Last week, we asked you to vent your frustrations by nominating the most annoying, repetitive holiday-themed commercials of the year, and we heard you loud and clear.
After sifting through all the comments and e-mails, we were able to whittle down the dozens of headache-inducing ads to the five nominees that received the most hate from the readers of Consumerist.
In no particular order, the nominated ad campaigns (click on the bolded titles to see YouTube videos… if you think you can tolerate them) for 2010 are:
Lexus: December to Remember
For years, Lexus has been wrapping big red bows around its cars in an attempt to position them as the ideal holiday present. This year, they’ve featured pricey stunts like stapling a massive stocking to the front of a house or turning the huge pine tree in the front yard into the Christmas tree… to remind those of us who can barely afford to pay our mortgage just how cool Lexus owners are.
Target: Training for the 2-Day Sale
An Amy Sedaris lookalike screeches and pulls a variety of rubber faces as she gets in shape for Target’s doorbuster sales. It’s actually good advice, because it’s never the fit ones who get trampled when the crowds rush in.
Overstock.com: Caroling Employees
Do we really care what the people who work at Overstock.com are? And aren’t there any employees at the company who can actually hold a tune? Even if they could, the commercial’s bastardized “Jingle Bells” lyrics are enough to make one hit the mute button.
Hyundai: Hipster Holidays
Speaking of “Jingle Bells,” Hyundai apparently decided that having Jeff “The Dude” Bridges as its spokesman wasn’t cool enough and hired twee YouTube sensations Pomplamoose to record versions of this song and other holiday classics that make you pine for the humble beauty of elevator music.
Best Buy: Kenneth the Elf
Remember that smug jerk in those old Encyclopedia Brittanica ads? Now imagine him as a poorly animated elf who shills for Best Buy and you can clearly see why this ad campaign made it through to the final five nominees.
Voting will close at 5 p.m. ET on Wed. 12/22 and the winning loser will be announced on Thursday morning.
First time I saw the Hyundai commercial, I asked my wife “what the hell is this crap?” A couple of hours later I caught myself singing the song and thinking about the commercial, which led me to actually look up Pomplamoose. So I guess as a time delay spot the ad is pretty good. Every time I see the Best Buy spot, however, I think that if I ever set foot in one of their stores again, I hope someone beats some sense back into me and drags me away. Best Buy worst ad.
I voted for the Target commercial (so glad that promotion was short-lived) but the Hyundai one I’m not loving either.
I voted for the hipsters. I hate the guy in those ads so much. I want to hate the woman, but i can’t… something about her screams awkward but confident… I’m entranced by her…
Those ads are like a trainwreck… i want to run away, mute, fast forward… but i just can’t….
I normally don’t care enough to vote. In fact, I never have once before. However, Hyundai: Hipster Holidays commercial is SO ANNOYING that I felt the need to express myself.
Awww, I love the Target commercial. Something about her manical smile makes me all warm and fuzzy inside!
I was actually excited to see Pomplamouse get their corporate debut with hyundai!
The Target commercials are annoying, to be sure. Lexus is just being themselves and targeting their demographic. Hyundai is annoying just because it’s overly hipster, but not awful enough to win this list. Best Buy ad isn’t terrible, but it’s Best Buy so people hate it. I haven’t seen the Overstock one.
FYI: It’s Maria Bamford in the Target commercials. She’s a pretty well-known stand-up comic.
annoying?
any ad that shows an overpriced toyota with a giant bow on it gets my vote.
Wow, I haven’t seen any of these, goes to show how much TV I watch these days. After watching them here though, I can say that they’re all pretty annoying. The Lexus commercials are so unrealistic, the Target commercial is annoying, and any commercial that changes the lyrics to Christmas songs just plan sucks. Also, damn hipsters, what a faux “counterculture”.
no hhgregg “singing ad” ad?
At least Pomplamousse made the cliche Christmas songs a little original and less annoying than usual. But hhgregg’s ad was enfuriating the first time I saw it.
hh gregg isn’t national (yet). Their stores are all east of the Mississippi River.
I want to see the elf crushed to death by a heard of reindeer.
I now give you… the BEST holiday ad. EVAR. It makes me weepy after 30 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3NhDtfZmd0
My Dad loved Eat ‘n’ Park. He ate there a lot after Mom died. But he insisted it should’ve been called Park ‘n’ Eat, since you parked and then ate.
But that was Dad.
My ears prick up for Hyundai: Hipster Holidays.
Something definitely subliminal in it!
