It seems like ages ago that we first asked you to tell us which commercials were getting under your skin. And you responded by the thousands! We “took it seriously” and painstakingly whittled your suggestions down to the final nominees for our first ever Worst Ad In America Awards. And now, with more than 100 000 votes counted in our completely unscientific poll, we have a clear winner (or is it loser?) — Staples’ “Wow! That’s a Low Price!” commercial.
With just over 30% of the vote, the winning ad, featuring the loudest, most enthusiastic, downright spastic Staples shopper ever, edged out Quiznos’ cavalcade of costumed, singing animals (28.6%). It goes to show that the mere presence of kittens will always sway some voters.
Two early front-runners, Honda’s Mr. Opportunity and Progressive Insurance’s Flo campaigns, finished a distant third (18.7%) and fourth (15.5%) respectively. Meanwhile, the least ostensibly offensive ad of the bunch, State Farm’s chummy, raven-haired insurance buddy, brought up the rear with only 7.1% of the vote.
THE OTHER WINNERS
MOST GRATING PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN
The actor behind McDonald’s “not before I have my coffee” jerk might wish he’d slept in this morning, because he was the clear victor in this category (35%). His closest competition came in the form of another pitchman for a liquid pick-me-up, 5-Hour Energy’s Mr. “Do you know what 2:30 feels like?” Well, we’d like to ask him “Do you know what it’s like to annoy 28.5% of our voters?”
The surprise in this category came from Wendy’s “pico de gallo” loud-mouth, who actually received the highest number of nominations in this category from the initial reader submissions. But with only 9.15% of the final vote, he was — probably to the relief of both him and his agent — at the back of the pack when it came time for people to vote.
MOST ANNOYING ANIMATED SPOKESTHING
This one came as a genuine surprise to us. The General (of the insurance company with the same name) came out of nowhere with 32.7% to beat the heavily favored Charmin Bears with their prickly, toilet paper-snagging butts (25.8%) along with Geico’s squealing pig (25.2%). Michelin’s bizarre commercial featuring animated road kill dancing in the streets came in last (6.8%), but we’d have to wonder how that spot would have fared if it had been placed in the Creepiest Commercial category.
DUO OR GROUP THAT MOST NEEDS TO BE BROKEN UP
The winner of this one — JG Wentworth’s busload of opera singers (24.63%) — wasn’t much of shocker, though we would not have predicted that it would be such a close race, or that the commercial coming in a very close second (the tightest finish of the entire competition) would be the Chase ad (23.35%) featuring the newlyweds who’d rather spend their time depositing checks on their iPhone than, you know, doing honeymoon stuff.
CELEBRITY WHO MUST HAVE LOST THE MOST MONEY IN THE HOUSING CRASH
This was a battle of two men — Ben Stein and Jimmy Johnson — who embarrassed themselves immensely by taking gigs as pitchmen for somewhat eyebrow-raising companies. In the end it was coach-turned-broadcaster-turned-Survivor-star Jimmy’s 32% beating out Nixon-flunky-turned-professor-turned-actor-turned-game-show-host-turned-ex-New-York-Times-columnist Stein’s 29%.
In the end, it looks like readers just didn’t want to imagine helmet-haired Johnson taking pills to enhance his… jimmy.
CREEPIEST COMMERCIAL
Speaking of imagery just ruining it for everyone, that’s the best way to explain the runaway victory of Liberator Medical’s catheter commercial. Not only is the word “catheter” enough to make many people cross their legs awkwardly, the ad’s opening line of “I had to reuse catheters for the rest of my life” sent chills down the spines (and up the urethras) of 46.37% of the voters. Liberator’s 20% defeat of second-place Old Navy was by far the largest margin of victory in all of WAIA 2010.
Well folks, that’s it for the first ever Worst Ad In America Awards.
We had a lot of fun; learned a little about each other and most importantly, no one got hurt.
UPDATE: With the help of our dear friends at Consumer Reports, we now present to you the winning ad in all it’s glory — complete with commentary by Bob Markovich, Home & Yard Editor. As you can see, his title should really be “Vice President of Awesome.”
Thanks again to everyone who voted, and to the staff of Consumer Reports for lending a hand and, well, tolerating us.
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I can’t believe so many ppl don’t mind Flo as much.
Flo’s kinda hot.
…yeah, I’m not seeing it, man.
she reminds me of lauren graham (from bad santa fame), so yeah, i think she’s kinda hot too.
Agreed. Hot. I’ve never minded those commercials at all.
“Oddly attractive” is how she strikes me. I don’t think you’d get a majority vote for her being hot, but she’s kind of a “sum of the quirky parts results in a different kind of cute” I guess. Nothing specific about her is unattractive to me.
Flo is awful. awful awful awful.
