A few months back, we asked readers to vote on the ad spokesperson who most needed to be retired from the air. This has since brought up the discussion here at the Consumerist Cave of what is the most annoying, aggravating, irritating, overplayed commercial on TV right now. And that’s where we want your help.
Given the sheer number of commercials airing at any moment, we need you to assist us in narrowing down the list from hundreds to a more manageable figure.
There are a couple of qualifications for nominees:
1. The ad must be for a national brand. As funny as it is to watch craptastic local ads, we’re looking for commercials that annoy TV watchers nationwide.
2. The ad must have aired in 2010. Preference will be given to nominees that are still on the air, but if there’s a commercial that has only recently gone out of rotation that merits a demerit, we’ll consider it.
That’s it, really. Feel free to discuss the topic in the comments, but only those nominees mailed to tips@consumerist.com with the subject “bad ad nominee” will be considered.
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The Douchebags (mom, dad, and spawn of Satan) from the Toyota Sienna commercials.
Aww, I thought those were funny.
you know besides these annoying characters, i really dislike & quite frankly dont understand these state farm ads with the dude & always a female agent and either he won’t let her talk or she’s interrupting him. i get that the message they’re trying to portray is to talk to your friends who have state farm because they just love it so much they can tell you everything you need to know, but call an agent to get the details & sign up, but seriously it just ends up coming off stilted and awkward & frankly kind of passive aggressive. i’m pretty sure everyone hates being interrupted & talked over, so it just makes them both seem like tools.
Any AT&T ad for their cellular services. Seriously, I don’t care if every device you sell is ‘exclusive’ to you. They definitely hit rock bottom showing Luke Wilson glorifying their products and services, but I haven’t seen him in ads lately.
Any commercial with little kids doing adult things. Enough to make you sterile.
Haven’t seen the ad in a while, probably since I haven’t watched Headline News in a couple months, but I really disliked the commercial where they’re trying to get insurance money for catheders. Top it off with the woman saying the company “quickly became my friends!”
They are not your friends. They’re trying to make money off you!
I was always amazed and irritated by how often they could say the word “cath” in one commercial. First she says it, then a patronizing voice repeat the same damn thing she just said. Ugh.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned the BP “We’re going to do all it takes to clean up the gulf” ads. Don’t waste money telling us about it over and over again. Just DO it! (But don’t use that phrase or Nike will sue you.)
I currently despise the GEICO guy, with his fake voice and arched eyebrows. I would much rather see the Gecko, or even the Cavemen for that matter.
“was Ab Lincoln Honest…” Ugh.. hate that stupid voice!!
KFC’s So Good commercial, where they spell out the phrase.
All this and no one has mentioned Safelite AutoGlass?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfn5hMQYJ4o
“A chip’s a thousand microcracks, and a big bump… could turn it into a crack!”
The new Snuggie ad uses the Macarena as the theme.
I don’t think there’s anything more to say.
Have not seen it, but it sounds like the apocalypse is near.
Is Value City Furniture national? They have all these ads where people are dancing, but it’s the lamest dancing I’ve ever seen. It’s supposed to be funny. It is not.
Also, “The Most Interesting Man in the World” or whatever he’s called. I was so annoyed by those commercials that I never knew what they were advertising. Dos Equis or something? I’ll never try it. Good job.
The current Toyota Sienne commercials with the woman who withholds sex from her husband if she doesn’t get enough alone time in her mini-van.
No seriously, she says that she tells her husband the more time she spends in her car, the “less headaches” she’ll get. She’s very pointedly saying that she locks herself in her minivan away from her children and her husband chases one of their daughters away from the car so mommy can have “time out” so he can get laid.
It’s only made worse by the fact that the woman is generally annoying too.
It has to be those ASPCA commercials. They last almost an entire commercial break, so even when I fast forward them on DVR I still see those poor animals. Those commercials make me want to kill myself.
Lotsa of good ones. I put in the ATT orange draping commercial. Might not be as obnoxious as some, but it plays all the freaking time and I still can’t remember what it is for most of the time.
The greener millionaire is also bad…of course it’s for a flat out scam.
Esurance commercials.
Or the Debt Relief Commercials. The ones made to look like news reports to trick old people into thinking it’s government funded. Shameless, heartless, and annoying, those are.
