackUpDancers: Often invoked in adverts where the lead character will break into a song and dance over the virtues and unbelievably exciting nature of the product being advertised. Back-up dancers will appear from nowhere, or else otherwise sane and rational-looking people in the street will abruptly cease doing normal things and join in. Seen in very cheesy adverts on daytime TV for products ranging from online gambling to - unbelievably - lawyers offering to take up your case for being injured at work. Look for these to be skewered as unbelievably offensive to people of normal brainpower. [[AmbulanceChaser Injury lawyers Hampson Hughes]] and online gambling site Foxy Bingo are especially loathed.

* WeAreTheExperts: Frequently illustrated as an example of ad-men's weasel words.

** Unless it's ''good''. Burt Reynolds being obviously self-referential in a series of ads for a British optician got a thumbs-up for his being a self-aware good sport. There seems to be a trend for this: Creator/SylvesterStallone has appeared in a series of ads for a bakery where a Rambo-like delivery driver is dedicated to getting the bread from bakery to store, whatever the cost. Creator/AmySolaris, in her Stepford Wife persona, sells cleaning products in a very self-aware way. This - known American stars sending themselves up and showing a good sense of humour - is the sort of thing the British viewing public ''likes''. Ad men, take note.

* WeAreTheExperts: Oh yeah? Says who? Frequently illustrated as an example of ad-men's weasel words.

* AdOfWin: Frequently exposed for laughs.

* EpicFail: [[http://adturds.co.uk/2016/01/27/19-tesco-discount-fails-you-wont-believe/ These utterly pointless "discounts"]], all of which were found on the shelves of a major British supermarket.[[invoked]]

* [[EarWorm/{{Advertising}} Ear Worm]]: Some truly vile examples have been exposed here. "We Buy Any Car" and "GoCompare" are two utterly loathed examples.

A web blog which is written by a man who hates bad adverts. It used to be written by two people who hate bad adverts. but quite a lot of other people joined in and gleefully or vengefully delivered a kicking to adverts on [[Usefulnotes/{{Television}} TV]], or on [[{{Radio}} radio]], or in magazines, or on the Web, which insulted the viewer's intelligence or were just so cringingly ill-conceived that they left a stunned viewer simply asking "Why?"

[[http://adturds.co.uk/adturds-on-brand-republic/ Apparently the British advertising profession pays attention to this blog]] and collectively winces whenever a particularly egregious example of the ad-man's art is savaged by the ungrateful consumer.

In recent years, the creator of the site, thought to be a professionally disgruntled former ad executive in the north of England, has emphasised that there should also be honourable mentions for the very best examples of advertising in British media. Readers have obliged, although the emphasis is on systematic deconstruction of the sort of lazy, cheap, uninspired advertising that drives people up the wall. This very British site can be found '''[[http://adturds.co.uk/2015/07/uncle-bens-dildo-rice-quinoa-advert/ here]]''' and new readers are directed to search the archives where some real gems may be found. Although a very British site in concept, scope and bilious black humour, many adverts shared with the USA are covered and receive their own bucket of bile. Or sometimes even praise, grudging or otherwise. Do note the language used can get a bit NSFW. [[https://www.facebook.com/AdTurds Also present on Facebook]].

!! Advertising tropes deconstructed with chainsaws include:

