History Headscratchers / Advertising

* The AXA/Equitable commercials with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PETkHFxL-ks gorilla]]. They feature a large talking gorilla trying to talk oblivious people into preparing for their retirement or what have you, ending sarcastically with: "But don't listen to me, I'm just the 800lb gorilla in the room". It mixes TWO different metaphors. The correct phrase to describe a looming issue that people ignore is: "The Elephant in the Room". The phrase: "800lb Gorilla" refers to an [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking authority figure]], or just a badass in general. It comes from the old riddle: Q: "Where does an 800lb gorilla sit?" A: "Anywhere it wants". "800lb gorilla in the ROOM" is just confusing the issue. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/800_lb_gorilla_in_the_room That Other Wiki]] mentions that the two terms are confused enough to be interchangeable, but [[Headscratchers/HomePage It still bugs me]]

* According to Old Spice Man logic, does the scent make you more -manly-, and therefore more attractive to those that like masculinity (implying that gay/bi men will also be attracted to you), or does it just make you more attractive to women (and therefore could conceivably work when worn by a lesbian/bi woman)? [I asked this of [[Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike @OldSpiceMan]] when they were doing the YouTube videos - "I'm a woman who likes women, would Old Spice work for me?" - but regrettably got no answer.] Possibly more WMG, but still enough to niggle at me.

* According to Old Spice Man logic, does the scent make you more -manly-, and therefore more attractive to those that like masculinity (implying that gay/bi men will also be attracted to you), or does it just make you more attractive to women (and therefore could conceivably work when worn by a lesbian/bi woman)? [I asked this of [[Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike @OldSpiceMan]] when they were doing the Youtube videos - "I'm a woman who likes women, would Old Spice work for me?" - but regrettably got no answer.] Possibly more WMG, but still enough to niggle at me.

* EVERYTHING about the [=McDonald's=] "what can I get for a dollar" commercial. First of all, he gets all these crappy things for his dollar, but the dollar is never taken...he still has the dollar at the end of the commercial. Second of all, who walks into a ''tanning salon'' or a ''travel agency'' asking what can he get for a DOLLAR? And finally, there's the fact that the Dollar Menu would NOT cost exactly one dollar, because there's the whole thing with taxes and whatnot.

** Statistics 101 (well, maybe statistics 99.7): There are, simply, 265 combinations. The 40,312 number is based on the assumption that the ''order'' of your...erm...order matters. When ordering it doesn't matter if you get fries and a shake or a shake and fries. The number in the commercial assumes it does matter. (Maybe it does for you. YMMV)

** Maybe the people who pay Jaime Lee Curtis think that guys [[ToiletHumor don't care about]] [[NothingIsScarier [long and disgusting description of bowel problems]]]? Maybe because the commercials [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything sometimes sound like a Midol commercial]]? Maybe because [[TheunfairSex men]] are ''fat, ignorant slobs who will only eat something healthy if it tastes like pie or ice cream and won't buy more to replace their wives' yogurt containers that they stole and put back in the fridge, empty''? [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Or that toddlers don't eat yogurt any more so young teens need be coerced into begging for]] [[XtremekoolLetterz yogurt Blastz!]]? What about the yogurt commercials is "with yogurt commecials"?

*** I think the ''real'' question is-Why in all the universe is Jamie Lee Curtis doing yogurt commercials? I mean, she's a talented actress, she's still quite hot...So why, ''Why'', '''WHY''' is she selling a food product that regulates your digestion? Look,I know celebrities endorse various products before, but it's usually when they're past their prime (No offense to said celebrities).

*** which is ''also'' annoying...

* There was this moustetrap commercial in which a woman tells his husband she just killed a mouse using the mousetrap. What bugs me was that she was so flipping calm about, she acted like she just made a sandwich!

*** Directions which could have, as easily, been provided over the phone...

** Depending on the household, they may be marketing to families whose parents eat totally different things for breakfast than the kids (or don't eat breakfast at all). It is also possible that commercials like these (as well as a lot of other children's foods, most notably Trix cereal) are meant to feel empowering to children, that they can outwit and defeat even seemingly invincible authority figures like parents. They associate that feeling of empowerment with the food and want it..

