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The worst commercials in TV history..

Tim from Springfield said:
I just saw a new version for the 2010 holiday season within the last few minutes, but I cannot stand any and all commercials (both radio and TV) for the Illinois Lottery. Last year's holiday ad (sung to "Joy to the World" without rhymes) is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H34a1_iJ8lI

With Christmas now a month ago tomorrow, I just noticed that this year's Illinois Lottery "Joy Someone" work of art has made it onto YouTube. Ugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWvsP4Ik6Ng&feature=related
 
I would vote for two, HOWEVER the list is endless. Right now it is the series of Nationwide Insurance commercials featuring the dweeb with the blue phone.

Then from the past, the Crazy Eddie Commercials...his prices were INSANE! (actaully is was him and he was a crook)
 
I cannot stand nearly all of the recent Direct TV ads, including the one with the "busy superhero" which is linked on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKzB-DAiLR4

And earlier this afternoon during CBS' NCAA coverage (Kentucky-Vanderbilt) there was another Direct TV ad that I'm already tired of seeing or hearing: the one where with the guy in the background screaming and shrieking. I'm sure it will be one of those ads played ad naseum on CBS and the Turner networks when NCAA March Madness coverage begins in over a month (plus during all of the CBS men's conference championship coverage prior). No one has posted this "ad" on YouTube yet.
 
bpatrick said:
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.

Bill Dickens Capital KIA commercial does it in for me, and some of the GEICO commercials Narrator "Does switching to GEICO save you 15 percent on Car Insurance?" Is a bird in a hand worth two in the bush? Go see bill go see bill go see bill, means shut up bill shut up bill shut up bill capital kia.
 
mleach said:
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.

If you don't get help at Charter please get help somewhere. ;D
 
1st of 5 said:
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.
ahh MIKE YUCHNIZ My Econo 3995 optical San Antonio. You should see my LensCrafters ads on Youtube speaking of big glasses.
 
ercjncpr said:
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!"

Didn't he own a dealership in Houston in the late 80s?
 
I used to LOVE the Crazy Eddie ads, to be honest. I still have a couple of his radio spots on audio tape here somewhere. The ads were supposed to be manic and campy. I still remember a lot of people thinking the actor in the ads was the "Eddie" in question. He wasn't. "Eddie" was actually Eddie Antar. We had a couple of those stores here in Connecticut, which closed up in the summer of 1989.
 
A few more "worst" ones from central/west central Illinois that I just thought about.

Most of the spots for a regional frozen pizza company, Butch's Pizza (used to be also referred to as "Butch's Original Pork House Pizza") based in Morton, IL (outside of Peoria). Their latest "Dig the Pig" ad/jingle drives me up the wall every time I see it (it has also aired on Springfield TV as their pizza is also sold down here):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1d2d9R6t9k&feature=related

There was also another Butch's spot that aired on Peoria TV around 1990 or so that has also made YouTube, with two brothers opening Christmas gifts. One received cash, while the other received a frozen Butch's Pizza. I just hope that pizza had been frozen for days prior to it going under the tree Christmas morning. Not one of my favorite Christmas ads of all time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1d2d9R6t9k&feature=related

Butch's also had another ad that I actually used to think was funny at the time (4th grade) but since then I have matured enough to think it would be crude, rude and worthy of making this list. It aired in early 1987 on local Peoria TV--particularly during local college basketball broadcasts that aired on the local stations (Bradley, Illinois State, and ESPECIALLY during halftime of every Illinois Fighting Illini men's hoops game that season). The ad depicted a woman (nice-looking) in a supermarket checking off her grocery list and believing she has finished her shopping--that is until she sees an employee offering free samples of Butch's Pizza. Then the camera focuses on the woman's stomach and the most disgusting-sounding stomach growl I have ever heard is played in the background. The stomach growls continue even as she resists temptation and is shown devouring a slice of pizza. I feel sorry for the woman in the ad. Embarassing.

Speaking of pizza, another pizza place that also sells frozen pizza in local stores, Coz's Pizza in Springfield, IL, had a rather disgusting ad run a few years back. I can't remember if they were aired only on local cable spots for national channels (CNN, ESPN, Fox News, etc.), or if they also aired on local broadcast TV. The ad showed a man taking leftover Coz's pizza that had been placed inside a DUMPSTER and devouring it. I can't find the ad on YouTube--which is unfortunate because one would have to see it to believe it. Disgusting.

Some of these ads almost make me want to not eat a single slice of pizza ever again.
 
KML-224 said:
I used to LOVE the Crazy Eddie ads, to be honest. I still have a couple of his radio spots on audio tape here somewhere. The ads were supposed to be manic and campy. I still remember a lot of people thinking the actor in the ads was the "Eddie" in question. He wasn't. "Eddie" was actually Eddie Antar. We had a couple of those stores here in Connecticut, which closed up in the summer of 1989.

