• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Annoying commercials of 2015.

For the most annoying commercials of 2015, I picked these "goodies" out.

10. Dairy Queen "DQ Bakes Fan Anthem", aka "I'm a fan of (insert here)". Horrible commercial with horrible off-key, botched singing.
9. Geico "Peter Pan" - There's nice kids, and there's annoying kids. This is probably the most annoying insurance commercial of the year!!
8. Geico "The Final Frickin' Countdown" - What the hell has this have to do with insurance?! It's just Europe singing their favorite hit and a microwave counting down the seconds. Instant mute this year.
7. Ford "Summer Sales Event" - These morons ruined our summer. Especially "Hear Ye Hear Ye!!" Gosh, I couldn't mute these commercials fast enough.
6. A tie of Toyota commercials. "Seriously? Seriously? Seriously?" and "12 Days of Botched Christmas." They were both stupid, instant mute and disgusting to watch. F--k you Toyota.
5. McDonald's "We Hear You B-Fast Text Speak Talk" - Disgusting instant mute. They can't speak worth a darn and most likely, their favorite song is "Watch Me Whip, Watch Me Nae Nae."
4. McDonald's "Lemonade" - This is worse than B-Fast?? Really?? Yes!! Horrible dubstep rap garbage. I don't understand how anyone could have liked this one.
3. Sprint "Narwhals" - Just terrible in all means. The first time I saw it, I expected the screaming goat again...but no. Was an instant mute and seen on mute several times during the Daytona 500. Annoying, irritating, and disgusting!!
2. Progressive "Bad Bundle Joke Box" - I swear this was made by a 13-year-old with no brains. How can ANYONE find this cruel commercial funny, at all?
And...for the second year in the row, the worst commercial of the year goes to....
1. CHARTER SPECTRUM TRIPLE PLAYYYY!!
844-455-2NEINNEINNEIN!!!
THAT was by far one of the worst, most annoying, irritating, and stupidest commercials in television history! Rapping and disgusting music just to promote cable TV and internet. The person who greenlighted this commercial - which aired all the way into April of this year, should be sent to Siberia. And I hope Charter NEVER airs this commercial ever again!!

Honorable mentions going to
Progressive - "Maury Show" - Doug says shopping is hard. The audience boos. I boo in my head that this commercial was greenlighted - and none of our local stations in Yakima airs Maury!
Famous Footwear - "Happy New (School) Year!" - Midnight local time on New Year's Eve should be the only time that Auld Lang Syne should play. It was stupid seeing this commercial every single break during July and August...in July, students should be in summer BREAK mode, not summer ENDING mode. And really, is anyone going to comment on a $50 pair of Nikes?
Geico - "Dora and Boots Annoy South Pole Explorers, And A Nationwide Audience" - Enough said.
(BTW, I'm just waiting for a Geico commercial starring Elmo.)

Jublia - "Tackle It" - Honorable mention, because you disgusted tens of millions of families during the Super Bowl...which in Washington state, Super Bowl XLIX is something I'm trying NOT to remember, thanks to that last play...should have passed it to Beast Mode...

Liberty Mutual - "Brad" - ENOUGH SAID!

What a banner year for ads. Not really looking forward to the garbage commercials to come in 2016.
 
The extreme repetition of commercials is what makes them REALLY annoying! And running the same commercial TWICE in the SAME commercial break only gives me the impression that some commercial programmer has OCD.

If the commercial is so annoying that people want forget the name of the product, the purpose of the ad is defeated.
 
Okay, the spot with the vomiting razor was just plain grotesque.
 
You might want to add that Pizza Hut Triple Box ad featuring Michael Bolton, the Navy Federal Credit Union "testimonials," and the (Oceanic) Time Warner "On-Hold Hits" ad.
 
I don't know the name of the product, it starts with a "T", and is called the phlegm ejector and shows various people spitting grahpically produced phlegm. Unfortunately, they all make sounds like they are vomiting. This is a disgusting commercial and on several occasions has made me feel ill. It is the worst I've seen in 50+ years of tv commercials. Whoever is responsible better make sure this product sells, or otherwise they should be not allowed back into the ad industry. On the other hand, they are probably looking for reactions just like mine, that is the sad state of advertising today.
 