Oh, god I completely forgot the anti-Christ of TV ads. It is a New York City-only spot, so many of you have never seen it…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59adz_05pnE
The ad comes on our 24hr local news network about every 10 minutes and my ex hated it. Not because it came on so often, but because I would obnoxiously shout “ooh, girl!” every time it showed, regardless of how early or late in the day it was. Sort of my sad, little domestic version of ‘Rick-rolling’…
Jennifer Hudson’s Weight Watchers commercials. That is all.
Possibly the worst commercial ever is the one with the guy in the suite with question marks on it…I think it’s for government grants and money, supposedly for free that most people don’t know about.
Oh god, those new commercials for the iPhone, with the woman telling her husband she’s pregnant over the phone, or the dad telling his daughter she looks beautiful with braces… something about the “look how moving and beautiful this is” attitude, brought to you by iPhone… ugh they just creep.me.out.
Oh easy, the Fushigi mystery ball (the word fushigi means mysterious).
It’s a freaking clear ball.
In MY day, our plastic toys were CUBES of different COLORs and the color pieces moved around and stuff.
OH MY GOD!
Now, you can see through it and it has no cube shape at all. It’s like a ball of air, except it’s $19.95
This is the greatest gimmick since somebody figured out you could put tap water in plastic bottles and sell it for 50,000 times cost.
Any ad for any furniture store. Especially here in Canada. Leon’s (nationwide chain) even went as far as in one particular ad bragged about how “hilarious” their commercials were. Guess what? They weren’t, and still aren’t. They only make me want to change the channel. And don’t get me started about the Bad Boy ads (yes, they’re local, but man, they’re beyond annoying! “Who’s better than Bad Boy? NOOOOBODY!” will instantly want to make you throw your remote at your TV.)
At least it gives Mel Lastman something to do…
How true. Now he can only screw himself, not the Toronto taxpayer (for those not in the know, Mel Lastman ran the Bad Boy chain from the mid 1950s until the early 70s when he became mayor of a borough of what’s now Toronto, then after amalgamation became mayor of this two-bit town for about 7 years. In the meantime, about early 90s his son Blayne resurrected the chain, and after daddy Mel retired from politics got back into the business of selling furniture. Mel’s greatest achievement? “I sold a refrigerator to an Eskimo.” Don’t believe me? Look it up–after all, you are in front of a computer right now reading this, and that Google search box is lurking up there above this inane drivel you’re reading right now, isn’t it?)
What about the Montgomery FLea Market? It’s just like a mini-mall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk
Everything GEICO. The TV ads, the radio ads. The goofy older ad rep guy, the stack of money with googly eyes, the damned gecko, the yelling guy on the radio ads. All of it. They need to fire their entire advertising department, cancel contracts with agencies, and set those contracts on fire, then start over from square one.
I’m looking at you too, Chic-Fil-A… the cows need to be put out to pasture.
Consumerist, Thank you for this post. You rule!
#3 the poopy Activia commercials with phony Jamie Lee Curtis.
#2 Empire commercials. I wish the company would go out of business & take their
@%#&!!! commercials with them.
AND THE WINNER IS #1 Flo from Progressive AAAHHHHH!
****AND when I’m in Canada…. the Shaw commercials with the insanely annoying “ding, ding, ding, ding” tones at the end of each commercial that runs every 5 minutes up here. The constant repetition is pure torture. Makes me want to do an Elvis on my TV.
Any ad with live-action actors who are animated over for no reason…really, why not just show the actors, why turn them into cartoons?
“Duh-Rell” from wal-mart.
I heart “Duh-Rell”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4Myx82tzJM
STINKY STINK STINKY STINKY STINKY STINKY
HEFTY HEFTY HEFTY
Jesus Christ, kill me now.
Hyundai with The Dude – enough already. Anything selling gold. Progressive Insurance may be the worst, that lady is soooooo annoying. The one GEICO with the mobster! As a matter of fact almost all are silly, thank God for the remote.
The Quiznos commercials with the cats. The Honda Guy commercials. And the UPMC commercials that last a minute long.
Burger King. That freak looks like an axe murderer stalking his victims. Anytime I see that commercial I can’t stop wondering who created the new serial killer. It’s a channel changer.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything quite as annoying as the squealing pig. I wasn’t sure anything could ever be worse than Sally Struthers. He inspires me to mute the tv, change the channel, and go purchase lots of bacon.
Charmin bears, the Lamisol evil toe kittys, Mucinex blobs – in fact, every commercial with animated characters needs to be killed with fire.
But kudos to the Sears optical ads – “snuggles with momma” and dogfood on the grill. It gets funnier every time I see it.
Hughes Net! They get the most annoying women to do those commercials!
