Now that the nominees have been announced for Consumerist’s First Annual Worst Ad In America Awards, it’s time to get your vote on!
Click here to read a bit about the nominees and download the printable PDF here.
Below are poll for all 6 categories in WAIA 2010. You can only vote once, so choose wisely. Voting ends at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, 9/28/2010.
Remember, the main reason Consumerist can hold a contest like this is because we don’t take outside advertising or corporate sponsorships and we are 100% supported by consumers. Please consider supporting independent blogging. $5 you give us is $5 we don’t have to get from a corporation. CLICK HERE TO DONATE!
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awww I actually like the Capital One Vikings. The one that runs on the beach looking like Bo Derek….hilarious!
Me too!
And I’m sorry, but the “smile” one is not overtly creepy.
Agreed, I didn’t think “Smile” was creepy at all. Corny? Yes. But not creepy.
Agreed about “Smile” not being creepy at all. The only “creepy” one out of that lineup was the Dodge: Kittens commercial which didn’t even make sense to me.
Have you seen Inception? I think it was supposed to evoke that movie, although it didn’t do it very well.
Yeah its pretty creepy
I think it’s creepy because you don’t know it’s her dad immediately. Creep factor is high when you don’t know that til later.
Absolutely! I love the one on the Colorado River, the movie studio “Romans!”, and the guy paying while someone knocks things over “and whatever the damages are.”
Me too!
Me too I love the accents and the ski lodge commercial where the kid breaks everything and the guy doesn’t even look over and says “And all of those..”
Yeah I think they are kind of amusing. Like when they see Romans… it’s so cheesy, but I guess I amuse easily
I like the Vikings, and LOVE Flo.
Most of the commercials don’t cross the line from “stupid” into “annoying”, although I’d like to smack both the Wendy’s and Staples idiots.
And no insurance commercial can top Eagle Man laying an egg.
Love both…. but only have a crush on Flo. And I HATE commercials as a rule.
I think we have a quorum. Vikings should be removed from “worst commercial” list. I love the little Vikings, I love them good.
I love those vikings too, and want more commercials with them.
I love the vikings, too. They always crack me up!
How the hell did the Netflix family not make this list? The “RightNows” or whoever.
I guess no one nominated it, but, yeah, the Right Nows are creepy
I agree… I find them to be the creepiest humans in a commercial.
That dude that wants to watch a movie when the kid and his dad are selling candy door-to-door freaks me out. It’s like hey come on in, I’m a weirdo creepy child molester. Let’s watch a movie right now.
Yes, I’ll go into your creepy house and watch a movie with my small child…
Perhaps they are a bit too new for enough people to have nominated them.
Bah, I actually like the “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” pig and the roadkill crew.
Me, too. That piggy makes me giggle.
Weee weee WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! I heart the pig.
I actually say it with the piggy, much to the chagrin of my significant other.
For some reason I love every single new Geico commercial that comes out. Even the old school gecko and the cavemen! Does anyone know the ad company they use?
It was funny the first time we saw it, but after that it was just like nails on a chalkboard.
I still love that little piggy commercial, I laugh every time even though I should know better. There should be a category “Favorite Annoying Commercial”.
NO! That would just encourage them.
I’ve not seen any of these commercials.
You make your own TV at home?
Luckily there are links to almost all of them above.
I find it ironic that candidates for the worst commercials are being rewarded by having their Godawful commercials viewed a million times.
Vote early, vote often.
I didn’t realize how much I use the 30-second skip button on my Tivo. I haven’t heard of a lot of these commercials.
Me either. I only voted in two of the categories because those had commercials I was immediately familiar with – I’ll have to watch the videos when I get home.
I can’t vote against the Sienna Couple, because the roof purse/diaper bag holds a special place in my heart.
But yeah, I always found that Apple Smile commercial creepy, even though I think chicks with hardware are cute.
too bad that underage girl is talking to a middle aged man who is not related to her at all, facetime is the new sexting
She says “Thanks Dad” at the end!
He’s even gotten her to call him ‘dad’! What depravity!
