The worst commercials in TV history..

[mleach]

My picks for the worst commericals ( national & local ) in TV history...

*Nike "Rock & Roll Tennis" featuring Andre Agassi. Bad because Andre from what I can remember wasn't a fan of rock music so why would he be "into" rock & roll tennis?

*Syms..the retail chain whose motto is "..An educated comsumer is our best customer". Nothing wrong with that but for some reason both Sy Syms and his daughter Marcy gave me the creeps. Yes, I know Sy Syms recently passed on but Marcy is still with us, and I assume she still has that weird smile.

*Denver based Attorney Frank Azar. Usually I don't have a problem with lawyers advertsing on TV but Azar his ads are a bit too much. His "clients" showing off their settlement checks, people with smiles on their faces saying how much money they have for their "pain and suffering". Almost as if they were happy to be in an auto accident.

and this "gem"...

The now defunct Charter Hospital of Aurora, Colorado ( a mental hospital ). Back in the late 80's I remember seeing this ad on Denver's KMGH and KUSA featuring clips of home movies like the children opening Christmas presents, playing in the snow, the daughter's wedding day while the Ray Stevens tune "Everything is Beautiful" is playing the background. However on top of the Ray Stevens tune one hears a variety of voices shouting such things like "...Billy don't take those pills...Billy put down that pill bottle !!" "...Mama..I got the razor blade in my hand and I WILL cut my wrist..I SWEAR I WILL DO IT !!!" "...Daddy my life sucks..I am gonna kill myself"...I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE !!!"...all of this while the viewer sees those home movies of such a "happy" family. And the tag "...Don't YOU wish Everything could beautiful again? Get Help...Charter Hospital of Aurora".

If I had to pick just one bad commerical..this would be it.

 

[LKellerIII]

The problem with the subject - "Worst Commercials in TV History" is that we all have short memories. Granted, I'm getting old and more accepting, but I remember TV commercials in the 50s and 60s as much worse than today's. Even today's local commercials are far better than 20-30 years ago.

With that in mind, I have two nominations for the San Francisco Bay Area category. First, Ed Barbara of Furniture USA or "Furnitchooessay" as Ed called it. In the local huckster tradition, Ed was accused of being a crook. I believe he left town under less than ideal circumstances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK-w5_UJTjk

Second nomination, almost as bad: Paul from the Diamond Center

The link below is to an SF Gate (Chronicle) blog about local commercials, with a link to one of Paul's commercials. It's one of his better efforts, actually.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/parenting/detail?blogid=29&entry_id=23404

 

[Hal Erickson]

The all-time worst is the one for AT&T in which the family members aim remotes at each other as if they're loaded weapons.
Considering the upsurge in domestic violence, this commercial is about as funny as a hole in a parachute.

 

[Markieo]

Bob King Kia/Honda/Mazda/Hyundai/Studebaker/Desoto, etc. here in NC. The announcer is so obnoxious I wanna punch him right in the face. "Not $30,000 like Toyota, $9(laughs like an idiot),998! withyourtradeWith the 100,000 mile warranty! With all this equipment! Heater, AM Radio, Whitewall Tires, 3 speed! Seat Belts! and waywaymore! Nobody beats Bob King! No-hohohohohohoho-body!!!!!!!!!!

#2: Head On! Apply directly to forehead! (repeat as often as possible)

 

[bpatrick]

I know what you mean about the Bob King commercial,
and I'd put Mike Hogewood and his "CAAARoLIna Kia"
right up there with it.

 

[WMC2006]

<sigh>

Don't you guys realize you just gave TheDude another excuse to access another thread just to say how "everything today is garbage and commercials should go back to the way they were made in the 80s"?


You guys just don't learn, do you? ;D

 

[evolve991]

mleach I remember a commercial like that here in MD. Not sure what hospital it was for though

 

[Obtuse1]

Apply directly to the forehead....

Annoying, but effective.

 

[LKellerIII]

Apply directly to the forehead....

Annoying, but effective.

Effective in what way? Yes, it made you remember the product, but I'm not sure it encouraged people to buy it. I assure you I would have bought almost any headache remedy other than Head On. But the commercial was not the only reason. The product is a homeopathic "medicine" and I use the word loosely. "Homeopathic" is a synonym for doesn't work. The best the user can hope for is the placebo effect.

