Josh-da-man

And the possible side effects include headaches, drowsiness, leg pain, dizziness, loss of feeling in the hands and feet, mood swings, depression, suicidal impulses, impotence, sterility, explosive diarrhea, bleeding from the eyes, nose, and ears, coma, and in some cases, death.

johnnysd

I have read that the Lexus Christmas commercials are actually very successful and lead to a noticeable bump in sales and they actually do provide the obnoxious bow. Toyotathon commercials are really lucrative too

bralph

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8sZS4Wu5PZ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

covenant

If i hear the phrase "moderate to severe" one more time

TheKing

Right now my most hated ads are the ones for Panera Bread. They come off as the most pretentious eating establishment on the planet.

But then in one of their most recent ads, they took it a step further. They spend it talking about the right way to make a turkey sandwich (thick cut turkey, et al). That part isn't so bad, but the second part they say "The right way to eat it, is however you eat it" while showing a guy eating the sandwich literally off his baby's ass. I'm sorry, but that is NOT the right way to eat anything!

EDIT: Guess I should have went a bit further back in the thread. It was already posted!

kenbuzz

Who? I thought that was Ed "Fight Club" Norton.

"I am Jack's complete lack of surprise."

JimRochester

Mentioned it before but that's how I feel about the Subaru commercials. Especially the radio commercials. So damn pretentious. I was looking for a car a couple months ago and even though I really like the look of the Outback and the Forester and they have great reviews, I just couldn't do it because of their advertising.

So and so was stuck in the snow but we just drove right through to the ski slope. Asshat

stopgap

So you got a car and you named him "Brad"

Traxan

As stupid as the dialogue is, that girl's facial expressions while she talks are priceless.

And for the rest of you, in case I didn't share this link before:

http://www.commercialsihate.com/comm...te_forum1.html

Traxan

BTW, AMA supports a ban on prescription drug ads.

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/9...on-drug-ad-ban

Count Dooku

At this point, I am sick of every reference to Star Wars that I see.

greydt

The current advertising account I work on happens to be pharma. Just throwing out things in no particular order:

- the advertising itself is HEAVILY regulated by the government. Each piece of creative (whether it's online, print, TV) has to be approved by the government (PCA approval), who will come back with feedback on things the ad might or might not say, or even imply. Wonder why the ads seem so generically similar? Well, doing anything remotely different will likely get a rejection (and the review process can take 90 days each time)
- ad length: yes, those ads tend to be long because of the ISI (important safety informtion). I can assure you that pharma companies wish they can do a :30 and not pay 3x/4x times the amount to get the same message out. They also have to still use a book of record - when you see the "See our ad in...magazine" in the TV ad. Yup, still a rule if you're asking "why not use the internet instead?"
- specifying all of the other things you might get: also part of the rules. It's an aggregate of the potential symptoms a person might encounter so if one person got it, on the list it goes.

My last account was a large telecom, and on a company to company level vs pharma companies, telecoms spend hell of alot more money on advertising (pharma seems like they're all over the place, but in aggregate - plus they're more likely in less expensive, higher frequency cable TV placements. Telecoms are on pricier Prime Network, Sports, etc). Packaged consumer good companies like J&J are the top spenders and dwarfs everyone.

Paff

does this improve your opinion of the commercial?:

Traxan

That's the girl in the ad? Doesn't look at all like her.

Rex Fenestrarum

Yeah, I just saw the "football practice" commercial yesterday, where a couple high school dudes in football uniforms eat turkey sandwiches in the stands after a game, or practice or something. The super-pretentious voice-over says their turkey is "all natural" and that's "the way it should be".

Bitch, ain't nothin' "natural" about ANY of the food we eat. ALL of it - every last thing - has been cross-pollinated and cross-bred for centuries. Corn was originally a grass (like wheat) until Mesoamericans bred generation after generation of genetic mutation to make the vegetable we know today. All those varieties of apples at Whole Foods? Yeah, they didn't come straight from the Garden of Eden... they were bred that way. And turkeys, famously, have been bred to grow faster and fatter than ever before.

That's why I hate these anti-GMO nutcases. Humans have been modifying food for thousands of years. Now we can do it carefully and specifically.. and somehow that's bad? Fuck you, you anti-science shitwits!

johnnysd

Even with all that I do not think it is regulated enough. A drug should be really mature I think before it should be able to have a TV commercial. As the pharm companys give incentives to doctors to prescribe their new medicines, it just seems to me a disaster ready to happen. I am not convinced TV is an appropriate forum for drugs with often lethal potential side effects.

banthafett

Merry Christmas! I got you a gigantic monthly car and insurance bill. Enjoy the next 5+ years.

greydt

Interesting - when it comes to "black box warning" drugs (not all drugs are the same - the ones with potentially lethal side effects are definitely separated and denoted as such), why do you see TV as being different from any other advertising channels like magazines, site banners, Paid & Organic Search, etc?

Just curious because I never heard of TV as being a sort of "pinnacle" in advertising to achieve, and was wondering where the perception might be coming from

Mondo Kane

You know things have gone too far when Star Wars has claimed Cover Girl.

johnnysd

I think TV ads are pervasive and much more efficacious than print ads for something like a drug when you have living, breathing individuals implied to be on the drug and having a breakthrough from that drug. And breakthrough drugs do tend to have occurrences of worse or undiscovered side effects once in widespread use. I suspect I would not see a drug commercial every commercial break of almost every show if they were not extremely effective at raising revenue.

Eddie W

I think it's for much of the same reasons you no longer see liquor or cigarettes advertised on TV. Even though they do get a lot of ads in other mediums.

Cusm

The law banning liquor ads expired several years ago and there are a ton shown daily after 7 or 8pm.

fujishig

There's an Audi commercial I saw the other day where there are multiple segments, but one is a guy surprising his wife with a Lexus in the driveway, and she looks longingly at the Audi driving past... seriously? They don't show the divorce papers being filed, however.

There's also a jewelry commercial that's a joint one by Kay, Jared, and Zales. It's actually kinda sweet to start out with, with a bunch of couples being best friends, and then they hit you with the "two diamond" ring, because she's both your best friend and the love of your life. Ugh.

johnnysd

Ya, I used to love the barcadI commercials

Traxan

I tell you what I'm rapidly tiring of: the Capital One commercials with Jennifer Garner. The woman is in her early 40s and talks like one of her kids. I don't care how good she looks, bring back the barbarians. They were hilarious.