Commercials: Are they written by monkeys?

It's why every TV has a mute button. To protect your brain from the drain.

I agree with the use of the mute button. I find I'm going for the power button more and more.

It's funny that ad companies have creative departments to write such fantastic dialogue.

"You can save up to 50% or more!"

That one hurts my brain

Lol I think commercials prove the idea is that language is focused chaos.

jodiodi said:

OK, I was watching something on TV tonite with my husband and kids and a commercial came on for some sort of exercise widget. I wasn't really paying any attention when the spokesmodel said:

"I could visually see the difference."

How else was she going to see a difference? Audibly? Olfactorly (is that even a word)? Could she taste the difference?

Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

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well, if its an exercise widget, she could also measure her waist with a tape measure, use a scale to weigh herself, or use a fat caliper. To me, visually meant she looked in the mirror and saw the difference. Granted, I haven't seen the commercial, so that's all assumption on my part.

"More than 25 uses!"

Erm, why not just specify 26 or 27? Hell, 45 and 98 are more than 25, too. 25.198 is, as well, but now I'm just being silly.

mario_c said:

It's why every TV has a mute button. To protect your brain from the drain.

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archerjoe said:

I agree with the use of the mute button. I find I'm going for the power button more and more.

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I third that.
I always mute the adverts.
Drives most visitors/ other crazy for some reason.
No mute=No telly. Golden Rule

Well paid monkeys.
My contrib - Domestos -'kills germs dead'

jodiodi said:

It wasn't the use of 'See' that got me. It was the uselessness of "visually see".

One must use one's eyes to 'see a difference'. Hence, all instances of 'seeing a difference' are visual. None of the other senses will 'see'. Even blind people who use their other senses to form an image are creating the image, not seeing it.

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Ah. I'm a little slow today. I wonder if they meant virtually and the actress just screwed it up and no one caught it.

I like to give the writer the benefit of the doubt and blame everyone else.

I object to adverts using 'tonite' as an alternate spelling for 'tonight'.

These were.


One of a series from a few years ago.

I finally realized that the ads I hated or didn't understand weren't targeting me. They knew I'd never buy their product.

But what does the butchering of the English language have to say about the way we educate our children?

Those stuffed-animal car adverts creep me out.

I like commercials that can make me laugh -- beer commercials, etc -- as long as I don't see the same commercial 6 times a night. Commercials that are serious -- Truth, most perfume commercials, medical ads -- are just skip-over fodder.

I avoid movie and TV show "coming attractions" or "This week on..." commercials. They give too much away and I want to actually be surprised when I see the show. I know they want to entice new viewers, but they sure screw up stuff for their current viewers.

Monkeys on crack or lsd that's for sure. Some of these commercials are amazingly stupid or amazingly disturbing.

“I was walking down the street with my friend and he said 'I hear music,' as though there's any other way to take it in. 'You're not special. That's how I receive it too... I tried to taste it, but it did not work.'” --Mitch Hedberg

Gregg said:

But what does the butchering of the English language have to say about the way we educate our children?

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Wait. We actually bother trying to educate children?

James81 said:

“I was walking down the street with my friend and he said 'I hear music,' as though there's any other way to take it in. 'You're not special. That's how I receive it too... I tried to taste it, but it did not work.'” --Mitch Hedberg

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Ahhh Hedberg. He was hilarious.

This is why I have Tivo. I can't stand to watch live tv anymore. I sit there and keep trying to fast forward through commercials, and yell at the tv when it won't let me

RickN said:

I avoid movie and TV show "coming attractions" or "This week on..." commercials. .

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The absolute worst are on BBCAmerica. They actually embed upcoming scenes into the show itself with so little warning that you sometimes can't skip them. I've stopped watching some shows solely because those ads are so freaking annoying.

Last night I was pretty grossed out by a commercial for Sour Patch Kids (gross gummy candy in the shape of horribly misshapen children) in which a boy sitting on a park bench got pooped on by a bird. He wiped the poop off his knee and went back to his handheld video game. Next the bird pooped all over the video game. The kid looked up to find a Sour Patch Kid HOLDING A PIGEON AND SQUEEZING IT SO IT WOULD POOP ON THE BOY.

Yes, that's right, now your candy advocates animal abuse and also it will make birds poop on you.

archerjoe said:

I agree with the use of the mute button. I find I'm going for the power button more and more.

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I can't remember the last time my TV was turned on. I think we should get rid of it, but then there'd be nothing to show the old video tapes on.

My favorite misuse of language in marketing wasn't in a TV ad. It was on a banner I saw at a grocery store. To advertise their low prices, they had written: "SAVE 20% LESS THAN OTHER GROCERY STORES."

They really needed to think harder about that one.