Commercial rant time...

[Drtooth]

The thing that really disgusts me about the Progressive ads is that...well, first of all it adds a level of fridge horror that the only reason Flo's so perky and happy is because her family is so verbally abusive to each other that she puts on a brave face so no one realizes how incredibly depressed she is. Secondly, she's the only one in the family that has any level of stability and/or success and her family absolutely hates her for it. They hate each other strongly, but they seem to hate her even more. Not to mention the fact the mother in all the commercials, especially the new camping ones, shows signs of desperately wanting the family to get along. In other words, suffering the same psychological torment as Flo.

So basically in this failed attempt of humor, instead of making this funny, they made perhaps the most disturbing commercials of all time.

I do however love the Progressive Box commercials. Though that's bias because the box is voiced by Chris Parnell.

I really hate that Dorito's commercial, the one where the husband is eating Dorito's, while the wife is having an ultrasound. it makes all women seem like controlling annoying nags, and makes all men seem like morons.

I hate the trend of trying to make commercials more "feminist" by making the men completely non-functional brain damaged vegetables and making the women all ..err... male anatomy busters. That's more insulting than those commercials from the 40's and 50's. They both have the same "women are only good at raising kids and household chores" message, just with a half[butted] attempt of equality by making men appear too dumb to live and women incredibly competent at housework. Who are those commercials even for?

 

[fuzzygobo]

At least Flo rebutts that chauvinistic attitude in one ad ("Women don't have JOBS!"). You also kind of root for her in those dysfunctional family ads (hopefully they don't hit TOO close to home for some). If she is able to have her act together in a toxic environment like that, more power to her.
Box is okay. Some of his ads might be a little grating, but the expressiveness of his eyes is quite impressive.

 

[Drtooth]

To be perfectly honest, I'm ambivalent about Flo. The actress has talent. I've seen her on Mad Men. She was even good in Two Broke Girls. She just doesn't seem to do much but be Flo. I HATE Jamie, though. If that character was a rebuttal to FLo being deemed obnoxious, then yeah...he works in that aspect. The one commercial I really liked (biased) was the one with Sonic the Hedgehog in it, but that just disappeared the second it premiered.

Though as far as insurance ads go, at least they're not as condescending as the Liberty Mutual "angry person in a park lectures you on how bad your insurance company is" series. I especially hate the one where this couple just walks through the park talking to each other like they're having a conversation (the woman passive aggressively giving it to her husband about how bad a driver he is), and all the sudden they turn to the camera creepily and break the fourth wall. The husband slowly turning his head to the camera to utter an unintentionally creepy "...Perfect!"

Then there's the General which, well... Family Guy pegged that one.

Which got worse when they added the "I just got insured by the General" series. No. Wearing the helmets doesn't make them look like they're part of an elite club, they look like freaking members of a cult.

And don't get me started in "Mini Mo."

 

[Mynameisdean]

To be perfectly honest, I'm ambivalent about Flo. The actress has talent. I've seen her on Mad Men. She was even good in Two Broke Girls. She just doesn't seem to do much but be Flo. I HATE Jamie, though. If that character was a rebuttal to FLo being deemed obnoxious, then yeah...he works in that aspect. The one commercial I really liked (biased) was the one with Sonic the Hedgehog in it, but that just disappeared the second it premiered.

Though as far as insurance ads go, at least they're not as condescending as the Liberty Mutual "angry person in a park lectures you on how bad your insurance company is" series. I especially hate the one where this couple just walks through the park talking to each other like they're having a conversation (the woman passive aggressively giving it to her husband about how bad a driver he is), and all the sudden they turn to the camera creepily and break the fourth wall. The husband slowly turning his head to the camera to utter an unintentionally creepy "...Perfect!"

Then there's the General which, well... Family Guy pegged that one.

Which got worse when they added the "I just got insured by the General" series. No. Wearing the helmets doesn't make them look like they're part of an elite club, they look like freaking members of a cult.

And don't get me started in "Mini Mo."

