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The Most Irritating Commercials

T

Thomps2525

Guest
The weekly radio column of freelance writer Richard Wagoner appears in the Daily News and Daily Breeze. His November 30 column carried an interesting speculation:

"I have a theory that a competitor such as KABC actually pays for the Kars For Kids adfs that run on KFI ad nauseum. It's a great opportun ity for listeners to immediately tune out of KFI and go sample other stations." I know I hit the button immediately."

I, too, "hit the button immediately." I did so just this morning as soon as I heard the first few numbers of the cloying "1-877-Kars-For Kids" jingle during KFI's 8:00 news. I'm wondering what other commercials make radio listeners change stations. Radio does not air the diarrhea/constipation/incontinence commercials that seem to dominate television, but there are still some ads that I refuse to listen to because they're so irritating:

Sit 'n Sleep ads that end with someone screeching that they'll beat anyone else's price "or your mattress is freeeeee!"

Any spoken commercial with all the lines spliced together to eliminate the normal natural pauses between lines (and allow for more words to be crammed into the 60 seconds).

Any automobile commercial where somebody o-ver-em-phasizes ev-ery oth-er word.

Any commercial where a required-by-law disclaimer or financial information is spoken at a rate of 15 words per second.

I'm sure these examples are just the proverbial "tip of the iceberg." What others?
 
What's really interesting is before I read your post but saw the topic title the very first thing that popped into my head was that stupid Kars for Kids jingle. The other examples I also agree with.
 
And why do so many advertisers sing their phone number? Is that supposed to make it easier to remember? And KFI's Tim Conway Jr. does some commercials where, not only is his spiel spliced together to eliminate the normal pauses, he gives the phone number five times. Twice is enough, Tim!
 
LARR, I'm surprised that Sit 'n Sleep didn't come in at #1 on that list. I don't know anyone that can stand hearing that Freeeeeeeee! commercial again. I'd rank the "Let your new life begin, call 1-800-Get-Thin" as the third worse in irritability factor. I guess these companies think as long as they get into your head, it's a good thing (like the 'no such thing as bad publicity' meme). Personally, I don't patronize any company that insults my intelligence with moronic advertising. YMMV :D

BTW, Honorable Mention goes to:

"Call 1-800-588-23-Hundred, Empire...TODAY"

I'm not sure if I've heard this brainwashing jingle on the radio, but I absolutely hate the TV ad! I always mute the TV if I see this commercial coming on. Makes me want to throw the remote at the TV, it's so annoying. :mad:
 
Mister SolidGold, a few years ago Sit 'n Sleep quit running the "freeeee!" ads and used a more normal (and less irritating) advertising style...and their sales actually dropped! Go figure! They went back to the "freeeee!" ads. Larry Miller, the Sit n' Sleep CEO, is the irritating voice in those ads; he opened his first store in 1980 in Culver City and has been advertising on the radio since 1982...although it seems as though I've been hearing those fershlugginer ads for an eternity!

I seldom hear the 1-800-GET-THIN radio ads but I used to see dozens of their billboards along the 5 and 710 freeways. Along certain sections of freeway there would be three of their billboards in a row...or two billboards facing each other from opposite sides of the freeway. I tried counting them once but I found that I couldn't count that high. Because of several deaths and lawsuits, most of those billboards have disappeared.
 
The female voices singing 8 6 6 66 faster in the green light mortgage loan ad just drive me up the wall, totally grates, the station changes instantly as soon as it comes on. Which brings up the question why have broadcasters always let ads that irritate, annoy, alienate listeners on their air.
 
Lopaka said:
The female voices singing 8 6 6 66 faster in the green light mortgage loan ad just drive me up the wall, totally grates, the station changes instantly as soon as it comes on. Which brings up the question why have broadcasters always let ads that irritate, annoy, alienate listeners on their air.
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You're able to recall their product and their phone number. Thus, their goal has been achieved. Even if most listeners don't buy the product, as long as they spread the brand name to others who will, it's enough. It's the basics of advertising. I don't claim to be an expert at all in the field, but it's my understanding that that's how it works. I recall a Tom Leykis segment where he asked callers to recite the most irritating radio ads. The lesson I came away with was that listeners might have found the ads irritating, but at least they had the brand names drilled in their heads and that's all that counted to advertisers.
 
Car Pros Kia does it for me. Whenever I hear that car sales man start talking, I switch. I irritates me to death. He's so boooooorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnggggg...
 