But it’s creepy up until that point.
The assumption that people are making about the people in this commercial (that makes it seem creepy to them) reflects more upon themselves, I think. It didn’t take me more than a few seconds to realize that he must be her father.
Exactly what I was thinking. These peeps who immediately think “sicko” when seeing the commercial must have daddy issues.
your default-setting for interpretation was “must be a pedophile using this”? really?
When you say chicks with hardware…you do mean not of the male kind of hardware…right
Did you see the Swagger Wagon rap video? It’s pretty funny in a corny way.
Oh thank goodness. Thank you for putting those State Farm commercials as worst ad in America. I thought it may just be me. Every single actor or actress in these commercials make me want to change the channel. That is a heck one heck of an achievement as a lot of their characters have one line and march off screen.
It’s honestly terrible that I conciously made a note that I should never purchase from them because of a series of commercials. Petty? Absolutely… But I just hate those commercials so much…
/And that guy. He screams, “I’m fake sincere”, “I’m fake trustworthy”, “I’m fake geniune”.
I hate the State Farm commercials, mainly because the agents are so rude in them! I think the agent interrupts and talks over the [customer?] in every single one. I think interrupting people is terribly rude, and to actually want to portray your agents like that…I just don’t get it. Is it to show that they are so enthusiastic about their jobs that they can’t contain themselves? I don’t know.
The only All State commercials that I like are the ones with the guy from Oz. He cracks my shit up! Especially the one where he claims to be a 15-year old girl and nails an SVU on his way through the parking lot. Priceless.
The rest though, especially the one with the guy bringing his lunch to a restaurant, the spokesman talking over the agent, etc. can take a bullet and RIP.
I cant believe the sienna family is on here, i think they are great. Love this new yearly award!
I hadn’t seen or heard of them until now. Toyota walked a fine line with this ad, I think they got it right.
Swagger Wagon is the funniest commercial ever (if you are a parent).
I didn’t understand that “Kittens” car commercial at all. But wasn’t the lady driving the kittens the same one who played Kathy on “Big Love?”
She’s awesome.
Think Inception. It’s not supposed to make sense.
I can’t believe Flo is actually on the list. She’s not even that bad. I voted for Mr. Opportunity because car commercials are generally horrible, and he is horrible.
Flo is a love/hate thing. I am one of those who love her, but I’ve met plenty who don’t. Personally I think she’s adorable, and bottom line – those commercials are very effective. They get the Progressive name out there and make an impression.
Flo doesn’t do it for me. With the amount a make-up and forced enthusiasm, it’s a turn off.
My feelings about Flo are exactly the same as LatinoGeek – can’t stand Flo.
I love Flo!!
Count me amongst the ‘hate’ side of things. The ads are meant to be funny but are just too forced and uninspired to have the intended effect. The lady playing the character isn’t that bad. She seems to have chops in comedic acting, and she’s not hard on the eyes, either. Kind of like an uncreepified Maggie Gyllenhall. But the writing… geez. It’s as lazy and uninspired as anything starring Adam Sandler, although perhaps with slighter firmer understanding of the concept of a punchline (which I attribute much more to the actress’s abilities than the writer’s). The ads aren’t necessarily the worst on TV but they’re bad enough to induce channel hopping for me.
yeah, i tend to watch each new one with Flo the first time i see it but then they aren’t funny/cute to me anymore so i skip them after that.
The only one I truly hate is the you don’t get discounts for agreeing with me commercial. It makes me seriously want to punch her in the face. He gets excited following her lead and she’s like yeh you don’t get a discount for doing this and he says he got excited and she replies me too. And I’m like then why did you make that dumbass retarded comment about not getting excited you claptrap retarded bitchbag. I really that those commercials that much.
I love the one with “the specialist” when she has NO CLUE that the customer thought the prices were great, rather than her training the dog!
Mr. Opportunity is like white noise to me. I’ve probably seen it a hundred times and never paid attention to it once. Flo is awesome though.