Last edited:
If the commercial is so annoying that people want forget the name of the product, the purpose of the ad is defeated.

This is where I have a problem with some of the claims of the professionals. If the main purpose of a commercial is to make an impression, i.e., get the viewer/listener to remember the product, then these obnoxious commercials are "successful". However, if the advertiser is trying to create a sympathetic view of his company or product these commercials are abject failures. It is possible for a commercial to drive the viewer/listener away from a product (as in the howling car commercials).
 
It is possible for a commercial to drive the viewer/listener away from a product (as in the howling car commercials).

As you can imagine, this is one of those things that advertisers test. Over and over. They know the advantages and disadvantages of the campaign, and it affects placement and frequency. The advertisers not only have figures on how many people are turned off by their ad, but more importantly their demographics and their potential for buying the product.

But yes, the purpose is to move the ad from background to foreground, and there are ways to do that that don't turn off potential customers.
 
In the not disgusting but still annoying department, I nominate Liberty Mutual Insurance (car insurance), where these so-called "real" people stand in front of the statue of liberty and explain their problems with other insurance companies in the 3rd person. It is always, "you", not them. They all seem angry and I always want to know why they are so angry if it is "me" they are talking to. Again, another example of ads that I think deliberately try to annoy to attract attention. And they do it with mass frequency. I guess that works, but I, as a consumer will never go to them due to these annoying ads.
 
To add my last one of the year, as of 12/30, I have been seeing a "companion" to the Colorama commercials that graced our presence on cable/diginets since mid year:

Introducing: Colorama Cats and Kittens!

Nothing but an entire coloring book of cats.

It was at that point I realized who exactly buys these books: Cat ladies!

It seems like such a match: Cat lady has TV on 24/7 to keep her/her cats occupied, sees Colorama book, buys, watching TV still while coloring 2 weeks later, sees Colorama Cats & Kittens, trips over litter box to get to phone, buys. Grown children have to feign excitement when said cat lady presents son with a framed colored page ripped out of "Cats and Kittens", has long talk with sister about institutionalizing Mom.

And before you ask, I have nothing against cats or the numbering-way-too-many Seattle cat ladies (or cat person to keep it politically correct but largely inaccurate). I do wonder who was the one who decided to market coloring books to adults, though.

Radio-X
 
That Mercedes ad with the parents waking up their kids on Christmas morning, with the mom bellowing like a harpy. The stupid thing finally stopped airing on TV this week, but is still seen online (NBC Sports LIve Extra's stream of the NHL on Tuesday night).
 
In the not disgusting but still annoying department, I nominate Liberty Mutual Insurance (car insurance), where these so-called "real" people stand in front of the statue of liberty and explain their problems with other insurance companies in the 3rd person. It is always, "you", not them. They all seem angry and I always want to know why they are so angry if it is "me" they are talking to.

That ranks right up there with the life insurance ads (they have more than one version, all equally inane) which are always set in the aftermath of a funeral with two family members discussing why the deceased didn't have life insurance and how easily it would be to get same. The dialogue is so awkward, especially when they start referring to the individual who just died and his family using language that confuses you as to whether they're talking about Uncle Harold or a neighbor down the street they barely knew.
 
That ranks right up there with the life insurance ads (they have more than one version, all equally inane) which are always set in the aftermath of a funeral with two family members discussing why the deceased didn't have life insurance and how easily it would be to get same. The dialogue is so awkward, especially when they start referring to the individual who just died and his family using language that confuses you as to whether they're talking about Uncle Harold or a neighbor down the street they barely knew.

Your example reminds me of a consideration. To what point do advertisers believe different ads with different people in perhaps different situations but with the same, exact dialog, make sense to viewers/listeners? This seems to happen all the time on TV (and was probably made famous by the "I can't get up!" product.

It would seem to me as an advertiser I would want individual scenarios selling my product with unique messages and not just a trite replay of the one before.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom