h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

He can't have had much to boast about. I saw the advertisement before the black box and didn't even notice anything. The first thing I noticed was the black box on the screen!

The ads that have me reaching for the remote control are the Norwich Union "Quote me happy" ads. esure realised that the Michael Winner ads were driving people up the wall and avoiding the company, so they dropped them. Hopefully Norwich Union will realise that their "Quote me happy" ads are having a similar effect.

I'd really like to have a car so I can phone up Norwich Union for a quote and say to them, "yes, it's a hatchback". Because that's all the information they need to insure your car.

I'm sure no-one's done this to them already!

RTC

I overheard an advert for a magazine on TV yesterday. The blurb said something along the lines "Find out who Kate Moss's new best friend is, find out what blah thinks of blah's hair". The fact that anyone is bothered about the identity of Kate Moss's new best friend is something I personally find a little alarming. The odd hatch, match or dispatch catches my attention but there is a limit. I dread to think what sort of world I'm going to be living in in 20 years from now.

I want the Hellman's mayo adds off my TV right NOW!
I don't care about the fat dollop. He should go away, I need a widescreen just to fit him on the tv.

What are they trying to say? If you use our product you will end up severely obese?

A good ad for a change: I love the one for the guardian's f1 pull out - with the pit stop where the driver jumps out and they have to spin him round

I don't think that the big dollop ones are that successful either, but either they are working or hellman paid for a set of them...

I think the whole 'big dollop' thing is just a poorly exectuted metaphor, as mayonnaise out of the jar tends to come in dollops.

The new Hellmans Big Dollop bottle doesn't work. One little ejaculation then nuffin....

New Entrant:

Just watched about 30 seconds of a man being hunted down by what looked like a trouser press, up and down fire escapes and even jumping across roofs.

The product?

The Skoda Fabia VRS.

That bloody advert for the portable tooth cleaning thing with all the people going "rip, slip, brush! AHH!"

Urge to kill rising.

I've been thinking of resurrecting this thread for a while now. One ad that really bugs me at the moment is the one for the Mercedes A-class. Maybe some people will be encouraged to buy a car by a load of juddery images. I, for one, am not. The ad has yet to be made that, on its own, will persuade me to buy a particular car, but some car ads get me more interested than others.

I think the ad is for Corolla? Some Jap sedan... There is a mother and daughter driving and the daughter ask how her date went with so-and-so. (The mom is obviously seperated/divorced/widowed...) She says it was good and so on. Then the daughter asks, "So how was he?" The mom answeres with something like, "Oh he's doing well, busy with blah, blah, blah..." And the girl smiles and asks again, "No, I mean HOW WAS HE?" And they giggle... the slogan: "A car for modern life"

ICK!!! EW!!! Call me a prude, but NO WAY am I EVER going to ask my parents about thier sex lives! BLEAGH!!!! (Is there a smiley that is throwing up?)

the one that winds me up is the bloke waiting in his car for his wife to finish surfing, and while he's sitting there, two women dance AT him...badly. Then his wife gets in the car and there's a raised eyebrow or two and they drive off.
1. I don't get it
2. I don't even remember the make of car, so that must be a bad advert

(forgot name of car so big success)

but the one with the two guys driving along, chatting aimiably about space travel and life on mars while one of them tries on a space helmet for no obviosu reason followed by a fatuous slogan of some sort.

Drives me to boredom sooo fast.

I agree with that one, Clive... it is one of those volvo 'lifestyle' ads. I have subsequently been informed that the guy driving is actually an astronaut, (hence the helmet). But who is the rambling fool in the passenger seat?

I love the fact that, because of his drink driving charge, Vic Reeves has been dropped from the Churchill ads. So instead of recording a completely different voice they have just got someone to try and sound like him! Sad.

I don't get that. Surely if an advertiser drops someone because of an uncomplementary news story, it's because they don't want to be seen to be connected with them. So why try to get someone who sounds as if they are the person on the news report?

Maybe the Reeves impersonator just charged less than Vic!

Churchill probably didn't want to drop that revolting 'nodding dog'. He says "Oh, yes!" I say "Oh, no!!!" every time I see him.

Besides, they may have 'dropped' Vic Reeves, but they're still using ads that were made before the incident. If they're going to do that, why bother dropping him?

all vodafone adverts annoy me!!! the music does my head it. mainly because i work for vodafone and if i need to transfer some1 that bloody music is all i have for about 10 mins straight!!!!

i like the john west tuna adverts with the bear though. ( i know this is supposed to be about adverts we don't like but i just wanted to say)

(I quite like BBC trail with all the people flipping and spinning head over heels - reminds me a lot of that Jump: London programme.)

Back to adverts I dislike: the BBC advert for the subtitling service with the woman trying to talk over the pneumatic drill. its two swift for my liking. The text, when it appears, vanishes too quickly and the advert jumps about, cutting to a noisy shot which obscures her voice.

I find the channel 4 one much more effective, where we are forced to try and lip-read in silence a variety of actors performances before finally cutting to Jon Snow, also muted but subtitled, explaining how subtitling works to help viewers with hearing difficulties and is being rolled out across the channel.

Much easier to undertsand and more imapctful I think than the jumbled and confusing BBC one.