The overstock commercial makes me want to punch somebody in the face. It wouldn’t have been half as bad if the volume/equalization wasn’t so weird on it. They sound like they’re whisper/singing yet their vocals are way too loud for the background music. It’s just weird.
That Vampire Weekend Honda commercial drives my dad INSANE because they play it constantly and on the radio as well! He literally said “I will throw that f#$king TV out the window if I hear that song again.”
http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/12/07/vampire-weekend-holiday-and-other-songs-ruined-by-commercials/
THIS! I absolutely HATE Vampire Weekend. You wanna call something “Hipster”, its the fucking Honda commercials!!!!
This is by far the worst commercial, I’m sad that it didn’t make the cut because Honda needs to be punished for the pain they’ve inflicted with it.
The worst Lexus ad ever is from a few years ago. Mummy and Daddy are at the table with Daughter, and Daddy says to Daughter, “We decided to get you a new CD player” as he opens the blinds, revealing a Lexus festooned with the obligatory giant red ribbon. Daughter runs outside and daces around the car as the curtain falls on the happy scene. I kept hoping to hear Daddy yell out, “Yeah, your CD player is in the trunk of Daddy’s new car, let me come and get it out for you.”
I like the Hyundai commercials. Target commercial was awful the first time I saw it. Lexus ads are always annoying, so this isn’t special. Otherwise, I wasn’t particularly bothered by the rest. Nothing jumps out like that horrible Quiznos ad from the earlier competition.
Hyundai, hands down. Not only is it on ALL THE EFFING TIME, I’m just SO SICK of her voice. I love me some indy bands, but I mute it every time now. Can’t stand hearing her voice any more.
What’s with the hipster hatred. I’ve yet to have a bad hipster experience, not sure what horrible things they have done to humanity.
The Lexus commercials have always annoyed me, they just seem kind of pretentious.
For me, it’s the Target ad. The message I got from it is that Target wants everyone to become a neurotic, mentally deranged danger to society to shop in their store. Thus, I have not and never will set foot in a Target store for the rest of my natural life.
The Lexus commercial grates on me a bit more this year since I know of people losing jobs and having to take crap job (jobs where their minimum wage check bounces).
I think Hyundai commercial with Pomplamoose is…cute. I think they are really cute. Then again they remind me of two of my best friends so I can’t hate them.
The Overstock one is forgettable. I tune it out on a regular basis when I get around to watching TV.
The Best Buy commercial is annoying to me.
I would have to say the Target commercial is the most ridiculous and most thought-proving Christmas ad ever. It shows what Christmas is about in America for a lot of people, all about money and things and stress. If you can’t (or won’t) be with your family then I suggest getting drunk (safely) with your friends, if you have any. In this case the only gifts you should be wrapping it some good quality adult beverages. Friends and/or Family should be the main focus of Christmas or whatever. If you are the Christian religious type forget the last 5 sentences and go to church, it will do you a world of good. If everyone did that most everyone would be happier (you can’t please everyone).
I hate the consumerism around the holidays, but I find the Target lady oddly attractive…
Marshalls/TJ Max carolers wandering the mall with their HORRIBLY attempts at rhymes and rhythms.
I love those Target ads. Maria Bamford is hilarious
I hate that robot woman singing in those hipster commercials.
HHGregg’s…..”And $199 Tvs!!
Target, Target, Target!!!! I hate that biatch with the fire of a thousand flaming suns. My ears and eyes literally close when this one plays. And what I don’t get is why this is so bad, so irritating when all of Target’s other stuff is so good and so entertaining and so easy to pick out from the rest of the sludge that passes for TV commercials these days.
They must be using a different agency.
Why they keep reupping the actress in these spots astonishes me. She’s a major annoyance and drives me to change the channel, leave the room, avoid Target.
Not a good thing.
Hate Target. Hate it.
Lexus – that’s not that woman’s family.
Overstock.com is catchy – forlift driver is a bit overstocked himself.
Hyundai – hate it too. set the girl up to look like zooey daschenel to sell cars.
Best Buy – okay. much better than the stupid singing and dancing mom commercial when she gives her kid the gift.
Target is by far the worst.
I love Pomplamoose, and it’s why I hate that they did that commercial. What about the words from “Always in the Season” and their plug for giving gifts to charity instead of gifting to our peeps who already have money? I hated seeing them prostitute themselves like that. I can only hope they use the money for good. Also, the Target lady? I didn’t realize that was on tv, thought it was just a recurring nightmare I was having in my head.
Let’s be real…the Pomplamoose girl has a nerdy kind of hot going on. No way they’re the worst.