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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I loathe that awful woman in the Progressive commercials – the one with the bright red lips and 50′s hairdon’t in that big fake insurance store. She and the various Geico actors/lizards along with that annoying Allstate dude should all do what my mother used to tell me to do all the time when I was being an annoying little brat “Why don’t you go put a plastic bag over your head and breathe deep?” Those horrible Cash for Gold commercials and Swiffer singing mop and broom ads make me want to join them in the plastic-bag-over-head party.
Any Billy Mays commercial. If it is helping his family to continuie to run his commercials more than one year after his death then OK.
Otherwise advertisers should just let this zombie TV pitchman die. I liked the guy. Not obnoxious like many in his profession.
BONIVA!!! If you have time for one pill a week and don’t want your bones to crumple in a heap ask your Dr. about Boniva………..actually if they said that it wouldn’t be so bad – but watching Norma Rae hawk old lady meds 50 times a day makes me wish someone would drop an anvil on her (a la Wile E Coyote) to prove how strong her bones are.
Jamie Lee Curtis and her addiction to Activia that would rival any crackhead – so when you’re old your bones are weak and you can’t poop unless lubricated with tiny expensive cups of bacteria laden yogurt? Really?!
The high fructose corn syrup ones. “It has high fructose corn syrup.” “So?” “Uh..” “It’s fine in moderation.” Pfffft! We all know that’s crap.
I am sick of the ‘Zoosk.com’ commercial where the 4 women are at a laptop talking about a romantic date with that friggin music. She breaks glasses and his back, then decides to ‘maybe just see a movie’. REALLY??? She just wants to get some after just meeting the guy and now just wants to see a movie.
What is the site? An escort service? Male hookers? That thing runs all night long on cable.
1) The iPhone Facetime commercials make me so uncomfortable that I dive for the remote every time one comes on. The acting is stilted and the dialog is creepy. The commercial reminds me how much I abhor overhearing personal cell conversations, now I have to “over see” them also. Thanks iPhone.
2) Any commercial that implies that women love yogurt so much that consuming it is practically the same as having sex (e.g. Heidi Klum sticking her tongue in a cup of Danon Light & Fit.)
3) I’m a vegetarian but if that little GEICO piggy was is the back seat of my car I’d turn him into plate of bacon so fast his ugly head would spin.
I just hate those Nuva Ring commercials. Must they really be on ALL the time?
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday ALL WEEK LONG!
The new Heineken light ads. Am I the only one who doesn’t get them?
The State Farm commercials that basically imply people that try to do small things to save money are stupid. Yes, shopping for insurance is a good way to save money, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t drive across the street to save two cents on gas.
Any commercial with Kesha. Notably that one for the “secrets of the mind” show coming up on ABC (which I didn’t intend to watch, but now, not only will I avoid it like the plague because of them overplaying that commercial, but I’m avoiding watching ABC at all, so I don’t even have to hear the commercial!)
Those annoying All State commercials the play 2 times per commercial break on Discovery Network. They are SOOOO annoying.
Tivo, I has it. Don’t watch commercials.
I’m totally creeped out by the Best Buy commercial where the male teen is practically salivating over taking home the female geek…with his mom’s help. Ewwwww.
Almost four hundred posts and no mention of the Ben Stein/Shaquille O’Neal Comcast commercials? for shame Consumerist, for shame…
Isn’t Tom Shane nationwide? Don’t know if he does TV, but his radio ads are the WORST. Who wants to tell him he should blow his nose?
The frat pack bro guy in the Sharpie pen commercial who proposes to his girlfriend though post it notes. Makes me sick.
-Everest College, esp. the annoying douchebag that insists I do nothing all day (search for the parody if you have time)
-The commercial trying to get you to send $20 to feed a poor animal… “In the eyes of an angel…”
-I forget which one, but there’s one regarding birth control and a whole bunch of women are just chilling in a living room, talking about birth control…
-Swiffer. Mostly because I can’t afford to buy a new Swiffer cloth every time I spill juice. Giving life to brooms and mops… weird.
-Coughing, wheezing baby. Mostly because she’s saying that holding your baby could make him sick, and shes nearly smothering the baby.
-MOST commercials selling crappy ass toys. “It’s a pillow, it’s pet, it’s a Pillow Pet!”
I like most of the ones you hate, like mamby-pamby land and “MY BRAND!”
The Chrysler Town & Country ad featuring the cute & cuddly bullys, you know the ones who chase the kid home to beat him up, and he jumps in the back of his mum’s Town & Country throught the tailgate to escape them. Hate it. Making bully’s cute, stupid. Mother has no idea son being bullied, stupid. Condoning bullying, stupid.
Apparently no one has seen the “Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head On! Apply directly to the forehead! Head On! Apply directly to the forehead!” Over and over and over and they are SHOUTING it at the camera….. If that one isn’t the worst then I haven’t *seen* the worst!
* the recent slew of arrogant mud-slinging Sonic ads that bad-mouth all the other fast food chains
* McDonalds “not before my coffee” jerk
* Anything with Flo (Progressive)
* the cartoon Honda guy – especially the one where he keeps knocking on the window
…and just to bring a little ray of positivity, I commend Burger King and Old Spice for having AWESOME ads.
The crunching Kit Kat commercial — basically any commercial where they amplify the sound of someone eating something. It absolutely makes my skin crawl.
Also, the Activia commercials with Jamie Lee Curtis. I really, REALLY don’t need to see her pantomime the movement of fecal matter through her lower intestinal tract, thanks.
–Cialis – maybe you could get it up if you weren’t sitting in a cold porcelan bathtub in the middle of the fucking forest.
–”Not Until I’ve Had My Coffee” – For starters, I’m not disrupting my life just because you haven’t had coffee asshole. And secondly, McDonald’s has had coffee since the dawn of time! Just order and get the fuck out!
–Pretentious and arsty ads for G2, Nike, Levi’s and the like. “OOO, look at us! We’re the generation that GETS it, so lets take our shirts off and run on the beach with roman candles and jeans!” Bullshit!
–Financial companies who claim that “it’s going to be different this time..” Like all of a sudden they have some moral awakening and the consumer is now in control! Double Bullshit!
How has no one mentioned either “he went to Jared” or anything The Olive Garden puts out???
The commercial I hate the most and either change the channel or plug my ears is the Kit Kat commercial. It’s so gross to listen to people eat and to have to repeatedly listen to crunch after crunch is enough to make me dislike that commercial the MOST!!!
If H. H. Gregg’s infestation in most of the Eastern U.S. counts as “nationwide” then I heartily recommend the animated H.H. character that sings obnoxiously.
Wow, no one mentioned the Butterfinger ‘Apps’ commercial? Y’know, the one where Douchebag Guy A assaults his friend, Douchebag Guy B, by bashing B’s face in with a cellphone for taking away his Butterfinger through an app on B’s cell phone? I am surprised.
anything for big pharma, including OTC!