+1
I like the (character) Flo. She’s funny & exhuberant. Not annoying at all (IMO) – unlike those damn singing cats.
Flo just seems like this programmed, lifeless husk who was raised from birth by a Progressive insurance salesman. She lived a sheltered life, and was only ever exposed to Progressive. She loves her insurance too much… because that’s all she knows.
I like Flo. The actress is great on Mad Men too…
She was just on House too.
The only thing about Flo is the name reminds me of my wife’s mysterious relative who come to visit us once a month that I’ve never seen…Aunt Flo.
Yeah, Aunt Flo is a euphemism for the monthly menstrual cycle. I am surprised it would be used in a major commercial. Also those silly bears in the toilet paper commercial is a play on the old saying “Do bears sh_t in the woods?” Both commercials make me groan.
I love Flo. I’m gonna marry her one day.
I would have voted for flo but I put myself in a small locked room with her and the squeeling pig. I would have went nuts on the pig first.
The singing cats as well.
I stand by my hatred for state farm’s ad.
I’m with you. The ad that was shown wasn’t the most annoying in and of itself, but if you have to explain why a commercial (or series of commercials) sucks, then I guess it doesn’t belong. (Originally, the “pocket agent” was constantly being interrupted by the d-bag spokesperson — then, realizing their faux pas, SF reversed the scenario.) Regardless, that smug hipster doofus has got. ta. go.
That is not a hipster; it’s just a douche.
He looks like every guy I ever met in a Bath House.
I despise all of these Statefarm ads. That guy needs to be hit in the face.
i actually originally saw both versions on the same day during different breaks in the same show. first the guy interrupting the agent and then the agent taking over the speech in the next commercial break.
“These strangers were my friends…” – that catheter lady is super creepy.
Interviewer: Jimmie Johnson, does Extenze work?
JJ: Well, it works for me.
Interviewer: Umm, that’s not the question I asked.
All of these were either my first or second choice so I can’t say I disagree with the results. Does it mean I watch too much TV if I didn’t even need to watch youtube to find out what any of these were? Or should I just DVR more
Not only is the staples ad bad, they played it on almost every break during Sportscenter for a while.
wheres that smug jerk Mr Opportunity at? i hate that guy with a passion.
A distant third place…
i’m sorry but anyone who voted for The General over Mr Opportunity has no idea what true annoyance is.
I agree. It’s not only a bad/not clever joke, it doesn’t make me want to buy a car. The opera one is the worst of that stupid series.
^!
Mr. Opportunity wasn’t in the animated category. Which I feel like he would have won in a landslide; none of the choices really stood out as clearly worse than the others, but if Mr. O was among the choices, I probably would have cast my vote without reading any choices past him.
Let’s not forget to mention that the sentence “I had to reuse catheters for the rest of my life” isn’t even grammatical. You can’t do something in the past (“had to”) in the future (“the rest of my life”). It should have been “I would have had to”.
shes from the future so it is grammatically correct
She’s a T-1000?
the future looks slightly different now that we know that T-1000s need catheters.
+1!
they really should have consulted Dr. Dan Streetmentioner’s “Time Traveler’s Handbook of 1001 Tense Formationsâ€.
I had to pull out my copy of H2G2 compilation to make sure my hunch on that reference was correct. That was wonderful.
Aw. With such a narrow margin, I’d like to see a run-off. Ah well.
No run off – the catheters fixed that.
Just happy we didn’t have to reuse them.
I actually LIKE the Staples ad. I thought it was mildly clever and not nearly as annoying as several other ads (especially Flo)
I liked the Staples ad too. Granted the first time I saw it I jumped out of my chair a bit at the first “WOW!!”, but it’s a pretty humorous ad. It’s nowhere near the “nails on a chalkboard” category that those damn cats are in.
I’d have liked to see the voting spreads at a chart for all the categories. Still, interesting results. None of the things I voted for ‘won’, but most I did vote for did seem to come in second.
Here are the final graphs for all categories:
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/here-are-the-final-results-of-worst-ad-in-america-2010.html
Yay! Thanks!
Why is there a worst ad in America contest? How about a best one?
You mean this one?
http://consumerist.com/2010/09/what-are-the-best-ads-on-tv-right-now.html
Did you know that Rob Paulsen, the actor whovoice of Honda’s Mr. Opportunity, also voiced Wakko Warner from “Animaniacs”? And now you know…
Rob Paulsen is a great voice actor; he’s done a ton of stuff.
(insert Fight Club joke)
Actually.. Wakko was voiced by Jess Harnell..who is currently voicing some Transformers and is the lead singer of Rock Sugar (look them up..)
Rob Paulsen voiced Yakko.. (The older brother)..