And the actor in those Crazy Eddie ads was "Dr. Jerry" Carroll, who became the voice and face of the commercials since he'd done them at his then-place of employment, WPIX-FM 101.9 (now WRXP), where he was a DJ in the early to mid-1970's. Actually, numerous 'PIX-FM DJ's rotated doing the ads - but Eddie wanted Dr. Jerry to do all the TV and radio spots.
 
TV history includes Madman Muntz, no doubt. Lousy commercial, or just the style of the day? The ads worked, however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOI8JYrYcsY

Back to my theme of a failure of common sense and whether a commercial works, do you figure men go to the doctor and ask for those pills that make them wanna sit in a separate bathtub outside when they get turned on?
 
Silkie said:
TV history includes Madman Muntz, no doubt. Lousy commercial, or just the style of the day? The ads worked, however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOI8JYrYcsY

Back to my theme of a failure of common sense and whether a commercial works, do you figure men go to the doctor and ask for those pills that make them wanna sit in a separate bathtub outside when they get turned on?

Your mention of Madman Muntz reminds me of another Groucho story. As many of you know, the DeSoto-Plymouth dealers sponsored "You Bet Your Life" for many years. As a publicity picture, they once had Groucho standing with some of their cars and behind him was a sign: "Groucho's Top Value Used Cars". In his book, "The Secret Word Is Groucho," he reprinted that picture with the caption, "Are you sure Madman Muntz got started this way?".
 
MAN UP! Those Miller Lite Beer commercials are the worst of them all! Especially the first one when the guy's shown wearing a SKIRT! (Yipes!)
In the 1970s, there was a Mazola Margarine commercial that made me cry. The first voice is an angry man saying "Think Before You Eat!" And a kind woman adds "Eat smart, America." That made me burst into tears! It happened several times over the course of 1975-1976. That reminded me of the time I was punished for spitting at a police cruiser! (I'll spare you the details.)
And of course the Whopperettes commercial for Burger King several years ago sucked!
 
blackgold said:
MAN UP! Those Miller Lite Beer commercials are the worst of them all! Especially the first one when the guy's shown wearing a SKIRT! (Yipes!)

I miss the old Miller Lite ads, which featured "Everything you always wanted in a beer... and less."
 
I haven't seen it on YouTube yet (although I first saw it today), but I'm already sick of the newest Coke Zero ad involving two guys getting into a slapping match. It's been on a lot today during college hoops coverage on CBS--and I'm sure it will make its ad nauseum presence known on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV during March Madness broadcasts.

Also, I can't remember the exact wording off the top of my head right now, but has anyone else seen those brief (probably not even 5-second) spots along the lines of "Chaos Comes Soon" (IIRC I thought there was an earlier one that mentioned April)? What are all those about? IMO that's enough grounds for me to nominate those spots among TV's all-time worst commercials. :D :D :D

And I also know we'll see this commercial ad nauseum during March Madness too--but I also can't stand the latest Direct TV commercial involving the reading of a family's will. Then the lawyer announces that the Direct TV system is bequeathed to the only son, and he starts hooting and hollering. That work of art is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnHUI43FoRU
 
And I also know we'll see this commercial ad nauseum during March Madness too--but I also can't stand the latest Direct TV commercial involving the reading of a family's will. Then the lawyer announces that the Direct TV system is bequeathed to the only son, and he starts hooting and hollering. That work of art is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnHUI43FoRU

Now, THAT is one stupid commercial. The only message it gets across is. "Direct TV is so expensive, you have to inherit it."

Stupid. Stupid.
 
trusty said:
And I also know we'll see this commercial ad nauseum during March Madness too--but I also can't stand the latest Direct TV commercial involving the reading of a family's will. Then the lawyer announces that the Direct TV system is bequeathed to the only son, and he starts hooting and hollering. That work of art is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnHUI43FoRU

Now, THAT is one stupid commercial. The only message it gets across is. "Direct TV is so expensive, you have to inherit it."

Stupid. Stupid.

I assume that the deceased father had the most expensive Direct TV package out there--the Premier package (with all the HBO's, Showtimes, etc.) and lifetime subscriptions to NBA League Pass, NHL Center Ice, etc. And all the Video On Demand channels in the 1000 range, and the international channel programming on channels 2001-2183 that requires a special receiver. Perhaps even those "test channels" from 9501-9926?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DirecTV_channels_(United_States)#Channels_1000.E2.80.931999
 
Add another nominee for this "award" courtesy of the CBS Duke-UNC broadcast: the Degree ad with three guys wearing red meat and being chased by hungry wolves. Sick and scary. YouTube link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFeN2J_EKQs

Then again--I think one can pretty much assume nowadays that almost any national commercial that airs during major sporting events (NFL, college hoops, etc.) will probably be worthy of making this list. ;D ;D
 


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