The worst commercials in TV history..

[willdav713]

Time for the umpteenth Sunday afternoon reply to this thread this time courtesy of Fox, the NFL and Toyota.

The latest Toyota Prius "People Person" ad is practically SICK, IMO--and freaky too (even scarier than the old BK "King"). And probably will be running at least past Halloween (not to mention on the NFL games today), so it's out just in time for football and Halloween too. Link to the ad below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz50_1Y2pXU&feature=share

And the song is stupid too.

Why can't we just have the good old days of the Toyota "Oh What a Feeling" ads of the '80s today (with the ads usually simply set inside a car dealership).

The Toyota "Everyday People" Commercials from 1991 make the list too.

Also World Car Center commercials from the San Antonio, Tx area 1995 make the list of Worst commercials,
add the Ugly Duckling commercials, and the 800 Bar None Commercials, I want to punch that sock poppet out!

 

[jwgreek8606]

Willdav the everyday people commercials were in the late 90s

 

[wrsg915fm]

A terrible series of local TV spots involves the grandkids of a tire store owner, Doug Snider of #1 Snyder, located near or in Steubenville, Ohio. His daughter Chrissy did a great job as she was growing up, but her kids are brats, and detract from what they're trying to highlight. If I lived near his store, I still wouldn't patronize it, because of his grandkids' behavior. He must think it's cute...I can't imagine anyone going into his store and saying, "Doug, keep putting your grandkids on TV...they're so cute!"

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Five words: "And the virus is gone!"

I have had it up to here with the various PCMatic.com ads the last couple years. The product sounds too good to be true to me. I am not a computer programming expert, but I have a bad feeling you will be asking for malware, spam and throttled-down computer speeds in exchange for "virus removal."

Here's one of their early ads ("Mom's Night Out"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMP4PF3DNg8

Another YouTube video claims that PCMatic is a form of "exhorting your computer" and actually a virus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrMTroAm6lg&feature=related

 

[crainbebo]

The new Mycleanpc.com ads are stupid too [the computer graveyard ad]. Bet it's another scam.

-crainbebo

 

[jwgreek8606]

Can someone ID this mattress store in Southern California? it has this annoying guy Larry Miller saying "And your mattress is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Krystal has other ads like that. Like Ronald McDonald ordering a meal or the Burger King at the drive thru. They're pretty annoying, but they pale in comparison to the ad where everyone at the restaraunt is singing about $5 meals back in 2008. At least in my opinion.

Which reminds me of a McDonalds ad I had seen many years ago which had Ronald in a bar, smoking a cigarette holding up a beer bottle asking the woman next to him "..hey baby...want an Arch Deluxe?" I guess the ad didn't work as that was the only time I had seen it and the Arch Deluxe wasn't around for much longer either.

I can't remember if I had said this earlier in this thread, but I actually LOVED the Arch Deluxe when it was around (introduced May 1996 and discontinued sometime in early '97 IIRC). I actually wish McDonald's could bring that sandwich back--just not the lousy "It's McDonald's with a grown-up taste" ads of fall 1996 (which proliferated NFL coverage that season).

 

[Robnoxious]

Can someone ID this mattress store in Southern California? it has this annoying guy Larry Miller saying "And your mattress is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

That would be none other than Larry Miller, President and C.E.O. of "Sit 'n Sleep".
His ads have been around for years but he has quite a ways to go to beat the longevity of Cal Worthington Ford.

 

[rnigma1]

Can someone ID this mattress store in Southern California? it has this annoying guy Larry Miller saying "And your mattress is freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

That would be none other than Larry Miller, President and C.E.O. of "Sit 'n Sleep".
His ads have been around for years but he has quite a ways to go to beat the longevity of Cal Worthington Ford.

The infamous "Crazy Cal" and his anything-but-a-dog Spot? Someone ought to write a book about the colorful car dealers of LA, including Don Lee and Madman Muntz...

 

[Matt]

Have you noticed the Toyota Corolla commercials with the salesman, an obvious 18 year-old and the gray-haired man encouraging the young man to "commit to Corolla"...and saying, "This is how we do it at Carolla."...and so forth.

Have you noticed first of all the timing of when those commercials have appeared, and second, that the gray-haired man bears more than passing resemblance to...Jerry Sandusky.

Is there something here that Toyota is trying to tell us?

Later . . . .

 

[Bob1370]

"I find that Tom Park guy annoying, and the funny thing is that dude followed me from San Antonio to Houston to Austin!"

And all the way north to the Great Lakes, since Park also appears along with some other minions in commercials for Billy Fuccillo's chain of dealerships in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Seneca Falls and Watertown, New York. They, too, are annoying...a little less so since Billy himself isn't appearing in the latest round...

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Any New York Metro TV viewers remember the "Hey Jerry, What's the story" spots from the early '70s? "Jerry" was the proprioter, plugging his own product. He eventually suffered the wrath of the state's consumer protection service for false advertising, although I can't remember the details now. Matter of fact, I don't even remember what product/service Jerry sold.

 

[azumanga]

Any New York Metro TV viewers remember the "Hey Jerry, What's the story" spots from the early '70s? "Jerry" was the proprioter, plugging his own product. He eventually suffered the wrath of the state's consumer protection service for false advertising, although I can't remember the details now. Matter of fact, I don't even remember what product/service Jerry sold.

Jerry was once an owner of an appliance chain, Jamaica Gas and Electric. However, after the appliance business went bust, he opened his own disco, with Jerry appearing in commercials doing his same schtick.