Rob Paulsen voiced Yakko Warner, not Wakko. Wakko was done by Jess Harnell. Paulsen also did Dr. Scratchnsniff and Pinky (“Pinky and the Brain”). (Yes, I admit to being an “Animaniacs” fan.)
And knowing is half the battle!
I knew the voice actor was familiar. Still Mr Opportunity is smug and douchey. I don’t know why Honda keeps using that character. Nothing against the voice actor.
kittens or no kittens, that commercial is f-ing annoying. the chimes & off-key singing just kill my ears.
Amen.
I still can’t believe that Ben Stein was a speech writer for JFK back when he was in his early 20s and he’s grown up to be…well whatever he’s grown up to be. Pitchman, MTV game host, whatever. I guess some people will go wherever the pay is highest.
Ben Stein was a speechwriter for Nixon and Ford, not JFK.
He actually has a documentary out promoting Intelligent Design.
He is really full of $#*!
He seems to swing between extremes…
I guess some people will go wherever the pay is highest
And you would not?
Which just proves he is a very capable economist.
It’s the ability to tell his agent what said agent can do with that FreeScore ad offer that Ben is sadly lacking.
Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
This is too late, but I’m taking this opportunity to vent about ads I saw recently and hate:
“Turn the tub around” ad for I can’t believe it ain’t buttah. Horrible!
Any commercial that has that Train song (“He-eyyyyy, he-eh-eh-eyyyyy, he-eh-eh-eyyyyy…. tonight.”) I think there are 3 or more out there right now. Agonizing!
I’m with you on Turn The Tub Around. That ad is so terrible, Megan Mullally and Gerald and Peter Jackson (or whomever owns the rights to that song) cannot possibly sleep at night for having participating in something so awful willingly.
Here’s the alternate “Wow, that’s a low price” commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vzJpHuhJIc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
If they would’ve cut it off at the 17 second mark it would’ve been gold.
But she’s talkin’ ’bout nutrition!
Agreed. I actually thought it was a parody before the second guy agreed with him.
I hadn’t seen any of these ads before. Damn, no wonder Staples won! What’s worse is that this version of the ad acknowledges that this guy screaming is stupid and annoying. “Yeah, we know it’s bad but we did it anyway!”
(I kinda dig the Sparta remix)
gotta agree 100% with the 17 second thing, I would have been forced to begrudgingly enjoy it were that the case.
I didn’t vote in any of this; I only see TV ads when watching Hulu because Adult Swim’s ads have stopped working for some reason. However, I don’t mind the 5-Hour Energy ads: they’re not shouty and they don’t even have music so it’s actually pretty easy to ignore it if you want to. That and the ads don’t exaggerate by showing or implying that people suddenly become superhuman after using it or say that you’re a terrible person for not using it.
Staples ad gets my vote…maybe not for WORST ad…but definitely MOST ANNOYING
At night before I go to bed, I read my book and leave ESPN News running in the background. Many times I will fall asleep with the TV on. But, Staples has figured out a way to be as effective as my alarm clock, with that fool yelling, “WOW!!! THAT’S A LOW PRICE!!!”
Wow… If you can read this much into an insurance commercial, I’d love to hear your thoughts on Gravity’s Rainbow.
I’m only a little suprised that most of my picks “won”… I don’t think there is anything much on earth (that would be allowed on TV anyway) that is creepier than talking about dirty catheters. Oh. My. Goodness.
I thought there were trophies involved with this contest. What do they look like? Do they shout random awful annoying things at the “winner”? Meg tweeted about trophies arriving, so I want to know!
My biggest problem with the McDonald’s jerk is that if he is so useless without coffee why does he leave the house without coffee?
The ‘Pico de Gallo” result isn’t surprising at all considering the voting forms didn’t have a link to the video at first. I know when I filled out the forms, I didn’t vote for videos I couldn’t watch. Having never seen the commercial on television, it wasn’t in the running for me.
I think it’s a no-win situation–they ALL suck.
i hate that mcdonalds dude, id like to punch him in the face, and j.g wenworth dont even get me started, worst commercial ive ever seen i cannot stand him, if he didnt wake up tomorrow id be cool with that
I regret I didn’t campaign for Keystone Beers Kieth Stone. I could still submit his picture to Wikipedia for the phrase “White Trash”.
But Keith Stone- He’s so smooth!
*snerk*
I actually like the “Kiki in the tree” one, pretty funny.
hated the “feed the pig” ads. wonder how it would’ve done in this poll
hated the “feed the pig” ads. wonder how it would’ve done in this poll
I liked Staples old “most wonderful time of the year” commercial – at the least the first few times I saw it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPIIMbG9R4w
That WOW, THAT’S A LOW PRICE GUY! were he to be shopping next to me would have been stabbed in the mouth….repeatedly.
Seriously? The toilet paper bears talking about getting lint on their asses? THATS not the worst ad in America???
