The Ad-Schlocks ride again

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ID:28906
 
Mar 28 2007, 10:02 pm

I think I'm going to bring back the Ad-Schlock Awards again, after another long dormancy. There are too many targets. My goal is to fill the existing categories and add some new ones, and now I think I'll accept video link submissions (but still, American TV only). Here's what we're looking at:

  • Most Irritating
  • Least Attractive Actor
  • Most Monotonous
  • Worst Slogan
  • Worst Jingle
  • Worst Rehash of Old Song
  • Most Embarrassing
  • Worst Fundamental Style Problems
  • Lamest Concept
  • Worst Short Version
  • Worst Choice of Spokesperson
  • Most Pretentious: Car Commercial
  • Most Pretentious: General
  • Most Boring: Beer Commercial
  • Most Boring: General
  • Least In-Touch
  • Most Annoying Kid
  • Scariest Pharmaceutical Commercial
  • Dishonorable Mention

And finally, some new categories:

  • The Pewter WTF
  • Worst Long-Term Campaign

Early contenders in several categories are Volkswagen (of course), McDonald's, and Pepto-Bismol. Shout out your picks, and if you have good links, pass 'em through.

Mar 28 2007, 10:22 pm
Any chance you'll change it to English speaking ads only? Australian television is full of junk waiting to be laughed at. =P
Mar 28 2007, 10:54 pm
I'd consider it, but the cultures are so different I'm not sure I could give it a proper whack, or would attack some for the wrong reasons. They're advertising to people with a very different entertainment mindset. Not as radically different as, say, Japan, but still. Even Canadian ads I would exclude unless they were also shown on US television.
Mar 29 2007, 12:04 am
Fair enough. I'll just sit back and let everyone else do the work.
Mar 29 2007, 1:08 am
That commercial (I forget what it was for, but I'm thinking Burger King) where they go "why are we inhaling?" and then start to exhale, breathing fire, is pretty stupid. Like, really stupid.
Mar 29 2007, 1:49 am
Hiead wrote:
That commercial (I forget what it was for, but I'm thinking Burger King) where they go "why are we inhaling?" and then start to exhale, breathing fire, is pretty stupid. Like, really stupid.

Here it is: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QUOqFV_v5po
Mar 29 2007, 4:00 am
Burger King's commercials are in general just disconcerting... the King ones are bizarre, but not as bizarre as the radio spots they did talking about the King... and then there's the "Spongebob Nopants" one they're running now.

I don't know what category I'd put them up for, but they definitely deserve to be represented.
Mar 29 2007, 4:50 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOvFIxUz2XY

This abomination and the later one that actually calls itself stupid.
Mar 29 2007, 5:52 am
The Austrialian travel commercials have a horrible slogan, "So where the bloody hell are you?"

It does play on American TV, but was banned on Brittish TV.
Mar 29 2007, 5:53 am
The fact that I can't remember what this commercial is advertising should be a clue that something is wrong.

A mother walks into a building holding her child. She explains that she was in a car accident and her daughter didn't even wake up. The man in the building helps her get a new car.

Lady, forget the car! Your kid is in a freaking comma!
Mar 29 2007, 5:54 am
ACWraith wrote:
The fact that I can't remember what this commercial is advertising should be a clue that something is wrong.

A mother walks into a building holding her child. She explains that she was in a car accident and her daughter didn't even wake up. The man in the building helps her get a new car.

Lady, forget the car! Your kid is in a freaking comma!

I believe it's Progressive Auto Insurance.
Mar 29 2007, 5:55 am
It was an auto insurance commercial for Nationwide, or Progressive, or something.
Mar 29 2007, 9:13 am
HeadOn ads are indeed terrible, but not recent enough for me to mock properly as far as I can tell (unless they're still going, but I haven't seen one in quite a while). The YouTube videos aren't recent at all.

But, this search did find something about pretzels, which reminded me that the new SuperPretzel ads are a contender for the Pewter WTF.
Mar 29 2007, 9:18 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRQ0lcap-x8

I want that song so badly.

I nominate any of the Red Stripe commercials.
Mar 29 2007, 10:02 am
The Red Stripe commercials are funny, though. It's beer! Hooray beer!
Mar 29 2007, 10:04 am
Most irritating are the "Get Hairapy" ads from Sunsilk. God, I want to take a power drill to my skull every time one of those earsores shows up.

Swiffer commercials on the whole just piss me off. Pointless and stupid. Yeah, we got the euphemism. We also got it the other thirty fricking times.
Mar 29 2007, 10:39 am
Which swiffer ads are you referring to? That doesn't sound familiar.
Mar 29 2007, 11:01 am
Since we're speaking about ads- has anyone else notices the trend of advertisements cranking up the volume recently? At first it was subtle- now it's obvious and *way* too loud.

Basically you're watching a normal show at normal volume, then when the ads come on they're maybe 1.5 times louder? It's insane.

I don't know if this happens in America though. Most people in Britain use ad breaks to go off and make tea (to fuel our horrid addiction), and that's why I think the volume goes up- to reach us in the kitchen.

Nowadays I just hit the mute button the moment the ads come on to stop the noise, so they're just hoisted on their own petard.
Mar 29 2007, 11:03 am
Commercial volume has been a problem in the US for years. I seem to remember there being televisions which actually listed flattening the jumps as features.
Mar 29 2007, 11:07 am
Well over here it's only just started a couple of months ago. I really do miss the times when it was okay for ads to come on and blissfully work their way into one ear and out the other... I don't envy you guys. :(

It actually got me thinking. I didn't think there's any way to detect when ads start to come on, but couldn't it use the jump in volume as an indicator?

If you guys have TVs that flatten the jumps then surely someone could make some kind of hack (maybe something that goes between your TV and the signal input) that detects these jumps, then sends a blank picture and no sound to the TV? Do they already exist?
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