* I'm from Canada, and here, we have a group called Raising the Roof, who are a charity group who help the homeless. One of the things they do to raise money is selling red toques (wool hats) and giving the money to help the homeless. So by weaing said hat, you are showing how caring you are to homeless people. That's good. BUT, apparintly, THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, because they relesed these stupid ads where people get benfits from wearing it. The women at work who's your rival wears the same skirt and blouse? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdscfU23xk4) She'll DESTORY HER OWN CLOTHES OVER IT! Are you a dentist who's just preformed malpratice when you've removed someone's teeth at a simple check up? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaMxyWw2d5k) He won't sue you, because you are wearing that hat. WHAT THE HELL?!?!? Helping another human being isn't good enough, you need some sort of selfish asinine reason to be DECENT?!?! It's like something that Arthur from King of Queens would do....only much less funny. I talked about this with a friend, saying that it would have been more appropret to show a sad homeless person on the street beening helped onto his feet by someone wearing that toque, but he said that would be SAD and people want to feel happy. IT'S THE HOMELESS, THEY ARE LVING A SAD LIFE MORE OFTEN THEN NOT. THE POINT OF THIS IS TO HELP THEM OUT OF THAT SAD LIFE. And it's not like it can't work; I've seen ads for the Salvation Army that are kind of sad and serious about changing the life of people on the streets. And these are PSA ads, which are known for more often then not, being somewhat serious. I recall an anti-drinking and driving ad that always puts me to tears with a crying baby who's mother was killed in a car crash (I'm tearing up just thinking of it right now). It's sad, but it still works. So, anyone else agree this? I wanted to ask before I tried posting it on the main page.

* There's a State Farm insurance commercial in which a shrewish wife catches her husband on the phone at 3 AM and assumes he's talking to a girlfriend, even after she's taken the phone from him and heard a man's voice confirm that he's a State Farm employee. Bad enough that it plays into the "wives are jealous shrews" cliche, but it doesn't even allow her to shift gears to a ''justifiable'' suspicion ... namely, wondering why her husband felt the need for an ''insurance quote'' in the middle of the night? ("''What the hell did you do to the car?!''")

* There's an Optima commercial that brags about their rear-view park assist system, and demonstrates it when the car backs up into its garage to stop a tiny fraction of an inch from a box full of toys. Not only is it shameless in its MundaneMadeAwesome melodrama, but the "imperiled" toy which the car's bumper stops just short of colliding with is a soft plush rabbit ... which, being pliable fabric, wouldn't have been damaged in the slightest if it ''had'' been pressed up against by the bumper.

* Often times, car commercials will have a warning saying "Professional driver. Closed Course. Do not attempt." For the most part, it makes sense; they're often driving pretty fast in some kind of desert for...some reason. But in the commercials taking place in a city, doing relatively normal things, why should you not attempt them? What's wrong with making a left turn? [[EveryCarIsAPinto Will the car explode if you do so?]]

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsqRfqkN9XM this]] Geico commercial, Alexander Graham Bell gets a wrong-number phone call, and informs the caller that ''his'' number is "1", so they must want "2" instead. The obvious implication is that the telephone is such a new invention that 1 and 2 are the ''only'' numbers yet assigned ... but if that's the case, then where the hell is the caller phoning him ''from''...?

** Except there's no indication that the caller every said what number ''they'' were calling from, and not enough time for them to have done so.

** It's a joke. Come on, Wiki/TVTropes, we should know what ''jokes'' are!

** [[Wiki/SCPFoundation You might not like]] [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1344-j the answer to that question]].

* The Garnier: Fructis shampoo commercial which basically says "our product is a more attractive method of getting rid of dandruff than having a monkey on your head picking your hair". How is shampoo better? EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys! How is a monkey less of a babe magnet than the same stuff everybody else is using?

* In Middle Eastern ''La Vache Qui Rit" commercials (take [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x36wfod these two]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrE8yaa2lTQ from Turkey]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sUIFaluue8 this one from Lebanon]] as examples), the cow's laughter sounds less jolly and more like an EvilLaugh. Why?

* There's a breakfast-sausage commercial in which a teen doesn't want to pay attention in chemistry class because he's hungry. Given a sausage-on-a-stick, he perks up and dives into the experiment, apparently bright and eager ... but still dumb enough to ''eat food'' while working with volatile chemicals. Great way to poison yourself or get kicked out of class, there.

* The Sprint phone "Framily Plan" commercials. To a point I can see what they're doing; showing how the plan can allow a bunch of very different people to all be in on one plan or whatever. What I don't get is.... ''why is the dad in the commercial a hamster?'' It takes the commercial out of "quirky" territory into "WTF is wrong with this universe?"

* Ads for Prevagen, a dietary supplement alleged to improve memory, boast of how they contain an ingredient originally found in jellyfish. No problem, plenty of supplements and actual drugs derive from natural sources ... but why, exactly, do the commercials go ''out of their way'' to emphasize that specific animal as the source? Does it really make sense to brag about how your brain-enhancing product comes from an animal that doesn't ''have'' a brain?

** In another Chef Boyardee commercial, a monster eats a can of Chef Boyardee, then turns into a boy. One has to wonder what happens to said boy afterward. Along with that, it eats the Chef Boyardee raw.