* AdOfWin: frequently exposed for laughs.
* {{Advertisements}}: the wonderful world of advertising is tackled in a random way, generally as reaction to the latest perceived horror on TV or elsewhere - although genuinely good adverts can be singled out for praise too.
* AdvertisingTropes: pick any [=AdTurd=] page at random. There will be an example {{Lampshading}} at least one of the tropes.
* AmbulanceChaser: It has been noted that daytime TV in Britain is full of adverts for ambulance chasing lawyers. They are frequently invited to have the ambulance, or some other heavy vehicle such as a Challenger tank, run over ''them''.
* AsbestosFreeCereal: Frequently pointed out.
* BumblingDad: A staple of British TV advertising, and over-used to the point of being a cliché. Instances are highlighted and discussed on AT.
* ButWaitTheresMore: American adverts of the {{Infomercial}} style are viewed as cheap shots, like shooting fish in a barrel. But the general opinion among AT bloggers is that if the fucking advert's been on for fifteen minutes and '''still''' hasn't finished, it needs serious editing. Preferably with a chainsaw. Infomercials with British accents can provoke a BerserkButton among viewers.
* [[DethroningMoment/{{Advertising}} Dethroning Moments — Advertising]]: the site gleefully describes and catalogues those.
* AttackAd: Political advertising in the run-up to the British general election in May 2015 is discussed '''[[http://adturds.co.uk/2015/05/the-tory-press-general-election-sun-mail/ here]]'''
* [[EarWorm/{{Advertising}} Ear Worm]]: some truly vile examples have been exposed here. "We Buy Any Car" and "GoCompare" are two utterly loathed examples.

* {{Japandering}}: Frequently identified and derided without mercy.[[note]]Unless it's ''good''. Burt Reynolds being obviously self-referential in a series of ads for a British opticians got a thumbs-up for his being a self-aware good sport. There seems to be a trend for this: Creator/SylvesterStallone has appeared in a series of ads for a bakery where a Rambo-like delivery driver is dedicated to getting the bread from bakery to store, whatever the cost. Creator/AmySolaris, in her Stepford Wife persona, sells cleaning products, in a very self-aware way. This - known American stars sending themselves up and showing a good sense of humour - is the sort of thing the British viewing public ''likes''. Ad men, take note. [[/note]]

* MuckMonster: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKWDkNLi9c Zingy animated icon]] used by British energy company EDF has often been likened, unfavourably, to a parasitical turd-monster. Embittered website [=AdTurds=] has not been slow in likening it to ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s Mr Hankey in its relentlessly cheerful disposition while - well, remaining a turd. The advertising agency has responded by making its colour a more orange-yellow rather than brown: but the current advertising depicting a very-large Zingy in the form of a hot-air balloon does make it look like a giant turd floating above British suburbia.
* [[Narm/{{Advertising}} Narm]] - the sort of thing that makes you go ''What the fuck was THAT all about?'' without being able to recall what was being advertised.[[invoked]]
* ThePowerOfCheese: when the cheese gets so stinky it isn't even fit for a mousetrap, look for it to be bagged up for disposal on AT.
* SameLanguageDub: often done to Anglicize shared commercials imported from the USA. Where done cheaply or badly or unconvincingly, look out for this getting panned on AT
* StepfordConsumer: The people who add to blogs on AT are most definitely not this trope and get really snarky about the advertising executive's lazy assumption all consumers are Stepford. Stepford Consumers in adverts generally get identified and panned.
* SummonBackUpDancers: Often invoked in adverts where the lead character will break into a song and dance over the virtues and unbelievably exciting nature of the product being advertised. Back-up dancers will appear from nowhere, or else otherwise sane and rational looking people in the street will abruptly cease doing normal things and join in. Seen in very cheesey adverts on daytime TV for products ranging from online gambling to - unbelievably - lawyers offering to take up your case for being injured at work. Look for these to be skewered as unbelievably offensive to people of normal brainpower. [[AmbulanceChaser Injury lawyers Hampson Hughes]] and online gambling site Foxy Bingo are especially loathed.

* WeAreTheExperts: oh yeah? Says who? Frequently illustrated as an example of ad-men's weasel words.

In recent years, the creator of the site, thought to be a professionally disgruntled former ad executive in the north of England called [[http://robinbrown.co.uk/about-2/ Robin Brown]], has emphasised that there should also be honourable mentions for the very best examples of advertising in British media. Readers have obliged, although the emphasis is on systematic deconstruction of the sort of lazy, cheap, uninspired advertising that drives people up the wall. This very British site can be found '''[[http://adturds.co.uk/2015/07/uncle-bens-dildo-rice-quinoa-advert/ here]]''' and new readers are directed to search the archives where some real gems may be found. Although a very British site in concept, scope and bilious black humour, many adverts shared with the USA are covered and receive their own bucket of bile. Or sometimes even praise, grudging or otherwise. Do note the language used can get a bit NSFW. [[https://www.facebook.com/AdTurds Also present on Facebook]].

