Most irritating television commercial ever

[Slash McCoy]

worst place: the "Smiling Bob" male enhancement/enlargement pill commercials. That guy ain't RIGHT.
Second worst place: "I can't believe I ate the WHO-O-O-O-LE thing!" alka seltzer commercials from the 60's.

 

[pspdonatelli]

Fort Walton Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Fort Walton Beach autobrokers

local commercial in Florida that was pretty annoying.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Oh, and "Cal Worthington and His Dog, Spot", Left Coast car dealership commercials.

 

[Tony_B]

There is an auto insurance company in the UK called Go Compare, that has a fat idiot tenor prancing around on screen singing his "Go Compare! Go Compare!...." jingo to the tune of the World War One song, Over There.

I actually wrote them a letter telling them I wouldn't buy insurance from them on a bet as payback for all the annoyance their advertisements have inflicted on me.

I can ignore most drivel. This one makes me mute the stupid television.

+1000

That advert drives me mad, also the ones for accident claims.

T

 

[Ceri]

not sure about most irritating ever but the voice over in the latest Lamisil ad in the UK, refers constantly to 'athaletes foot'

 

[dpm802]

Most of you outside of New Jersey probably haven't seen this one, but there is a commercial for "Six Flags, Great Adventure," a local amusement park.

It uses "The Chicken Dance" song as its it theme music, and there is an old, I mean OLD guy, dressed up in a suit, with a bald head and oversized black-rim glasses, dancing his heart out to the chicken dance.

The first time you see it, its funny. The second time, its an old joke. The third time, its really boring. After that ... it annoys the heck out of you. And we Garden Staters are subjected to this commercial probably a hundred times a day.

 

[DE Shaver]

Ugh! I really hated that Nike "apology" commercial for Tiger Woods, and not because of Tiger Woods.

 

[dpm802]

While not exactly a commercial, I've been growing increasingly annoyed by the "product placements" we see so often on Prime-Time TV.

When the lead character is drinking a cup of coffee, its obviously a Starbucks cup. If they get a can of soda from the fridge, the Coke or Pepsi logo is obvious. When they reach into the pantry for a midnight snack, they pull out a bag of Oreos. They use a carefully framed shot to show that the star of the show is making a call on an iPhone, etc. etc.

It seems like they're writing the scripts around these products, and the directors frame these shots even more carefully than they do the actual action of the show.

 

[kwk285]

Head On

 

[Bertilak]

My vote goes to the current ad of AT&T, a US cell phone/communications provider. It shows a large orange sheet being pulled over various American buildings and landmarks, to a few bars of a breathy Nick Drake tune where the only coherent words are "And it was... BEAUTiful!"

Silly but harmless, right? Not when AT&T apparently spends a kabillion dollars making sure every single channel on US television plays this ad every three minutes.

I am sorry that Nick Drake passed away before his time and I am sure he was a great folk singer and all, but the jangly guitar and the "it was... BEAUTiful!" line are absolutely driving me up the wall.

I don't have a cell phone but if I did and it was AT&T, I would cancel my service over this one ridiculous ad, playing over and over and over on every channel.

I agree 100% -- currently the most annoying ad on TV.

Did you see the movie Animal House? Remember the scene with the guy sitting on the steps playing that sappy song on the guitar? I think of that every time I see the AT&T ad and wish I could do a "Belushi" on everyone involved with it!

 

[Bertilak]

While not exactly a commercial, I've been growing increasingly annoyed by the "product placements" we see so often on Prime-Time TV.

When the lead character is drinking a cup of coffee, its obviously a Starbucks cup. If they get a can of soda from the fridge, the Coke or Pepsi logo is obvious. When they reach into the pantry for a midnight snack, they pull out a bag of Oreos. They use a carefully framed shot to show that the star of the show is making a call on an iPhone, etc. etc.

It seems like they're writing the scripts around these products, and the directors frame these shots even more carefully than they do the actual action of the show.

Related to that -- the shows where they "fuzz out" every product name! Except where the sponsor is involved. Like Ice Road Truckers with Kobalt Tools.

Everyone knows what a UPS or Fed-Ex truck looks like -- even if the name is fuzzed out -- but they do it anyway!

I think it is a form of extortion -- pay up and we'll un-fuzz your name!

And I remember the "stone age" of TV where cars had license plates you could read! (Even if every phone number started with "555".)

 

[QwerkyOne]

The one that drives me crazy is the Staples "Wow thats a low price" commercial.

Not to mention Kia thinks those commercials are so clever and got somebody with to say it in a MUCH more annoying voice. Most of their ads are just spoofs of ads and pop culture references. One of the local car dealerships took American Idol's "Pants on the Ground" and turned into a radio ad along the lines of "Credit's Going Down" and followed it with their classic loud noises.

 

[Bertilak]

As I read through this thread, I realize that there are a LOT of really annoying commercials. Luckily I have DirecTV(*) so almost everything I watch has been prerecorded and most ads zip by too fast for me to pay attention to.

My daughter-in-law is in the ad business and we have chatted about annoying ads. I mentioned that I thought the idea was to be noticed and being annoying was a respected way to do that. She said that wasn't her firm's belief and they try hard NOT to be annoying. They want *positive* name association. Hers is a smaller firm so I can't point to anything you all might have seen.

NOTES:

* Product placement in a B&B forum post!

 

[_JP_]

"I'm on a horse."

 

[RichGem]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: "Double pits, chesty" drives me to near rage.

 

[RichGem]

Most of you outside of New Jersey probably haven't seen this one, but there is a commercial for "Six Flags, Great Adventure," a local amusement park.

It uses "The Chicken Dance" song as its it theme music, and there is an old, I mean OLD guy, dressed up in a suit, with a bald head and oversized black-rim glasses, dancing his heart out to the chicken dance.

The first time you see it, its funny. The second time, its an old joke. The third time, its really boring. After that ... it annoys the heck out of you. And we Garden Staters are subjected to this commercial probably a hundred times a day.

Seen it in CT. It's even less amusing the next season when they bring in "mini me" bald guy to "act" with the regular bald guy.

 

[Chuckaluck]

People crunching Kit Kat bars gets on my nerves. Maybe not the most irritating commercials ever, but definitely rude.

+1. The person who thought of that should be flogged!

 

[Tacheless]

Typical Scottish advert !!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj6yTVewNlc

 

[wilsonent]

Docker's commercials from the 80's


Jeff

 

[kwk285]

Now a days almost every ad is irritating. DVR your show then it fast forward through the ads.