 

[SgtPepper9876]

<sigh>

Don't you guys realize you just gave TheDude another excuse to access another thread just to say how "everything today is garbage and commercials should go back to the way they were made in the 80s"?


You guys just don't learn, do you? ;D

You forgot UTTER CRAP!!

 

[mleach]

The problem with the subject - "Worst Commercials in TV History" is that we all have short memories. Granted, I'm getting old and more accepting, but I remember TV commercials in the 50s and 60s as much worse than today's. Even today's local commercials are far better than 20-30 years ago.

I agree with you about local commericals ( better now than in the past ) but with the national commercials what gets me is how many ads back then were considered "ok", nobody seemed to cared but today when one views those same ads many get offended. The old cigarette ads are obvious, saw an old ad for Virginia Slims cigarettes on You Tube recently and reading the comments such as "stupid bitches....you got lung cancer baby" ( and that remark was tame compared to the others ). Soda pop ads seem to be more taboo now and even the classic ones like "Be A Pepper" or even the Michael Jackson Pepsi ad, I noticed that even those are getting slammed when they pop up online the same way with cigarettes. Recently I heard an ad for 7-Up in the radio making fun of the old Assoication tune "Wendy", my co-worker who is 22 was VERY offended by the ad who felt that soda pop next to tobacco is a major factor why today many people are fat and have a variety of health issues and products like 7-UP should not be allowed to advertise......of course it should be noted my co-worker was drinking a Rockstar energy drink and smoking, ok "puffing" a little cigar when telling me this..

 

[BRNout]

The problem with the subject - "Worst Commercials in TV History" is that we all have short memories. Granted, I'm getting old and more accepting, but I remember TV commercials in the 50s and 60s as much worse than today's. Even today's local commercials are far better than 20-30 years ago.

I agree with you about local commericals ( better now than in the past ) but with the national commercials what gets me is how many ads back then were considered "ok", nobody seemed to cared but today when one views those same ads many get offended. The old cigarette ads are obvious, saw an old ad for Virginia Slims cigarettes on You Tube recently and reading the comments such as "stupid bitches....you got lung cancer baby" ( and that remark was tame compared to the others ). Soda pop ads seem to be more taboo now and even the classic ones like "Be A Pepper" or even the Michael Jackson Pepsi ad, I noticed that even those are getting slammed when they pop up online the same way with cigarettes. Recently I heard an ad for 7-Up in the radio making fun of the old Assoication tune "Wendy", my co-worker who is 22 was VERY offended by the ad who felt that soda pop next to tobacco is a major factor why today many people are fat and have a variety of health issues and products like 7-UP should not be allowed to advertise......of course it should be noted my co-worker was drinking a Rockstar energy drink and smoking, ok "puffing" a little cigar when telling me this..

WOW, your friend truly frightens me! People like this are leading us down a path toward totalitarianism and they don't even realize it.

By the way, not trying to nitpick, but it was "Windy" by the Association and not "Wendy."

 

[firepoint525]

Maybe we see these every year, but for some reason, it's annoying me more this year, and that is, ads that feature the advertiser's specials sung to the tune of a Christmas song. H. H. Gregg's is the most annoying, but is unfortunately, not the only one. I believe Best Buy is doing it, as well.

What's funny about the H.H. Gregg ad is that the rolled-up ad copy which does the singing actually gets clobbered by a snowball during the spot, which makes me think that even the advertisers knew that that one would become annoying after a while.

 

[bigbrotherfan4ever]

When I lived in Central IL we had an ad for This Is It Furnature and they would yell Were going downer downer downer and then repeat the downer downer downer part a few times

 

[Mark Giardina]

At the present time there is an automobile dealer who is on every channel a zillion times a day and he screams the words "HUGE-JA"! when describing the cost of his cars.

For those of you reading this from Rochester NY and were around 30 + years ago, there was a furniture salesman at 125 State Street ( Bring back memories Bob 1370 and Savage?) who had a commercial on television.

