Slate has released their list of the most atrocious ads of the year, and I have to say I agree about most of them, though they left out some egregious offenders, like Philips Colon Health. Regardless, here’s the list…enjoy!
Ads we hate (Slate)
….and I don’t mean “disgusting” in a Tyra Banks “you look so fashionable” way. Take the new Pepto ad, below, which is based around the concept of farting in someone’s face. There are a lot of ways to illustrate how bad it is to have gas, like illustrating the searing gas pain the flatulence sufferer must endure, but the guys at Pepto went for the tried and true face fart joke. Dudes, Chaucer totally did it first.
I’m not sure what Elderplan is, but this ad caught my ear when the female representative at about the one minute mark says something that sounds dirty but isn’t. She’s talking about cheesecake, wasting valuable phone time by humoring a customer (something she’ll surely get in trouble for as soon as the commercial is over), when she says “You’re making me really hungry” in a way that makes it sound like she really wants to say “horny.” Maybe she’s attempting to have covert phone sex with her boyfriend, using code words like “cheesecake” and “Elderplan.”
Another thing I don’t like about this ad is that the host lady acts like she’s not ready to start filming at the beginning of the ad. I know they’re trying to seem all cool and casual about the whole thing, but then they start in with their professional graphics and prepared sales pitch. It’s almost as bad as when people end ads by saying “cut” and showing people walk off the set, chatting with each other about how well the ad went. This one ends almost as annoyingly, and even more confusingly, with the lady asking some guy at the fake phone bank where he’s going, like she didn’t think she was still on the air. Ugh.
Before you all sneak away for Christmas vacation, I’d thought I’d throw the second poll out. Here are the finalists for the biggest steaming pile of advertising feces excreted in 2009. The finalists are…
*The Double Down Sandwich (KFC)
Now kindly vote below, and have a wonderful holiday!
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Finally, the time has come to decide once and for all which ad least turned our collective stomachs this year. To refresh your memory, the five nominees are…
Now vote, readers, vote!
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“You can call me Nannerpuss, Nannerpuss…and guess what, I love pancakes!”
You sure do, Nannerpuss.
(P.S. This is a Denny’s ad that I originally wrote about here.)
The final entry in our list of the worst ads of the year is the series of Windows 7 “Launch Party” infomercials. Just. Awful.
In honor of the ongoing holiday season, a classic ad for one of my favorite foods – DListed
Another awesome DListed ad article, this time about a classic board game ad – DListed
Indie music in advertising (full disclosure: the article was written by a friend) – Quiet Color
The D&G threesome ad! – Grazia Daily
Least thought given to a product award: Aciphex (my thoughts exactly!) – MLS Debris
The Shake Weight had to have a place in the top five ads of the year, if only because it’s so obviously making visual reference to masturbation. When I wrote about the ad a little more than a month ago, I couldn’t decide which version was better, and I still can’t. The female one looks just as pornographic as the male one, so I will nominate both ads equally.
I’m not sure exactly when these Feed the Pig ads started, but I’m fairly sure it was this year. Either way, they’re stupid. I think they’re supposed to be public service announcements encouraging people to save money, but the only thing they’re successful at is giving me nightmares. That freaky pig needs to go away.
The third nominee for 2009’s best ad of the year is a little infomercial that stole my heart. The product being advertised, the Slap Chop, isn’t that amazing, and the original ad, while wacky, wasn’t all that interesting either. But then a DJ named Steve Porter did a funny remix, and the Slap Chop people decided to go with it for a new version of their ad. It was a gutsy move, but it paid off.