* {{Narm}}/Advertising - the sort of thing that makes you go ''What the fuck was THAT all about?'' without being able to recall what was being advertised.

* EarWorm/Advertising: some truly vile examples have been exposed here. "We Buy Any Car" and "GoCompare" are two utterly loathed examples.
* EpicFail: [[http://adturds.co.uk/2016/01/27/19-tesco-discount-fails-you-wont-believe/ These utterly pointless "discounts"]], all of which were found on the shelves of a major British supermarket.

* EpicFail: [[http://adturds.co.uk/2016/01/27/19-tesco-discount-fails-you-wont-believe/ These]] utterly pointless discounts, all of which were found on the shelves of a major British supermarket.

In recent years, the creator of the site, thought to be a professionally disgruntled ad executive in the north of England called Robin Brown, has emphasised that there should also be honourable mentions for the very best examples of advertising in British media. Readers have obliged, although the emphasis is on systematic deconstruction of the sort of lazy, cheap, uninspired advertising that drives people up the wall. This very British site can be found '''[[http://adturds.co.uk/2015/07/uncle-bens-dildo-rice-quinoa-advert/ here]]''' and new readers are directed to search the archives where some real gems may be found. Although a very British site in concept, scope and bilious black humour, many adverts shared with the USA are covered and receive their own bucket of bile. Or sometimes even praise, grudging or otherwise. Do note the language used can get a bit NSFW. [[https://www.facebook.com/AdTurds Also present on Facebook]].

* SummonBackUpDancers: Often invoked in adverts where the lead character will break into a song and dance over the virtues and unbelievably exciting nature of the product being advertised. Back-up dancers will appear from nowhere, or else otherwise sane and rational looking people in the street will abruptly cease doing normal things and join in. Seen in very cheesey adverts on daytime TV for products ranging from online gambling to - unbelievably - lawyers offering to take up your case for being injured at work. Look for these to be skewered as unbelievably offensive to people of normal brainpower. Injury lawyers Hampson Hughes and online gambling site Foxy Bingo are especially loathed.

* MuckMonster: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKWDkNLi9c Zingy animated ico]]n used by British energy company EDF has often been likened, unfavourably, to a parasitical turd-monster. Embittered website AdTurds has not been slow in likening it to ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'''s Mr Hankey in its relentlessly cheerful disposition while - well, remaining a turd. The advertising agency has responded by making its colour a more orange-yellow rather than brown: but the current advertising depicting a very-large Zingy in the form of a hot-air balloon does make it look like a giant turd floating above British suburbia.

[[/folder]]

* [[DethroningMoment/{{Advertising}} DethroningMoment -- Advertising]]: the site gleefully describes and catalogues those.

* [[DethroningMoment/{{Advertising}} DethroningMoment/Advertising]]: the site gleefully describes and catalogues those.

* DethroningMoment/{{Advertising}}: the site gleefully describes and catalogues these Dethroning Moments.

* TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: Related closely to BumblingDad, and just as loathed by AT readers.

* {{Japandering}}'': frequently identified and derided without mercy.[[note]]Unless it's good. Burt Reynolds being obviously self-referential in a series of ads for a British opticians got a thumbs-up for his being a self-aware good sport. There seems to be a trend for this: Creator/SylvesterStallone has appeared in a series of ads for a bakery where a Rambo-like delivery driver is dedicated to getting the bread from bakery to store, whatever the cost. Creator/AmySolaris, in her Stepford wife persona, sells cleaning products, in a very self-aware way. This - known American stars sending themselves up and showing a good sense of humour - is the sort of thing the British viewing public ''likes''. Ad men, take note. [[/note]]