She’s not annoying. She’s Australian, hiding her Aussie accent.
The ad is nice to look at now. Imagine it with the Aussie voice. I’d sign up and I don’t even need HughesNet!
“There’s no discount for agreeing with me” – UGH and I HAVE progressive.
The Jason Alexander and what’s her face Jenny Craig ads. Especially the one where he strips. Gross.
All of those CapitalOne commercials with the (Vikings, Barbarians, giant Squids, etc.) need to stop…years ago. They were never funny or even remotely appealing, and the fact that someone keeps greenlighting this stuff boggles my mind.
1. any 6 flags commercial with mr. 6. creepy.
2. the pandora jewelry commercials where the women are wearing an entire store’s worth of jewelry each, as proof of how much their boyfriends love them.
3. local: there is a hospital in my area called Wing Memorial (western MA), and there are two big things wrong with their commercials: a)they are a hospital, and the idea of a hospital advertising is just weird, and b)the poor little girl in the commercials has been coached into irritating, saccharine oblivion. every time i see those commercials i want to smack that kid, and then i feel like a horrible person.
I know this is a regional thing, but anyone in the Seattle area knows Mike Gallagher’s divorce lawyer commercials. “Gimme a call if you need help.” Awful.
I can’t believe all the hate for Geico Gecko and Pro Flo without any mention of that stupid Aflac Duck! Every Aflac commercial has him in some sort of peril, running around and screaming in that nails-on-a-chalkboard voice. I can’t stand him!
There, I feel better now.
Aflac just takes your money and doesnt do squat. My father was out and thought they would help and they never paid a penny. Funny they asked why we never wanted to pay or return to the service.
That could be an oddity BUT my best friend was hurt at work and they again paid not a penny. It was a benefit from his job and he asked his boss to simply pay him the money to put into savings as AFLAC was nothing but a scam.
How about everything EXCEPT the Old Spice commercials? I still don’t want to buy their products just because TV told me to, but they are pretty original.
Scary Crossdressing Burger King Man, Motrin, Fabreeze plug-ins, stupid Charmin Bears, “What is power without agility?” generic car ad, and that awkward ad where a bunch of news reporters burst into various mens’ bathrooms and give them new razors were the most ah, “memorable” from my recent trip to see my in-laws (who have satellite TV; we don’t even have rabbit ears).
The Old Spice ads are amazing!
I’m on a horse.
The amateur vocalists mangling “like a good neighbor…” for State Farm, along with the premise that their agents can work sex magic (“Hey dark side, feet off the car.”)
how has no one mentioned the bud light “founding fathers” commercial yet?
Anything done by Apple. Especially iPhone commericals. Especially that iPhone 4 commercial where cutesy insecure girl seeks her boyfriend’s approval of her new short haircut. And the one where the wife tells her husband she’s pregnant over her iPhone 4. Who does shit like that???
Since the Zoom Zoom kid has already been mentioned, I vote for the Six Flags dancing “old” guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU2yt6wOoK0
In newer commercials, there is a little kid in the same old man costume. I don’t even understand what he’s supposed to be, an elderly child?
Also, I don’t know why everyone is hating on Flo, she’s smokin hot.
Another one that really makes me angry is the Dodge Challenger commercial with George Washington and the Michael C. Hall voice-over with the line “One Thing America Got Right…” Why? Because the damn car is assembled in Canada!
Yup, right up at the Brampton (just north and west of Toronto) plant, with engines built in Mexico. That should make you feel proud to be American, right?
The new Quizno’s ads with the creepy kittens.
Word.
Seriously, though, I’m taking the presence of that commercial to mean Quizno’s is in deep doo-doo. ‘Bout to go the way of Circuit City…
Mr. Opportunity and Jamie Lee Curtis talking about her constipation.
I hate those damn Six Flags commercials – that “old guy” makes me want to run over him with my car, and my ears bleed when I hear that stupid song.
I also hate the Chase Sapphire ad (stupid muted colors except for blue, selfish bitca of a wife…), and the contact commercial that others have mentioned – “My brand!” Ugh.
And one that’s no longer on that I hated with a passion… that Quizno’s commercial where there’s the roadkill hocking their sandwiches. I swear it actually made me lose my appetite when I saw it, and certainly didn’t make me want to eat their food. And I actually liked their food.
Big Bill Hell always gives me a giggle. Haven’t seen it in the air recently so it may not qualify ;-
)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZuN0xXWLc
YES! That stupid friggin Mr O from Honda! Kick him to the curb!!!