For me, Kars for Kids is the absolute worst ad ever conceived! That kid who sings the jingle just can't sing to save his life, and that adult guy at the end sounds creepy, like the kind of guy that would stalk kids while driving some old van conversion. As for Conway Jr's ads, if he could drop stupid phrases like "Ding Dong!" and yelling "Wow!" in his ads, maybe I could stomach his gibberish more.
 
LARadioRewind said:
And why do so many advertisers sing their phone number? Is that supposed to make it easier to remember?
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I still know where Pete Ellis Dodge would be located if they were still in business because of their jingle. It's tattooed into the brains of anyone that lived in SoCal throughout the 70's and 80's. Advertisers do it because it works.

Sing along... you all know the words
(Follow the bouncing ball)

-/o Pete Ellis Dodge, Long Beach Freeway, Firestone exit, South Gate! -/o
 
LARadioRewind said:
Mister SolidGold, a few years ago Sit 'n Sleep quit running the "freeeee!" ads and used a more normal (and less irritating) advertising style...and their sales actually dropped! Go figure! They went back to the "freeeee!" ads. Larry Miller, the Sit n' Sleep CEO, is the irritating voice in those ads; he opened his first store in 1980 in Culver City and has been advertising on the radio since 1982...although it seems as though I've been hearing those fershlugginer ads for an eternity!

I seldom hear the 1-800-GET-THIN radio ads but I used to see dozens of their billboards along the 5 and 710 freeways. Along certain sections of freeway there would be three of their billboards in a row...or two billboards facing each other from opposite sides of the freeway. I tried counting them once but I found that I couldn't count that high. Because of several deaths and lawsuits, most of those billboards have disappeared.
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LARR, along with that were the "You're Killing Me, Larry!" commercials, I knew a couple of different guys named Larry at the time, and they constantly complained that everyone repeated this phrase to them - anytime they disagreed with someone. I can see where that would be quite annoying :D I guess Larry will be doing these ads as long as he lives or runs the company, if (for better or worse) they work. Very much like the "It's Cal Worthington & his dog, Spot!" ads from some years back, you don't forget them, even if you try - they're hardwired into your brain by so much repetition. There aren't many people that can't recite the "I wish I was an Oscar Meyer weiner" song, for example.

I have noticed a lot of the "Get Thin" billboards, but not as many as you have seen. Were the deaths and lawsuits from poor medical practice, or because people were getting into accidents while looking at the billboards and writing the number down? In any case, they do seem to still be in business at this time, I believe I saw a commercial for them fairly recently. In any case, it would nice if they did go out of business, one less annoying ad to suffer on TV. ;D
 
There have been at least five deaths of people who underwent lap-band surgery at clinics that were connected with the 1-800-GET-THIN ad campaign. Relatives of the dead immediately---of course---filed wrongful-death lawsuits, alleging that patients were not warned of the risks of the surgery. Then, lo and behold, the billboards started disappearing and Allergan, the company that manufactures the lap-band, decided to quit selling lap-bands to the 1-800-GET-THIN clinics.

I well remember "Cal Worthington & his dog Spot." The "dog" was never a dog; it would be a seal or an elephant or a tiger or some other animal, and occasionaly Cal would be riding atop the animal. Does anyone remember Stanley Chevrolet in Norwalk? Country singer Molly Bee sang their jingle and I'm sure that it's stuck in the brain of all the same people who still remember the Cal Worthington ads:

"Stanley, Stanley, Stanley Chevrolet,
Two blocks off the Santa Ana Freeway,
1-1-9-8-Oh East Firestone,
Stanley Chevrolet."
 
LARadioRewind said:
And why do so many advertisers sing their phone number?
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Empire Carpet is a good one!

800-588-2300.....Empire
 
Ah! The one that ALWAYS gets me to hit the button is the Mike Diamond spot that has been playing constantly for the past two or so years. You know-- the one that starts with a queasy bass line and a woman saying "why can't a plumber just tell me how much it'll cost to clear my drain" or whatever. I always flush that one.
 
russgaj said:
Ah! The one that ALWAYS gets me to hit the button is the Mike Diamond spot that has been playing constantly for the past two or so years. You know-- the one that starts with a queasy bass line and a woman saying "why can't a plumber just tell me how much it'll cost to clear my drain" or whatever. I always flush that one.
Click to expand...

Flushing a plumber ad, great idea!! ;D ;D
 
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