With the Sinatra song "State Street" playing in the background, a gentleman by the name of Frank Falzalore, would tell TV viewers to stop by his furniture store and have a cup of coffee and a "Saing-wich"! ;D

30+ years later I believe both Frank and the store are no longer around. As for the commercials, they could be stored in a local TV station video archives vault.

 

[quadraphonic]

For current ones, I nominate the GoDaddy.com commercials with the innuendo (not really double entendres, there's only one clear point). And the Reebok commercials where the camera focuses on the girl's butt and she spends half the commercial talking about her butt. Why are those commercials running on ABCFamily during the 25 Days of Christmas specials?

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

From oldest to most recent (with links to commercial video on YouTube if available), my picks for some of the all-time worst commericals:

--I had seen this at least a year or so ago on YouTube, but it apparently has been deleted. It was a circa-1962 Tide detergent (IIRC) commerical where a guy is singing the praises of Tide outside a housewife's kitchen window. Would have been creepy back in the day--especially in its monochrome glories. IMO this or a similar commercial probably would have been parodied nowadays (on the likes of Simpsons, Family Guy, SNL, etc.).

--The infamous Nov. 22, 1963 episode of ATWT (interrupted 10 minutes into the show by Walter Cronkite to announce the news of the JFK shooting) contains an AWFUL NuSoft commercial (at 5:48 on the YouTube video link below, and about 4 minutes away from Cronkite) featuring a woman dressed up like the Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe complaining that "I have so many children, I don't know what to do--about IRONING, IRONING, IRONING!!! . . ." (BTW, by this time IIRC ABC Radio had already broadcast their first bulletin about the Kennedy shooting. I hope this doesn't sound terrible--and if so I apologize--but seeing this commercial almost made me wish Uncle Walter was able to interrupt ATWT for the first bulletin RIGHT during the NuSoft commercial). And I also couldn't understand what the woman said at the beginning of the ad--it almost sounded like she said "Dirty Smurf!" ??? ??? ???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NOj5D9H-sQ&feature=related

--I barely remember this ad when it originally aired, but this 1979 Coast Soap commercial with the tired "Dancing Granny" (only to be rejuvenated by a Coast shower) practically creeped me out to this day.--- Granny shown in a commercial taking a shower is not the image I care to see (and I would think anyone else except perhaps Grandpa-- ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61q5cpX1o7k

--Then again, along the same lines, I used to think they were funny when I was a kid (particularly the music), but any Coast soap commercial from about 1976-82 (similar to the Dancing Granny one linked above) almost sounds excruciating to hear today.

--Any and all of the Carl's Jr./Hardee's commercials since 1997 (when Carl's Jr. purchased the Hardee's chain and introduced the Midwest to "Star Burgers" and gross commercials)--including the early ones with ketchup shown dripping from burgers (including one from about '98 or so I remember where a guy was eating a Carl's Jr. Thickburger from the window of a multi-story building, and a drip of ketchup ends up on a woman's solid white dress shirt). But this one for the Six Dollar Burger is creepy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwa06LSxCI4&feature=related

Bring back the old-style Hardee's commercials and the "hometown" feel of many of them!

--Super Bowl ads are not immune from my "worst commercial" list. Along the lines of fast food, Burger King's Super Bowl XXXIX commercial from 2006 with the Whopperettes almost made a vegetarian out of me. LOL. Here's a blog entry (with video of the Whopperette ad) regarding a blogger's review of the infamous BK Super Bowl ad from nearly 4 years ago:

http://www.randomculture.com/random_culture/2006/02/super_bowl_comm_2.html

--Then again, any Burger King ad with the "King" is AWFUL to begin with.

--Of course, how can any thread about "worst commercials in TV history" neglect to mention the Fall 2008 Toyota "Saved By Zero" campaign and how it seemed that one evening during Sunday Night Football it aired at least 5 times in a half-hour time frame!!!! Excruciating. This link below brings back memories of that work of art:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNzcRNrkdCw&feature=related

--Free Credit Report.com ads--need I say or link more. Definitely one of the worst (and even more so when you find out you have to enroll in Triple Advantage to get your "free" credit report). Same with the Budweiser "Real Men of Genius" ads--I think those have also been adapted for TV (it seems like they air during at least every other network commercial break during St. Louis Cardinals' radio broadcasts, and has been at least since 2004).

--And I don't mean to pick on the poor man now that he's no longer with us, but if this thread had been posted 6-12 months ago, I'm sure it wouldn't have taken long for someone to nominate any ad featuring Billy Mays as pitchman.

 

[ercjncpr]

Not his fault, but Los Angeles area car dealer got caught up in one heck of a worst commercial blooper back during the Watts Riots of 1965. KTLA was covering it 24/7 when they decided (fot financial reasons) to start dropping in spots. Among the first was a pre-recorded one with LA's favorite used car man exclaiming "Hi There, this is Cal Worthington, I hope you're enjoing today's movie!"

 

[LKellerIII]

The problem with the subject - "Worst Commercials in TV History" is that we all have short memories. Granted, I'm getting old and more accepting, but I remember TV commercials in the 50s and 60s as much worse than today's. Even today's local commercials are far better than 20-30 years ago.

Soda pop ads seem to be more taboo now and even the classic ones like "Be A Pepper" or even the Michael Jackson Pepsi ad, I noticed that even those are getting slammed when they pop up online the same way with cigarettes. Recently I heard an ad for 7-Up in the radio making fun of the old Assoication tune "Wendy", my co-worker who is 22 was VERY offended by the ad who felt that soda pop next to tobacco is a major factor why today many people are fat and have a variety of health issues and products like 7-UP should not be allowed to advertise......of course it should be noted my co-worker was drinking a Rockstar energy drink and smoking, ok "puffing" a little cigar when telling me this..

People like to keep things simple by picking villains to blame for society's woes, like 'evil' soda pop manufacturers. In the 1950s and 60s, people were drinking a lot of soda pop, and they ate more red meat and typically higher fat foods than people do today - but they were thinner on average than people today.

The more complicated fact is that people are fatter now because they eat much bigger portions of food. You can give some of the blame to the fast food industry and the "super-size" mentality, but you can also blame advertising for pushing the food.

Another culprit - people are busier now (fewer stay at home moms) and more affluent, so they eat out more. Restaurants couldn't survive without repeat business, and they keep you coming back by filling you up with huge tasty and salty portions. And as industrialized food production has become more efficient - food has become much cheaper as a percentage of household expenses. Americans pay less for food than the rest of the planet.

 

[1st of 5]

People are FATTER now because they don't exercise anymore. When I was young, we WALKED about 1/2 mile to school and back! In all kinds of weather, too! If we wanted a soda, we WALKED to the neighborhood American owned convenience (Not a foreigner owned Quickiemart) store. During summer vacations we played outside all day, running, bike riding, BB rifle safaris, football, baseball, NOT sitting inside an airconditioned, fully automated house of the future, incessantly playing computer games. Nowadays, people drive everywhere, even to the corner mailbox. People these days are nothing but a bunch of legal aged soiled and spoiled, helpless children who can't think or care for themselves, totally lacking any shred of common sense. They have all been brainwashed with today's philosophy of: You are not responsible for any of your actions, Its always someone else's fault, its only illegal if you get caught, if caught, accuse your accuser, and the big one, why work? the government will give you everything.

Now back to the main topic. Here in South Texas, a few years ago Quizno's ( a Subway-type sandwich shop),
had a commercial with some sort of singing puppet that looked like a mangey rat, which gave one the impression that either their eateries were rat infested or made out of rat meat. The commercial disappeared after about a month.
As for local comm, here we have an eyeglass store, called My Econo Optical, whose owner makes commercials dressed in gaudy, pastel colored leisure suits compete with color matching fedora/panama hybrid hats, festooned with cheesey looking gold anchor chains, necklaces, earrings and multiple rings on each finger. All this makes him look like some 1970's disco era, non-minority super pimp. Makes it hard to decide if he's only selling eyeglasses or cheap looking gang/rap/pimp related gold jewelry. He also happens to be the most expensive eyeglass shop in town, which is ridiculous, as a majority of his clients are social security pensioners or public assistance dependents, who falsely believe the REAL eyeglass shops are too expensive.