<p>zoosermom:</p>
<p>That commercial with the bulldog is one of the few I like. It’s not ‘in your face’, doesn’t have any annoying sound effects, and the dog is great in it and as you say, acts the part beautifully.</p>
<p>I’m stradmom and I approve this message.</p>
<p>^^That’s funny! :D</p>
<p>Much as I agree, and dislike all the commercials mentioned above, right now I’d give anything to have a night filled with them instead of endless campaign ads…less than a week left and I’ll get my wish. >>>>>></p>
<p>LOL! Yep. I live in VA, so I’ve forgotten all about regular ads for a while now.</p>
<p>But I am totally sick of Flo the Progressive Ins. girl.</p>
<p>I usually roll my eyes at Kohl’s commercials because every sale they have is “the biggest sale of the year”.</p>
<p>I enjoy commercials but largely because I like trying to figure out what the agency/advertiser is really trying to say. </p>
<p>Beer commercials always have extremely pretty women. Why? The obvious thing is they’re trying to say that drinking their beer makes you more attractive but the subtext is really more that alcohol releases inhibitions. In you. In women. And the women will seem more attractive and you to them. </p>
<p>I love the Samsung S3 ads that show a guy holding a place in line for his parents. It’s cool because the subtext is a typical ad thing: advertise to change the perception and thus the reality. Android phones heavily skew to older users. They’re at once trying to say the S3 isn’t that phone and also trying to hide the reality to change it. The best example of this kind of thing done badly was when US automakers had huge quality problems and the response was the ad campaign “Quality is Job 1”. Everyone knew it wasn’t, but someone important thought that advertising it was would make people think differently. Didn’t work. Why? Because quality was not job 1. Ads really don’t change reality. I don’t get why advertisers believe they can. </p>
<p>I love drug commercials. There are so many examples but my favorites are the ***** pills. The guy is always in super shape and the woman is young, in fantastic condition and wants sex. Why would they want you as an ordinary guy to compare your relationship to these perfect ones that only need ***** pills? Because what they’re selling is not male potency but something about relationships and something that isn’t always good. One thing they’re selling is that any problem in the relationship is no longer your fault. You don’t have the perfect relationship. But at least you can get it up. Maybe the rest is her fault. Maybe it’s both of your faults. But at least you can get it up. They can’t say that so bluntly.</p>
<p>The ones that drove me batty for a while were the rash of men being portrayed as morons. I think I’m too old to get those because the subtext was that identifying with idiots - which came from “buddy-buddy ads” for beer and office services - is “fun”, that it’s somehow ironic like an episode of Family Guy or even Beavis & Butthead. Turns me off but I’m old. </p>
<p>I don’t care much for commercials that don’t have much subtext. The annoying Progressive ads are mostly like radio jingles designed to make you think of Progressive when you happen to think about insurance. OK. </p>
<p>Some ads are just brilliant. Aretha Franklin acting up in the backseat and being handed a Snickers bar and transforming into a guy because when he’s hungry he acts like a diva. Neat. Takes the phrase and makes it come to life in service of the idea Snickers has pursued for years, that because it has peanuts it’s not just candy. Each ad in the group takes a phrase and acts it out, though some aren’t as funny.</p>
<p>An ad campaign that made no sense to me was JCP’s short-lived “square deal” idea. First, who believes that kind of stuff from a company? They don’t run sales? Why? Second, why should I shop at JCP because they offer a square deal. You shop for clothes and clothes at x price. Target gets that: they advertise the cool or the basics but always an attitude of “this is the stuff you want”. Not a deal, but stuff. The JCP ads didn’t sell stuff.</p>
<p>Men seem to have gone from Cialis/Viagra, to Low T, to catheters. ;)</p>
<p>Mini, speak for yourself. :)</p>
<p>I don’t get the viagra/cialis ads. Why are these guys in their 40’s having impotency problems? Or do women really want the guy to keep it up for 4 hours? Really?</p>
<p>I also don’t the the muscle building ads. There is an ad with a 70 year old man with huge muscles. I really don’t get that ad because I have no idea what is being sold.</p>
<p>^ Why are they in SEPARATE tubs? That’s the one I never understood…</p>
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<p>When you’re 50, you’ll understand.</p>
<p>Did you see the one where 97 y o promisses riots if her favorite does not win election? 97 y o decided to leave a real good memory of herself when she is gone…Way to go!!! I wonder how much $$ she got for that and how in a world she is planning to use them, she looked like she cannot move around much any more…</p>
<p>Those liquor ads/beer ads at all those fab parties? I’ve NEVER been to a party like that…I guess I am so uncool that I never knew there were really parties like that! The message I seem to get is that those brands are just way to cool for me.</p>
<p>Although my H does like the "most interesting man in the world " ads. But he is smart enough to know that drinking Dos XX beer will not make him any more interesting.</p>
<p>For some reason I get an kick out of some of the ads for Target.</p>
<p>
This reminds me of a print ad that used to run in the New York Times Magazine. It showed a garbage can full of empty bottles of some kind of fancy wine or champagne. The text: “Too Bad You Weren’t Invited.”</p>
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<p>I read somewhere that he got paid 7 million to make that commercial: not so much hard times but rather easy pickings.</p>
<p>^If you are talking about Channel #5 commercial, that looked so bad, I bet Brad stands at loosing more after that than 7 millions that he was paid. Anyway, whenever I see him in the movie from now on, his face would remind me of this commercial, and maybe I would not want to see a movie after all.</p>
<p>“I also don’t the the muscle building ads. There is an ad with a 70 year old man with huge muscles. I really don’t get that ad because I have no idea what is being sold.”</p>
<p>I;m building my kegger.</p>
<p>That is what is being sold. Building keggars. I had no idea. :)</p>
<p>Visible abs remind me that I have a hernia (actually 3 - I’m going for the six-pack.)</p>
<p>The two bathtubs represent E.T. sex.</p>
<p>:)…</p>
<p>I also tend to like the off-beat, strange commercials. The problem is that whenever Geico finds something that is successful, they beat it completely to death.</p>
<p>Count me among those that hate commercials for cleaning products. </p>
<p>But I have one thing that I hate most in this world. And that is Old Navy commercials. I hate them so, so, so much.</p>
<p>I too love the bulldog commercial.<br>
I like many Target ads, but am dreading the crazy lady Christmas ads that are coming. She’s the annoying person in the red sweatpants/shirt.<br>
Eagerly awaiting Nov 7 for an end to the political ads. They are all about a marriage amendment here.</p>