Ugh, all those you mentioned are horrible, but especially the Liberty Mutual commercial, where I can't tell whether the fourth wall is always broken, it's a husband and wife, it's supposed to be actors, it's a guy/woman working for Liberty Mutual talking to a client.. It makes no sense.
Also, the I just got insured by The General commercial with the women in the park is crappy, but the fact that two women wearing army helmets talking about insurance walking through a park seems to be played straight makes it worse.

 

[D'Snowth]

I was watching an old Lunchable's commercial on YouTube, and fer shure there was the typical smart comments from people being all, "Yeah, so c y muricans b so fatz?" But, there was one comment that actually paraphrases something I've been saying for a while: the commentor said that people have only gotten fatter when foods have gotten healthier and more organic, and that's exactly what I think the problem with our so-called "obesity epidemic" really is. I mean notice back in, say, the 1950s, when there wasn't any concerns about being fat -- notice what else there wasn't any concerns over? What people ate. Matter of fact, I remember one commercial where the advertisers thought they were being so clever by showing it was because we were so ignorant to nutrition facts back then, by showing a Leave it to Beaver-esque family induging in sticks of butter on all their food, and being so happy about it, because hey, they didn't know anything about cholesterol or saturated fats back then. But, in this day and age where we do know about that stuff, and there's a pressure on for people to eat healthier and stuff, notice that's when our obesity epidemic happened. It's all psychological. It also doesn't help that these FDA and these other associated groups are so inconsistent with their studies, flip-flopping between something being good for you then being bad for you then being good for you again, nobody knows what to eat. Back in the day? No worries, no cares, people were happy and healthy. Today? Can't eat this because it's too fattening, can't eat that because it'll raise your cholesterol, can't eat anything that has X-amount of calories; people are confused and miserable, and they're getting larger as a result. Again, it's all psychological. Why, I wouldn't be surprised if all of these anti-smoking PSAs where we see the consequences people have had to endure from their years of smoking makes people watching want to light up all the more.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Part of the constant flip-flopping can be blamed on lobbyists. Once upon a time, eggs were so laden with cholesterol they would kill you. Throw a few million dollars at Washington, propaganda comes out how the same deadly eggs will now help kids think faster and breeze through their hectic school day.
Coffee, milk, beef, and pork all have seen revivals too.

Not this has anything to do with anything.
Those Swiffer commercials. Ain't it amazing, the one house on the block with the dogs that shed, the kids that track mud, and the grandma with lumbago who can't reach to dust her shelves.
The doorbell rings, and an anonymous box of mops and pads is left on the doorstep (anyone who can run away from a house that fast, the Olympic track team is looking for you!).
Swiffer, drop a box off at my house sometime. My cats will thank you.

 

[D'Snowth]

Part of the constant flip-flopping can be blamed on lobbyists. Once upon a time, eggs were so laden with cholesterol they would kill you.

Funny you mentioned that, because Mel Brooks cited that as a contributing factor in Marty Feldman's death: evidently, Marty was a vegetarian, and ate a lot of eggs for protein, so since eggs are cooked in butter, Mel said Marty's diet was basically one that was drenched in cholesterol.

 

[Drtooth]

Progressive does it again, and this time they aren't even being original!

You know, I have actually been giving that commercial a longer, harder (heh heh heh heh) look, and frankly the problem I have with it is that there's no logical set up. At least the way its presented. So, the woman's husband is supposed to be Kool-Aidman? They don't show a photo, so they don't set it up and it doesn't make sense.

They really should have followed Family Guy's lead and done a series of "Oh No!"-s leading up to an "OH YEAH!!"

 

[D'Snowth]

You know how I've been complaining about those ambulance-chasing commercials that always say, "If you or a loved one took such-and-such medication, and experienced any of the following potentially life-threatening side effects, including death, you may be elligible for compensation."? Well, guess what? It finally happened. There actually is such a commercial on certain cable channels right now that actually mentions that someone who had died as a result of taking the medication had been awarded compensation. They awarded monetery settlement to a dead person. Really.[/b]

 

[mr3urious]

These Arco commercials with people having wild imagine spots about how great their gasoline is (and their subsequent reaction to others passing by) are just plain idiotic. It would have been kinda endearing if they were little kids, but as adults, they come across as mentally handicapped. Methinks they've been sniffing some of the fumes near the pump.