I love Flo. She reminds me a lot of a couple of rockabilly friends of mine. Right down to the awkward humor and tomboyishness.
I also voted for Mr. Opportunity. I drive a Honda, love the car, but cannot stand those ads. In fact most Honda ads are off-the-meter smug. I don’t see how they do the company any good.
Like Flo a lot. But they should fully utilize her improv roots, putting out more variety of her ads in shorter runs.
Why aren’t the PSP/PS3 ads here?
Because they’re INCREDIBLE.
I’m surprised Angie’s List isn’t called-out. The ridiculous made-up story-lines – presented by the type of vapid, suburban housewives you’d go out of your way to avoid – are really annoying.
I liked the one about the plumber who looked at cable porn at a customer’s house the best :v
Wrong. Plumber paraded the Paplion up and down the block to do it’s “business”. The flooring guy took twice as long because he was looking at pay-per-view movies. Also, the painters had the guy step in red paint and then leave, and the dentist did oral surgery in his kitchen b/c his office was closed.
Damn you, now I have that whistle tune stuck in my head!
It was a tough choice between Quiznos and Staples in the first category, but in the end, the strange WTF of the Quiznos commercial can’t quite compare to the dive I have to take for the mute button when I see the staples jackass the screen.
agreed on the Staples moron. Isn’t that guy a known actor as well?
I think he was in Twister wasn’t he?
I stopped using Staples.com because for a period of time whenever you went on the site, after about 10 seconds the guy would pop up on the screen and scream that line. So fucking unprofessional Staples, I was trying to get supplies for work and it startled everyone around me, including myself.
How does anyone legitimize using autoplay ads with audio, and no way to stop it? I cannot possible fathom how anyone reacts positively to those things. If they weren’t the only office supplier outside of Wal-Mart on my side of town, I wouldn’t use them. I hate to say it but the fact that the Wal-mart isn’t a SUPER version bothers me too because their selection is significantly weaker, not even counting the lack of a legit grocery section.
Agreed. Most of the entries on the list make me utter a sigh like the little green guy in Futurama when his captain make ridiculous statements. The Staples ad, though, makes me want to turn green and start smashing stuff.
Kif, have the boy lay out my formal shorts!
The boy, sir?
You, Kif, YOU lay out my formal shorts.
Wow, I was going to write just about the same thing.
I actually feel just the opposite – whenever I see that stupid Quizno’s commercial, I either change the channel, or quickly jab that MUTE button while I look for the FF one (if it’s something I recorded). There is absolutely no worse commercial ANYWHERE on TV in my opinion. (In fact, some of the ones on that list, I like.)
I have to agree, there are some of the commercials on the list that are my favorites. The squealing pig is great, and except for the one where the guy gets upset because his friend got a similar van, the toyota couple is funny because it reminds me of people I know.
so limited by the commercial dislikes of 1. this poll is thrown because the source is faulty.
consumerist deserves donations and I deserve consumer related non filler non fluff pieces.
what are you going on about?
Maybe FF thinks that blogging is a finite, non-renewable resource? And therefor must be saved for non-serious issues.
Fail! Blogging is obviously fungible.
…just keep walking, The Cheat
Oh god, that Apple commercial just seems like an advertisement targeted at pedophiles.
You do realize that you just totally outed yourself right?
People hate the iphone commercial where the guy is talking to his daughter and wants to see her smile? What’s wrong with you people? I grew up in a pretty jacked up family and even I thought it was cute that the dad was trying to cheer his daughter up.
Things that make the entire campaign creepy to me are the bad writing (and acting) that render the spots saccharine and unrealistic combined with the voyeuristic discomfort of overhearing (and overseeing) very personal conversations.
Though clearly, she’s in her own home…
OK, the conversations are not happening on the street or the bus or in the grocery store. But I’m “there” by virtue of the fourth wall and it only serves to remind me how annoying it is to overhear very personal things in real life.
I don’t think they got to the part about him being her dad soon enough. If it they had said it right off the bad, I don’t think people would be so creepied out. Why on earth would they wait until the very last minute to mention it was her dad? Intrigue?
