A Conversation for Ask h2g2

Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2801

Orcus

My current bugbear in advertising is the 'this is what men have to do to remove every hair...'

followed by lots of men pulling faces...

in a razor advert.

It's made to look like this is some sort of problem.

Wow, it is so onerous to stick your tongue in your cheek or move your chin. smiley - rolleyes

Of course the razors they advertise do not actually prevent you having to do this anyway. smiley - winkeye

Don't know why this is currently bugging me as it's been a staple of razor adverts for years but this one I think seems to be suggesting that this is something to 'go through' as in akin to going through childbirth or something.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2802

Pink Paisley

I've ha a beard for the last 40 years. Much easier to manage than a face like a baby's bum.

Why do we shave anyway? It always struck ma as a bit of a weird thing to do.

PP.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2803

Orcus

Holy elephant in the room.

It is of course true, that I've had a beard since 1996ish. Except one occasion in about 2000 that I got fed up with it, shaved it off and promptly got ordered to grow it back by the missus smiley - rofl


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2804

Orcus

Currently loving the fact that there's a car advert doing the rounds where apparently you can see Fingal's Cave from your car window. Umm, maybe in a James Bond amphibious vehicle of some kind smiley - rofl


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2805

Cheerful Dragon

Are we allowed to include web ads? If so there's one that keeps cropping up that leaves me fuming. It's for a weight loss product that promises impossible results. The ad features women who are grotesquely, morbidly obese and claims that you can get down to a size small (your starting size is unspecified) in a short period by drinking just one cup of the product per day. If those women lost weight that quickly, they'd have excess skin hanging off them that would have to be surgically removed. The ad also claims that the women who created the product got massive backing from Dragon's Den or Shark Tank (the US version). I know the sort of questions the "dragons" would ask about the product and I'm not sure they'd back it without serious testing. And yet there are overweight people out there who will buy this rubbish. I don't know if the BBC or the dragons can take these scammers to court for making false claims, but I wish that something could be done to remove these ads.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2806

Orcus

I fear if we include web ads the thread would explode. A few years back I lost 4 stone in weight (about 25 kg for those not familiar with that measure) in about six months because I took up cycling and got very (ahem) heavily into it. It was very pleasing and I used to post up my weight loss progress on facebook every now and then.
As a result I got the *most* ridiculous ads up on the right hand side of the interface - one that I particularly remember was 'Cheryl Cole lost 25 kg with *THIS* methods... click here to find out.'

The only was Cheryl could lost that much weight would be through amputations. Clearly there is no regulation on outright falsehoods on internet ads so.... as. I said... the thread might explode.


But then it might be fun to try getting it to smiley - winkeye


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2807

logicus tracticus philosophicus

Currently loving the fact that there's a car advert doing the rounds where apparently you can see Fingal's Cave from your car window. Umm, maybe in a James Bond amphibious vehicle of some kind ...you sure that was not a sat-nav ad? you might end up with that scenario


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2808

Just Bob aka Robert Thompson, plugging my film blog cinemainferno-blog.blogspot.co.uk

I may have mentioned it on this thread before, but I remember a car advert on TV about 10 years ago. It featured the vehicle breezing through sun-kissed Mediterranean terrain, with cliffs on one side and miraculous open views on the other.
However, the eagle-eyed might have noted the map on the satnav, which showed the car to be in the vicinity of Hanningfield Reservoir in Essex. I'm from around that part of the world, and the scenery looks nothing like what I saw in that advert...


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2809

Cheerful Dragon

There's an advert for Taylor's Coffee Bags that asks why nobody thought of it before. It has been thought of before. We have some coffee bags in our larder unit, but even these aren't an innovation. There were coffee bags in the late 70s or early 80s, iirc. Whoever thought up the recent advert should do some research.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2810

Orcus

Currently I am (in an ironic manner) enjoying the 'micellar water' adverts by various cosmetics companies.

OK, so molecules with a long fatty region and a polar head group arrange themselves to minimise the contact with water of their fatty region - this results in them typically forming a structure called a micelle.

A typical group name for such molecules is 'detergent' or even more traditionally 'soap.

So 'micellar water' is soap in water. smiley - rolleyes


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2811

SashaQ - happysad

smiley - laughsmiley - ok

Thank you - that is enjoyable in an ironic manner indeed!


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2812

Cheerful Dragon

Thanks for the science-y stuff! I've been wondering what micellar water is. I suspected it was a load of hokum. It's good to know that I was right.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2813

Orcus

It's generally a good default response when it comes to cosmetics companies smiley - smiley


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2814

Cheerful Dragon

Recently there have been ads on TV here in the UK for Hussle, a system that allows you to use a gym without a long-term contract. As well as the various showing us gym activities, a woman mentions relaxing in the jacuzzi. The image we see is two women in a sauna. I'm fine in a jacuzzi but a sauna could cause me health issues. I hope the people at the gyms know the difference because the advertising company doesn't seem to.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2815

Dr Anthea - ah who needs to learn things... just google it!

I hate the hattons of London adverts,
You may be aware of them, they always seem to be flogging a limited edition coin of some sort,
I don’t care about coins, clearly I am not in the target market they want
‘Made with a mixture of modern and Georgian 22 caret gold’ well isn’t that pointless because then it’s all just gold isn’t it yes I’m sure they mixed it differently but saying it’s Georgian is just ridiculous and pointless
Oh and only 3999 have been minted well golly gosh where do I sign up!
Honestly they just irritate me so much!


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2816

SashaQ - happysad

"As well as the various showing us gym activities, a woman mentions relaxing in the jacuzzi. The image we see is two women in a sauna."

Yes, I noticed that, too! smiley - laugh I think it is probably caused by cutting the advert to fit the time, so it shows there is a jacuzzi and a sauna, but it reminds me of the adverts for a baby doll toy I have seen, where the voiceover says 'Now use your potty and have a bath!' smiley - rofl


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2817

Cheerful Dragon

The current Vanish ad irritates me. It tells us that white clothes go grey over time and that Vanish will make them up to ten shades whiter. Fair enough. My problem is this. The ad starts with a woman in her late twenties/early thirties and ends with a woman in her seventies. She still has the same top. I can stretch a point and say she kept it for sentimental reasons. But if she has been wearing for 40 years, shouldn't she have noticed that it was getting dingy long ago.


Advertising stupidity - now with added Title

Post 2818

SashaQ - happysad

smiley - laughsmiley - ok

I still watch too many adverts aimed at children - the one that irritates me at the moment is "Bloopies - they are now mermaids" - the advert doesn't say what they were before they became mermaids! smiley - rofl


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