Commercials: I Can’t Not Look

There are commercials on TV I have to watch. Seriously, I can’t look away.

There are commercials on TV I have to watch. Seriously, I can’t look away. When the UPS guys nerdily sing to me about logistics my head turns so fast my neck might snap off! That’s amore!

This all started when Helaine noticed me watching the at&t ad with the two guys on the ski lift.

“You can’t not look?” she asked… but she was really making a statement.

Yes! I can’t not look.

I watch the Lowes commercial where the couple’s washing machine goes nuts… and they kick it into submission.

Now there’s a new one with a little girl who builds a lemonade stand that blossoms into a big business: Susie’s Lemonade. In the final scene her dad looks for her but is confronted by another grade schooler who asks, “Is she expecting you?”

I’ve watched it intently dozens of times. Unfortunately we had to roll back the DVR as I was writing this. I couldn’t remember whose commercial it was.

Sorry Verizon Wireless.

21 thoughts on “Commercials: I Can’t Not Look”

  1. A lot of us have been there (2 guys on ski lift). It’s OK to go out with my ex. It isn’t OK to rub my face in it.

  2. I love the Geico commercial with the dog-car car chase. I saw another one, a Subaru ad I think, on line with cars being driven by dogs competing for parking spaces, and a cat swoops in and gets the spot. Do I dare say (at the risk of being slammed) that the excitement would have been heightened if there had been a pit bull driving a Hummer??
    I do like Susie’s Lemonade as well, but “Logistics” is getting a bit old. Over all, though, so many are so bad!

  3. I thoroughly enjoy the GEICO commercials. My favorite is with the pig in the mini van saying “Weee” all the way home. LOL

    1. I drive a school bus and during the first week of school that is all I heard for the ride home. Thankfully, they abandoned that word shortly after the week was over! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

  4. Half the time the commercials are so engaging that you don’t even remember what the product is they are advertising. I too love the lemonade one you mentioned. Very clever advertising people. I absolutely love it!

  5. Geico has a long record of great ads, although I never particularly liked the caveman. The current UPS ads don’t do much for me – I liked the “We want to race the truck” NASCAR ones from a couple years back.

    Best ad I’ve seen this year was for Chevy truck with “Timmy’s stuck in the well” – unfortunately, I’ve only seen it twice, once during the Superbowl and once during the Daytona 500.

  6. Geoff, you’re not alone. It’s not so much that I “like” the ads… but something about them just grabs you by the ears and makes you look. With the ski lift scenario, I’d be totally ticked, and make him buy me a new phone! Of course, I wouldn’t have been rubbing it in his face, either!

    As for ads that FAIL TO SELL THE PRODUCT… that is a colossal waste of money!

  7. Commercials are now more fun than I recall them being in the past. In fact, they’re no longer totally lame — they way I recall them being in the past. On the whole I find myself entertained by most commercials today. Except for the pharmaceutical commercials…they seem to be terrifying.

  8. Ilike the Fed Ex, you’re a Dan fool and also the Fedex ” I have to speak to you privately I found your resume in the printer” everyone. cracks me up. The goat Aflac commercial is priceless

  9. I like the Walmart commercial where the dad (or grandpa) takes the boys camping and wakes them up with an air horn. I laugh every time!

  10. I can tolerate most commercials, but there are a few that really annoy me. The one that really gets me the most is the kid with the whooping cough. As a mom, I have a really hard time listening to the sound of that child gasping for breath. I usually have to mute the TV for that one. The other one that annoys me lately is the adult Jello thing where the mom is telling the kids that the choco-(whatever bad guy he is, can’t even remember) will come to steal the kids away if they stole the parents Jello treat. The father does the grrrr thing and the kids run like the dickens into the house. On some level I find that abusive. Maybe it’s just me. And then there’s Jamie Lee Curtis with all the Activia commercials. It’s yogurt for cripes sake. And now “Dessert Activia”? It’s yogurt. Get over it!

  11. My favorite Geico commercial is the one where the question is “does a woodchuck chuck wood?” and the scene changes to a bunch of woodchucks tossing wood logs and a guy in a truck comes by to order them to stop chucking his wood. Cracks me up everytime. They are all pretty good, though.

  12. this is to Diane K…..I thought I was the only one who finds that commercial, shall we say – emotionally abusive. I know it’s supposed to be funny, but deep down it’s not. Those are things that on the surface seem harmless enough…but truly they are just cruel.

    1. What a relief to know that I’m not the only one who thinks that way about that commercial. I wish the advertisers would take a closer look. Unfortunately there are parents out there who might think it funny and try to copy. Scaring kids senseless over a chocolate dessert is abusive.

  13. Since getting a DVR 15 years ago, I’m totally out of the loop on commercials. However, during the Super Bowl I make a point of watching them. I was totally impressed with the one from Chrysler featuring Detroit. The music, the photography, the message…

  14. “I can’t believe I ate the WHOLE thing!!”

    “Time to make the Doughnuts….”

    “Mother PLEASE!! I’d rather do it myself!!”

    “A little Dab will Do ya”

    Still remember some of the ole classics… (Geoff we’re bout the same age so you probably remember them too)

  15. So many of the commercials are just forgettable. You mentioned the Susie’s Lemonade ad, and I had no recollection. Then, just a while ago, it appeared on my tv screen, and I knew why: The first time I heard those first few notes of “I Want Candy”, I skipped the rest of the ad to research who did the song.

    Of course it was Bow Wow Wow, with “I Want Candy.” Great song.

    One of the few bright spots of these mundane adverts is the music used. If not for recent ads, I wouldn’t know about “Have Love, Will Travel” by The Sonics, or “The Wash” by Brenda and the Tabulations. Fire up the YouTube and give them a listen.

  16. I love the Subaru commercial where the dad is giving what appears to be his toddler daughter the keys to the car, along with many warnings. Then she turns into a lovely teenager of driving age. I love it because I soooo remember that feeling when my kids started to drive, and also because I love Subarus.
    No mentioned the Mayhem commercials for Allstate — they are terrific!
    The one I hate most is when a family comes home to find their home has been burgled (they say “robbed”) and the thieves took everything but their old computer. Do they scream in horror? Do they call the police? No, they decide they had better buy a new computer, so next time the thieves will not leave it behind. STUPID.
    Also can’t stand “it’s fun for you, it’s fun for me….” AAAARGHHH!
    I have learned about SO many great new bands from their exposure on commercials — notably Hem, who has been featured on Liberty Mutual ads and State Radio, whom I discovered through Kayem hot dogs!!!

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