Why would the assumption be that he’s anyone but her dad? I’m a seriously dirty person, and that never even crossed my mind.
I loathe them because of the overwhelming (and somewhat sexist) paternal theme. They all basically feature “man goes on bidness trip” as the 1st person character. Apple really can’t imagine any other scenario in which to use a 2 way camera phone?
Best Ad in the world is ….. Hi my name is Peggy !!
ha! I love that one.
“So preety!”
Um yea… right Peggy.
HAHA! I’m with you on that one! I love “Peggy”!
You are tenacious like bull. I like.
Those are so freakin’ funny! My husband loves the one with a ll the blinking phones – “so pretty.”
I am a fan of the Geico ads in general, but it is time to retire the Cavemen. I wish they would bring back the pile of money ones, they totally cracked me up!
It was oddly satisfying voting in this… like somehow, somewhere all that ad-based torture will be resolved.
Oh please, GEICO, retire the cavemen. Those commercials are just so awkward and completely unfunny.
I know initially at least, Geico had different commercial concepts for different things they are trying to promote– the website, car insurance, home insurance, etc. I don’t recall which ones marketed to what, but it always annoyed me. They need one single, great concept and then expand from it. It seems they didn’t have one good one, so they just went with several “okay” ones.
Are they the insurance with the Fishermen, the Cavemen, the pile of money, or the lizard? What do you mean all of them?
Mr. Opportunity needs a good long soak in The Dip.
+1
God, I need to watch that movie again.
You know when that little cartoon shoe got put in the dip I would just bawl for hours. My mom shouldn’t have let me watch that, it really wasn’t a kids movie! lol
Hahaha I’m glad I wasn’t the only one traumatized by that part! That poor shoe!
I know!!!! I was always really really sad for its partner who was now alone
Traumatizing.
for some reason i kinda like the JGW opera vikings, i think they’re hilarious. HAT HATE HATE that squealing piggy, so fucking annoying!
I actually like the Mr. Mayhem ads…
Me too, I’ve loved all of them!
You’re insane.
The way I see it, anybody who has appeared in more than three episodes of 30 Rock can do no wrong. So these commercials get an A in my bookbefore I even watch them.
I like that campaign. I even laughed the first few times I saw “shakey shakey”
Wow. Since I cancelled cable over 9 months ago, I can now say that I don’t know ANY of those commercials! Oh happy day!
Yep! Although sadly I have seen a few (obnoxious Flo, irritating Sienna couple). My hatred is most strong for the 5 hour energy guy, who was on Hulu constantly a month or so ago.
Thanks to my DVR, I had to watch all but three online.
Hell, I have cable and can still only recognise three of them. Not paying attention to commercials FTW!
The World’s Greatest Spokesperson. Insurance companies, in general, have the worst ads, but this one is grating.
Worst ones?
1. Any “$5 footlong” ad from Subway, especially those where they made a horrible “$5 footlong any any any” “song” type of thing out of it.
2. The breeder couple in the Sienna ads.
3. My clean PC. Um, was that ad made like in 2001? It looks like XP was barely out as it’s all CRT and as untech as it can.
4. The game rental whatchamacallit ads where dozens of gamers go insane because of “bad games”
5. Anything with Marcus, PSP.
6. Anything with “and Windows 7 was my idea”.
Personally, I would have put the Michelin “roadkill” in the Creepiest category…would’ve been a shoe-in for sure…
Agreed
Yeah, it was definitely more creepy than annoying.
Roni Deutch still gets my vote for most annoying ad.
Yeah, that dude is scary.
I feel fortunate that none of those commercials sounds familiar to me.
I love those Mayhem commercials! Seriously. Make more! Dean Winters is great and great looking!
Certain flavors of creepy are just plain funny too me, Mr. Mayhem for example … “I’m a hot girl out jogging”. I also don’t get all the Flo hate, I think she’s kind of cute. Maybe there is a correlation in there somewhere.