WOW! That guy is annoying!
I bet the Chase one would have come in higher had the video been available earlier.
Wow, that’s a BAD AD!
I can’t believe that squealing piggy didn’t get 100% of the votes.
I kind of love the little piggy; it must be the way he’s holding those pinwheels in his little feet. The commercial itself is hilarious, too, so that certainly helps, whereas the Staples one is just stupid.
For everyone who voted for the McDonald’s jerkface, I love you. I really, REALLY do.
What’s sad is that we can expect to see more obnoxious commercials like this one in the future. The marketing people think it’s good for business if you hate their commercials because it’s “brand imprinting” or whatever, even if it’s negative.
The role of the obnoxious in modern advertising.
The same brand recognition can be achieved with entertaining, enjoyable commercials.
I feel like my career has been spent listening to the marketing department talk down to me about creative and usability differences for which, over the long term, I always end up in the right. I personally interview a range of subjects while they’re working from 2nd or 3rd hand “statistics.”
I was ready to vote for Flo, but the Staples ad is so much worse… which is really saying something.
Michelin’s roadkill is absolutely horrifying, btw.
Wow. I actually haven’t seen most of these. What a difference not having cable makes.
I would have said the Microsoft Kin commercial was the most annoying, but luckily that one went away.
I’m really tired of the Flo commercials too. I wonder what that lady’s daily life is like… Pretty much everyone with a tv has seen her.
Horrible. Just horrible. Another clear indication that when America swings left, I go right. I can’t BELIEVE the majority of people voted for those winners/losers. I don’t understand a single one. How did “Mr. Opportunity, I’m knocking” not win EVERYTHING?
I’m disgusted. Americans en masse disgust me.
I think maybe you’re taking this a bit personally.
I’m completely with you. Mr. Opportunity was awful, while Staples was comparatively awesome.
In defense of the Newly weds… my wife and I totally went through all the cards we got on our wedding night like that (we had an early afternoon wedding – so even with a long reception, it was still pretty early in the evening)
I KNEW the General would fall hard. It’s a random mascot that has absolutely nothing to do with anything and it’s genuinely annoying.
I’m shocked by Staples’s win though. I don’t watch that much TV so maybe it only gets annoying with frequent viewings, but I definitely laughed the first time I saw that. I laughed at HEB’s parody of it that they showed for a few weeks too. and JG Wentworth is kind of amusing. As far as advertising goes it works too. I can pull their phone number off the top of my head having never called them.
I have to wonder how much frequency of play influenced people’s opinions. I watch all of my television online, with a healthy dose of Adblock, and so I had seen very few of these ads and watched most of them for the first time when I was deciding who to vote for. I think my choices would have differed a lot if I’d been forced to watch all of these ads repeatedly over weeks. (For example, The General just seemed like a sad local ad, and nowhere near as offensive as the Geico squealing pig, but if I’d been watching both of them for a month, my opinion might shift.)
As it is, I did a decent job of guessing second placers, I suppose.
Worst thing about the Staples ad: Their prices SUCK!
Who knew “cath” was a verb? Not I or me.
Someone has probably already mentioned this about the catheter commercial but I haven’t had a chance to read through them all… But…..
“I had to re-use catheters for the rest of my life” – Huh? Because she is talking in past tense about the rest of her life wouldn’t that imply that she is dead? If she said “I will have to re-use catheters for the rest of my life” or “I have had to reuse catheters for the past 2 years” – that would make sense. But based on what she says – she is dead from reusing catheters.
The animal playing the harmonica in the Michelin ad is playing the wrong side of the harmonica.
I’ve never actually seen the winner Staples on TV. But watching it online, I can see why i t won.
Congrats to Staples. Now, the easily-impressed customer ads weren’t the most annoying, nor the stupidest, not as ads, they were just the worst, a combination of terribly delivered false excitement along with general inaccuracy (I’ve personally never seen anything at Staples that I couldn’t get elsewhere for less, ESPECIALLY printer ink) put it over the edge.
“WOW! That’s an ACCURATE observation!”
– H-E-B Food/Drug in Texas ran a hilarious back-to-school ad that satarized Staples, featuring an H-E-B employee in an office supply store yelling, “WOW! That’s a HIGH price!”. I haven’t been able to find it on YouTube; however if you find it it’s a good 30-second laugh.
– The squealing pig is soooo bad and the Cavemen are well past their 15 minutes of fame. My ultimate fantasy is an ad where the Quizno kittens eat the Gecko, scratch the crap out of Flo and finally climb up the legs and under the kilts of the Capitol One Viking Village People, giving them The Bob Barker Treatment.
– I must be one of the few who thinks the J.G. Wentworth ad is actually funny. Couldn’t The Consumerist have nominated Vince (I got SLAP-CHOPped by a hooker) instead?