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

There's a beer advert where there's two blokes (Mexican?) stood looking at a giant jellyfish thing hung in the middle of the room

There's a beer advert where there's two blokes (Mexican?) stood looking at a giant jellyfish thing hung in the middle of the room

Can't they just get Jack Dee and the penguins back?

It's not even a beer advert, Footbacon. It's a mobile phone advert and the guys are Japanese (but dressed like cowboys for some reason)

Shows how much of an impression it had on me.

I've just seen the city and guilds ad for the second time - what were they thinking? I didn't catch what it was for the first time, I was so freaked out by it.

And while I am at it, "Nibble Noddy's Nuts". WTF?

Yeah, ranks alongside the Colonel's succulent breasts - fingerlickin' good!

ok the current one is a fave, it's an ad for kellogs special k breakfast cereal. she's weighing herself on a scales and she's concerned about how fat she is, she tries to lower her weight by removing her clothes/glasses.
There are 2 major huge errors with the ad.
firstly when she gets on the scales the dial that shows the weight and it goes the wrong way, most likely due to film reversed.
secondly the scale has no numbers on it so how would she know what she weighs.

crap advert.

I reckon it's a bad advert for another reason. The woman in question doesn't actually look like she needs to lose weight. I am so fed up with adverts for 'slimming' or 'reduced calorie' products where they've chosen actresses (and it usually is women in these adverts) who don't look like they need the product they're advertising.

that's to do with the issue of what is a "good" weight - if they showed here weighing next to nothing then it would encourage those prone to eating disorders to think they were over weight, if it showed a too high weight then people wouldn't be impressed with the product, better just to show her being happy with the weight it shows!

CHawke

Adverts are something I try not to pay much attention to, but isn't it a shame when the advertisers take a good tune/song and change it for their own uses.

There's one with a frog vacuuming the lawn (or something) - nothing wrong with that if they are trying to sell some new wonder product, I suppose. But as a catchy theme tune, they have gone and used the fairly decent Daydream Believer song. Now that song will always be associated with silly frogs and has been spoiled forever, in my mind at least.

It's happened to other music too which is a shame in some ways.

"Round, round, cups are round, saucers are round,
The sugar bowl's round and the teapot is round"

Sung by the Tetley Tea Folk to the tune of 'I get around' by The Beach Boys. The ad goes back to the 70s (I think), but that version of it has stuck in my mind.

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth on another website I frequent due to the use of songs in adverts. It is a wedding planning site and several brides were planning on using the Barry White song 'My first, my last, my everything' as their first dance song and are now having to change it due to the halifax ads...

Snag is, the women *aren't* shown as being happy with their weight. Why else would they be eating foods aimed at getting weight down, or trying various things to make the scales show them being lighter than they are. OK, so if somebody like Callista Flockhart (disappears when she turns sideways) advertised these foods, you would have a point about causing problems for people with eating disorders. But these ads are done by women who look to be a reasonable weight and shape for their height. To me, that's telling women, "It doesn't matter how you think you look, you still weigh too much." It's not something I would fall for, but other women are another matter.

Perhaps she actually is a little overweight - a little outside her healthy ideal weight and, in order to safeguard her health and fitness, she needs to lose some weight?

One problem with the current trend towards easing the body image concerns of obese people is that it masks the health benefits of being at a healthy weight. Wanting to be supermodel slim out of vanity is one thing, but wanting to avoid obesity for the sake of your health is a good thing!

An advert I rather like at the moment is the one of Gene Kelly break-dancing whilst singing in the rain. It's quite clever superimposing his head and whatnot - pity it's only for a car though...

Oh that one freaks me out a bit too *shudder*

see, that's another ad where people with zero celebrity recognition like me simple don't get, I didn't realise it was Gene Kelly's head, just thought it was an actor.

CHawke

Let's take these points in order. My problem with *any* of the adverts for 'slimming' or 'reduced calorie' products is that *none* of the women who appear in them look like they need to lose weight. They don't even look close to the top end of their 'ideal weight' band. And that includes the woman in the advert for Special K. Admittedly the woman isn't as thin as some of the women who do these ads, but she certainly doesn't look overweight. Believe me, I know what overweight looks like. I also know it's possible to seem a little overweight when you're really well within the ideal weight band for your height.

As for 'easing the body image concerns of obese people', when did that start to happen? Every program I've seen that looks at obese people has been aimed at getting them to lose weight. I don't know what part of the world your from, Moose, but if it's the UK please point me in the direction of things that 'ease the body image concerns of obese people'. I'm borderline on that category myself, and health problems are preventing me doing much about it, so I could do with having my mental issues 'eased'. Of course, if you're not from the UK, don't bother. I have enough mental issues without taking on the burden of the vagaries of some other country!

DFS adverts are probably THE worst piece of advertising ever.
At first they were crap but with each advert they stoop lower and lower.

"Let's take these points in order. My problem with *any* of the adverts for 'slimming' or 'reduced calorie' products is that *none* of the women who appear in them look like they need to lose weight. They don't even look close to the top end of their 'ideal weight' band. And that includes the woman in the advert for Special K."

Aren't they just doing the old 'Head and Shoulders' one, though?

"Head and Shoulders? But you don't have dandruff!"

"Exactly!"