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

Singing adverts for nappies! How could I have forgotten that horror!

Do children really see a nappy advert and say 'Yes mother! I wish to employ that brand! It got Best of Category in What Nappy magazine.'

I think not.

on a general point I have very bad celebrity recognition - I could walk past Tom Cruise snogging Madonna without realising it, so the use of celebs in adverts is meaningless to me- the recent Levi's advert to me was just two women one young and black the other old and white dancing around, it had to be pointed out to me they were famous.

CHawke

Actually, the shampoo adverts promise "healty *looking*" hair. They're not allowed to promise *healthy* hair 'cos that's making a medical claim, which they can't do without clinical trials to back it up.

Oh, and top of my list of annoying adverts is anything by L'Oreal. They used to say "Because *I'm* worth it", which made me look at the various celebrities who did the adverts and think "Because you can afford it". They changed it to "Because *you're* worth it", but I still can't stand the adverts. I change channels whenever one of them starts, and wait a minute or two until I'm sure it's over.

Could i please second the Jensen Button ad (for BBCi unfortunately).He's got his name on the back of the chair (i wont state the obvious)
And my current bete noir is that Post Office ad for the ants going on holiday(making it seem like it's ok to import species (don't think you'd find it playing well in Miami)

The face cream ads... What they don't tell you is that the act of massaging the skin with *any* cream with improve the texture, just by working on the muscle tone slightly. You don't need to spend a small fortune for that effect.

Going back to car adverts, I can't stand the one for the new Renault Megane with that awful rear end. The only part of that ad I find amusing is the peaches shaking from side to side. The rest is dire.

as is the car - sooo ugly.

The headless people advert to get us all to be teachers is pants.

The junior nurofen advert with flying babies just creeps me out.

Oh and the coughing in the Benylin ad starts before the doctor appears!

CHawke

So...lets talk about the Actimel advert (mmmm Danone)

She wants her money back because she says it hasn't made her feel any different and then she is shown cctv footage of herself behaving *outrageously* - she then says that isn't her and the assistant calls her a fibber and calls for security who arrive and chase the customer out of the shop like some sort of criminal.

There are so many issues I have with this one it's hard to know where to start!

However - it does address a problem that has been bothering me for many years. All these products that say "if you are not completely satisfied we'll give you your money back". Exactly how do you go about proving that you are not *completely* satisfied? What if you are just a little bit disappointed? Do you get half your money back?

Well, C Hawke, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong wrong wrong

Just because the doctor hasn't appeared *in frame* before the patients start coughing, doesn't mean he hasn't come out of surgery and into view of *some* of the patients in the waiting room. Who then get their pre-emptive coughs in early, so to speak, before everyone else spots the doc.

Camera then cuts to Doctor, who consults with receptionist.

Mmmm - I think adverts don't get that subtle - whatever it is a bad advert - how many others do the on screen characters here the voice over? Now if it was the Doctor who did the "our product is the best thing since fire" anouncement it may work a bit better.

Chawke

In the IAMS pet food ads, why does an apple for a cat cost less than an apple for a dog?

F

I saw that strange advert last night with the people coughing. I think the people can hear the voiceover which inspires them to go and get some of the product (nope, I can't remember what it's for). If you look at the old lady she seems to react to the voiceover.

The ads done by rathergood.com (dancing penguins by the eiffel tower) are a little disappointing. Visually the style is right, but the voices are too slick.

yes, but why do they start coughing when neck brace woman walks in - I tell you this is keeping me up at nights!

I think when they see the woman with the neckbrace, they think "Oh no, that woman is more obviously sick than me, she's going to get to skip the queue and see the doctor first. I'd better start coughing to show how really sick I am".

And then they walk out...... hmmmm

I've always had a theory that adverts for nappies and cat food are actually advertising babies and cats. They are always cutesy ads.

A theory I heard long ago:

If you don't like an ad, it's probably because it isn't trying to sell you anything. Try it: list three ads you liked, whether they were funny, interesting or just looked good. List three you hate.

Are you more likely to spend money on the type of thing the ads you like are selling?

In my case I like Guinness ads, car ads (in general) and airline ads. I hate Shampoo ads, Flash "Cheekie Chappie cleaning product" ads and Nissan Micra ads.


Hed

Someone else who thinks Nissan Micras are not cars...

F

If i dislike an advert I will consciously make a decision to avoid the product. (Unless it's a generic advert for something like water or electricity, obviously.)

BUY IT NOW!

I will never buy a product that has those words at the end. There was an advert for a 'best of' Drifters album (stop taking the p*ss at the back!) and I'd decided to buy it before the end of the ad. Then those three words popped up at the end. Alas, no Drifters in this house.

Presupposition is annoying:

Which one will you buy?
How will you eat yours?

If adverts get any worse I'll end up sitting in an empty house!

One advert that i cant stand right now is the "Cigarettes and clogged up arteries advert" has anyone saw it? Its totally disgusting!
Shows people smoking and instead of ash falling of the end of the cigarette its slimey lumps of fat
Unfortunately it hasnt made me stop smoking yet, although im planning on giving up soon.

Star

I saw that globs of fat anti-smoking one, but it's not as disgusting as one they are running in Ireland at the moment, in which a pathologist slices open the brain of a dead smoker, and all this congealed blood plops out of the site of the stroke that killed him.

I was eating my cornflakes waiting for an Ireland rugby match in the World Cup the first time I saw that one. Yuck.