As someone who records shows on DVR, I’m relieved to say that I recognize almost none of these “worst ad” nominees.
I think the Microsoft ad about preferring TV to Sex in college should have been on there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upXD78-owwQ
I haven’t seen most of these commercials. The commercials on Hulu annoy me because it will be the exact same commercial every break.
Is the driver lady in the Kittens commercial one of the twin sisters from the compound on Big Love?
The correct answers* are:
1. Staples (Wow! That’s a stupid commercial!)
2. 5-Hour Energy (I actually like the Nationwide dude)
3. Charmin bears (though the Omnaris crew is a close second)
4. Toyota Sienna couple (I want to hurt them in hurtful ways that really hurt)
5. Ben Stein (an old neocon shilling for a scam)
6. Old Navy (please fire everyone associated with these ads)
* – According to me, naturally.
How did the Ask.com “deal dance” not make the list for Most Annoying Ad?
The Dean Winters commercial (Mr. Mayhem) may have been better suited for the celebrity category.
Joey Slotnick (Staples), might fit that category too.
I clicked on the McDonald’s link just to confirm it was the commercial I was thinking of, and the “Featured Video” displayed prominently to the right at the top of the list was a video entitled “Why God Hates Fags.”
Ceteris paribus, (all other things being equal or held constant, specifically peoples feelings on homosexuallity), what the hell YouTube? Can you really not control your automation to avoid put hate speech up as a “featured video”? How often does the word “fag” in the title of something lead to anything other that someone attacking homosexuals? I don’t need that type of shit put up in a highlighted box to draw my attention.
Ah, no Jos. A. Bank on the list? Every time I hear that announcer and his pretentious voice, I just want to reach out and punch that guy in the throat.
How did Carl’s Jr (Hardys) not make the list???
I havne’t seen most of these commercials. And the ones I have seen that made this list aren’t annoying.
Also, really hate any commercial that shows how a car can help you avoid hitting animals. Look, I’m not happy about it either, but anything the size of a cat or smaller, do not slam on the breaks or swerve. Apologies to PETA, but hitting a squirrel or rabbit is a much more desired result than taking a split section action that can easily result in an accident through the loss of control of the vehicle. I want to say I’ve seen the DMV and any other organizations that are involved with automobile safety clearly state that evasive maneuvers at high speeds are unbelievably dangerous.
For the worst ad it was a toss up between Staples and Quiznos, but in the end the kittens were too cute to vote for, even if they were singing horrendously.
Also, really hate any commercial that shows how a car can help you avoid hitting animals. Look, I’m not happy about hitting animals, but anything the size of a cat or smaller, do not slam on the breaks or swerve. Apologies to PETA, but hitting a squirrel or rabbit is a much more desired result than taking a split section action that can easily result in an accident through the loss of control of the vehicle.
I want to say I’ve seen the DMV and any other organizations that are involved with automobile safety clearly state that evasive maneuvers at high speeds are unbelievably dangerous.
How can the weird/creepy Pristiq not be included? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXuMld0VwuU
That State Farm guy is an annoying douche. Every time I see those commercials I feel myself hoping something bad happens to him.
Seeing bears with toilet paper stuck to their butts is ALWAYS disturbing. Believe me it is much worse if you have actually seen bear poop in real life, you smell it once and all you need is a visual reminder to bring the stench back.
All those Apple commercials are creepy. I feel like I am watching a conversation I shouldn’t be watching. Maybe if they added some music in the background or something.
And that Toyota couple makes me want to use more birth control. Minivans are not sexy, no matter how you try and market them.
We have this local commercial here in Los angeles, it is one of those “anti snoring” mouthpieces everyone seems to be selling. It starts off with a person snorting and snoring loudly. whenever I hear that I have to turn off the radio it is so annoying.
My hands down all-time annoying commercials are those freaking no smoking commercials the
City of New York runs. I turn the channel *every time*.
How can it possibly be that the the Ronnie DEUTCH! commercials not be in here somewhere?
I have never been happier that I now get all my TV shows via the internet. I don’t recognize any of these ads.