I’ve been meaning to get to this for weeks, and finally had the chance.
It’s the Clearasil ad where two girls are looking at the mirror, and one complains that she will “literally die” if she has a pimple for the prom.
What marketing genius decided that suggesting suicide was a good marketing strategy?
Don’t they have any idea of the suicide problem in this country??
I agree and that is a poor choice of words.
Also, some really bad modeling for young girls about what’s really important in this world.
Yay for complaining.
I understand that they have a product to sell, and that they’re selling appearance… . no kid wants “healthy” skin if they can have “beautiful” skin.
But “prom will be ruined for me!” would have been SO MUCH better a word choice-- though equally exaggerated.
I don’t think I’ve seen the commercial, but I agree, it is awful wording and a terrible message.
IMO it is even wrong to suggest that one pimple would ruin prom – a pimple is a minor thing that many many HS students have to deal with and shouldn’t be made to feel badly about. A simple “oh no” would probably suffice.
Someone enterprising make-up company should run an ad for cover-up right after that Clearasil ad.
Is it the one with the guy in the pink tuxedo? We usually mute commercials so I haven’t heard that dialogue. Good on you for writing in! I hope the ad gets pulled.
Good for you. I live in Hawaii. That Tiguan commercial with the meteor strike where people are evacuating came on TV the same day of the “Missile Alert This is not a drill” text that came out in January and it’s continued to be shown. It makes my blood boil every time. If I knew who to contact, I would.
That being said, there are some locations in the US where “I could just die” doesn’t suggest that the person is thinking of committing suicide. It just means that they are extremely embarrassed. S14’s midwest teacher in 5th grade became alarmed when he muttered it one day. I was bewildered because I’ve heard it fairly commonly as an expression of embarrassment.
Lots of kids go to the prom and have a great time…even with a few pimples. The notion this will ruin the prom is also not worthy of TV time.
The commercial that gets to me is the one with the lady that got into a car accident, called USAA, and they tell her thank you for your service. She doesn’t serve, her husband does but she responds “I appreciated that because as spouses, we serve too.”
No, you don’t. You are married to somebody who serves.
I googled to see it and all the buzz I find is about whether it’s homophobic (the pink suit guy.)
Nonetheless, whether or not the expression (the girl’s comment) is common in some places doesn’t mean the extreme sentiment is any sort of good. I can imagine people who lost a loved one finding it offensive. They may feel it trivializes real loss.
@CottonTales, I made that exact comment to my husband. The families certainly sacrifice, but they don’t serve. If course, neither do men become pregnant and yet “we’re pregnant” seems to be acceptable to most people.
How about how millenial slang now calls for the response to something very funny to be “Dead”
It’s a shortened version of “thats so funny I died from laughing”
I truly hate it. I like other millenial slang ( spilling the tea…for gossiping…I love) so it’s not just that I don’t like current slang.
@CottonTales I was just watching that commercial earlier today and thinking the same thing. Maybe when it comes to that particular insurance company they do get treated that way? In most situations I wouldn’t think so, though.
The same marketing genius that didn’t understand the actual meaning of “literally”. :O)
Midwesterner here. Yes, the phrase is used here but not literally and most would know what they meant.
Still a very bad commercial in very poor taste.
The PR department is gonna be busy for a while…
I did see tis commercial run tonight without the die comment. I don’t know if it was simply the edited down version for a 10-second slot or another choice.
“Literally” just saw this commercial on Crime and Investigation channel and it had the line in it…
Military brat here. USAA is an insurance company for military families.
I like the ad. IMO, my mom DID serve. One year, my dad got a 5 page “efficiency report.” Almost 2 pages was about my mom and all the things she did for the military community. My dad was VERY proud.
Heck, in some ways, I feel as if I served. Growing up as a military brat wasn’t always easy. And, yes, if you got in trouble, it hurt your dad’s career in a way that doesn’t happen in the civilian world.
Now, please understand I am not complaining about my childhood or comparing it to actually serving in the military. But having a dad or mom who is career military affects your upbringing in ways that those who grow up in the civilian world often don’t appreciate. I’m the youngest child in my family. By the time I came along my dad was more senior, so I only went to 7 schools K-12. My older siblings went to several more.