I found at least one of his ads online, but for the disco:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZ7EyYWAZg

 

[Markieo]

Any New York Metro TV viewers remember the "Hey Jerry, What's the story" spots from the early '70s? "Jerry" was the proprioter, plugging his own product. He eventually suffered the wrath of the state's consumer protection service for false advertising, although I can't remember the details now. Matter of fact, I don't even remember what product/service Jerry sold.

Jerry was once an owner of an appliance chain, Jamaica Gas and Electric. However, after the appliance business went bust, he opened his own disco, with Jerry appearing in commercials doing his same schtick.

I found at least one of his ads online, but for the disco:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZ7EyYWAZg

And remember JGE was not open to the general public, only to union members and their families!

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Almost all commercials that run during "The Price Is Right" are about elderly problems. Scooter-stores, medicare, medicaid, good lord. If this show is committed to dying, then they are on the right track. Perhaps there are some younger viewers watching, and there are certainly younger folks trying to be contestants, but if I hear that one old guy yelling about how he is a prisoner in his own home one more time, I will permanently turn to The View. And that will be the end of me, without the scooter.

I apologize for this reply too soon after Alex Trebek's mild heart attack (prayers for his continued recovery), but I have started seeing a similar trend with ads during "Jeopardy" (although J! also attracts the older audience as does TPIR). Unless this was an ad on my local J! station (WAND-17 Decatur, IL), today there was one of those walk-in bathtub/shower commercials ("approved by the Arthritis Foundation") right before Final Jeopardy. And one of the local ads has included one for a nursing home. Plus the $2,000 and $1,000 consolation prizes to the runners-up are now provided by Aleve. How much longer before the Scooter-Store, Medicare, and Hover-round commercials from TPIR come over to Jeopardy?

And I haven't seen much Wheel of Fortune lately to check their commercial load, but do similar ads appear during Wheel, or do they "skew younger?"

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

I just witnessed this work of art for the first time within the last 10 minutes during Fox's coverage of the Bears-Cowboys game: the new "Breakfast at BK" ad--song, flute and all. On YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCF3z-a1G9M

To add further, all of the latest variations of the "Breakfast at BK" ads STINK to high heaven, IMO. Seems like a new one every week so far this NFL season. Next time I ever have a fast-food breakfast, I'll just go see Ronald and Co.

Burger King has the WORST marketing department of any major corporation on Earth! Their ad campaigns are just awful. Honestly, they seem like they are designed by a bunch of 14 year old deliquents who are forced to prepare BK ad campaigns as punishment for whatever vandalism they did at school. ;D

And I don't think the bad BK ads have just been a recent phenomenon--does anyone remember the BK kid-oriented ads with the "Duke of Doubt" circa 1978? As the YouTube clip linked below indicates, I think he looked creepy himself--as did the early incarnation of the King (but at least that King in the ad seemed real rather than the creepy fake costume that the recently-fired King graced us with in recent years):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4JRTgVghO0&feature=related

Just encountered another stinker from BK, circa 1978--the King going Disco. Creepy--especially his face getting stuck in the jukebox toward the end:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4yWP6DMhgo&feature=related

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

And the next time I see the Dairy Queen Sweet Apple BBQ Grillburger commercial (linked below from YouTube) and hear that stupid song, I may consider canceling the cable and selling my TV. ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WruiNcxVT8

 

[FreddyE1977]

And the next time I see the Dairy Queen Sweet Apple BBQ Grillburger commercial (linked below from YouTube) and hear that stupid song, I may consider canceling the cable and selling my TV. ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WruiNcxVT8

I actually find that commercial quite funny. I bet every woman who has been on a dating
website can identify. ;D

 

[Ultimajock]

...one has to be the Ceasar's Palace "Bellboy" spot that's running constantly in Los Angeles now (dunno if it's a national spot, probably is). Some nice touches (Celine Dion taking a rose from the bouquet delivered to her and giving it to the bellboy), but that music is absolutely atrocious...

 

[crainbebo]

Almost all commercials that run during "The Price Is Right" are about elderly problems. Scooter-stores, medicare, medicaid, good lord. If this show is committed to dying, then they are on the right track. Perhaps there are some younger viewers watching, and there are certainly younger folks trying to be contestants, but if I hear that one old guy yelling about how he is a prisoner in his own home one more time, I will permanently turn to The View. And that will be the end of me, without the scooter.

I apologize for this reply too soon after Alex Trebek's mild heart attack (prayers for his continued recovery), but I have started seeing a similar trend with ads during "Jeopardy" (although J! also attracts the older audience as does TPIR). Unless this was an ad on my local J! station (WAND-17 Decatur, IL), today there was one of those walk-in bathtub/shower commercials ("approved by the Arthritis Foundation") right before Final Jeopardy. And one of the local ads has included one for a nursing home. Plus the $2,000 and $1,000 consolation prizes to the runners-up are now provided by Aleve. How much longer before the Scooter-Store, Medicare, and Hover-round commercials from TPIR come over to Jeopardy?

And I haven't seen much Wheel of Fortune lately to check their commercial load, but do similar ads appear during Wheel, or do they "skew younger?"

Wheel is younger. I haven't seen any walk-in bathtub ads on the Wheel yet.

Yesterday I heard that familiar "Hoveround takes me where I want to go, where will it send me?" song on TPIR. Plus Doug Harrison and the Scooter Store. How long has Doug been on there? 10 years? Give me a break!

-crainbebo