NationStates Jolt Archive

Tell me and vote now.

We flip through the channels and wait until our show comes back on or we just accept it because they sure aren't leaving so long as marketing shows that they do work, despite being stupid.

Cant....vote....no...poll....


Best solution to annoying commercials: Don't watch TV.

Second best solution: Drop acid...anything is amusing while on acid.

3rd solution: Use the remote.

Didn't you go to sleep like an hour or so ago? Anyway, we should go to the washroom, make sandwiches, or read a bit of the newspaper or a book while the show comes back on.

nah i went to draw and go eat

I'm with Iztatepopotla. Commerical breaks are a good time to go run to the can or something; without them you'd miss part of your show every time you got up. Once in a great while, they're actually useful too. Think of it sort of as a crapshoot through a cable line.

Of course commericals are stupid; commericals are stupid because most people are stupid. I've yet to see one that couldn't be understood by a ten year old. Companies aren't being moronic when they make dumb ads; they're goddamn geniuses for playing to the single most common element of human nature: stupidity.

no im not saying that commercials arent bad, however dumb as in stupid commercials should be shot or something.

I have this tape of a MST3k episode from 1995 I believe, and one of the most interesting things about it is that the commercials weren't left out, but those seem to be just as interesting as the show, because nothing ages as horribly as a commercial. There was a commercial with the Big Mac song, and it had Charles Barkley in it. Come 'on.

I'm with Iztatepopotla. Commerical breaks are a good time to go run to the can or something; without them you'd miss part of your show every time you got up. Once in a great while, they're actually useful too. Think of it sort of as a crapshoot through a cable line.

Of course commericals are stupid; commericals are stupid because most people are stupid. I've yet to see one that couldn't be understood by a ten year old. Companies aren't being moronic when they make dumb ads; they're goddamn geniuses for playing to the single most common element of human nature: stupidity.


Geniuses? Pffft. You mean they do the most obvious damn thing. The people who make stupid commercials are just as stupid as the poeple who sit & watch them and then complain about them.... even though no is forcing them to watch the damn things in the first place. The commercial makers are simply speaking the language they are most comfortable with because it is the one they use all day every day..the language of stupidity.

Turn the television off and ignore them altogether.

Argue about pointless topics on nationstates.net?

Second best solution: Drop acid...anything is amusing while on acid.

Not true. I went to a crazy resteraunt where giant statues of devils and clowns are actually animatronic robots that move and heckle the diners. Monitors all over the place display the wackiest animation the world has to offer. Just when the acid started to kick in, all the monitors started displaying the Yankees game. :(

No amount of drugs can make baseball amusing. Boredom makes 20 minutes of guys standing around chewing, spitting, and scratching feel like an hour. Acid makes it feel like a week.

As for what we should do about the commercials? Don't buy their stuff until they make products that respect your intelligence. Or at least that you think respect your intelligence.

Tell me and vote now.

The last stupid commercial which I had seen, I fully expected it to end with "...but it won't save you any money on your car insurance..."

That being said, it lends support to the creativity of GEICO's advertising department.

Eat them.

If I see one more of those DAMN Oscar Mayer commercials with the little kids singing those DAMN songs, I'm going to go over to Oscar Mayer HQ and dispense some indiscriminate justice!

Geniuses? Pffft. You mean they do the most obvious damn thing. The people who make stupid commercials are just as stupid as the poeple who sit & watch them and then complain about them.... even though no is forcing them to watch the damn things in the first place. The commercial makers are simply speaking the language they are most comfortable with because it is the one they use all day every day..the language of stupidity.
*slaps head* oh yeah, I forgot, because it's so easy to develop a multinational with the IQ of a chimp.

crazy frog rulz :D

a-ding-ding-da-da-ding-ding-ba-ba-be-de-daba :D

Mute the sound and talk to other people in the room instead of staring at the screen. I don't really watch TV, though.

*slaps head* oh yeah, I forgot, because it's so easy to develop a multinational with the IQ of a chimp.


Success in business is no indicator of high IQ.

Success in business is no indicator of high IQ.

congratulations on your discovery there.
but i think youll find that most of the people that make these 'stupid' commercials are qualified psychologists simply trying to brainwash people; i would expect that most of them would have reasonably high IQs.

Ignore them, channel surf or pay for ad free TV. The two things we shall not do about them is limit free speach or buy the stuff they advertise.

get one of those nifty devices that prerecords your tv show and cuts out the commercials :)

congratulations on your discovery there.
but i think you'll find that most of the people that make these 'stupid' commercials are qualified psychologists simply trying to brainwash people; i would expect that most of them would have reasonably high IQs.


As a person with a mental illness, I feel qualified to challenge the idea that any given psychologist is likely to have a high IQ. I've dealt with many psychologists, and I've been able to play 95% of them like a guitar. They think they're smart, and if you play upon this conceit, you can manipulate them very easily.

Any specialty that ends with 'ology' is highly suspect in my books.


I still fail to see how making something stupid denotes intelligence. Playing to the lowest common denominator is the easiest thing to do. Saying something worthwhile and making it understandable to as many as possible, however, is very challenging and does require intelligence. Stupid commercials don't demonstrate any kind of intelligence on the part of their creators, and to suggest they do is nonsense.

1) Write to the network that shows the ads and tell them you find the ads offensive.

2) Write to the shows that the ads interrupt and tell them you find the ads offensive.

3) Write to the manufacturers of the items the ads try to sell; tell them the ads are so offensive you would not at this time purchase their stuff and are considering recommending to others that they not purchase it either.

4) Don't buy the items.

Hit them in the pocketbooks. That works.

1) Write to the network that shows the ads and tell them you find the ads offensive.

2) Write to the shows that the ads interrupt and tell them you find the ads offensive.

3) Write to the manufacturers of the items the ads try to sell; tell them the ads are so offensive you would not at this time purchase their stuff and are considering recommending to others that they not purchase it either.

4) Don't buy the items.

Hit them in the pocketbooks. That works.


Best answer yet. Pity it requires so much effort (except for option 4)

Success in business is no indicator of high IQ.
I would venture to guess that in order to enjoy any kind of success, one has to be prepared to admit that somebody onboard knows what they're doing. Sometimes, the best one's aren't even all that bright, but they just seem to have a head for it anyway. I was probably errant in so quickly pointing to IQ; as it is, in my opinion, not a particularly impressive barometer for how well someone adheres to reality.

I'm with Iztatepopotla. Commerical breaks are a good time to go run to the can or something; without them you'd miss part of your show every time you got up. Once in a great while, they're actually useful too. Think of it sort of as a crapshoot through a cable line.

Of course commericals are stupid; commericals are stupid because most people are stupid. I've yet to see one that couldn't be understood by a ten year old. Companies aren't being moronic when they make dumb ads; they're goddamn geniuses for playing to the single most common element of human nature: stupidity.
You're absolutely rightbut there's more to it than that--commercials that seem dumb to you hit someone else right in the gut, and advertisers know that. Commercials aren't one size fits all--they're carefully tailored to the demographics that the company doing the advertising is gunning for.

I'd recommend to everyone on this forum--try to sign up for a focus group. If you live in a major city, they're bound to be out there. I sat on one for SanDisk, made $75 for an hour of my time and my opinions about their ads for their new product line. They do their research, and they know what they're doing when it comes to ads. It's one of the most sinister forms of communication, as far as I'm concerned.

You're absolutely rightbut there's more to it than that--commercials that seem dumb to you hit someone else right in the gut, and advertisers know that. Commercials aren't one size fits all--they're carefully tailored to the demographics that the company doing the advertising is gunning for.
Yeah, I'm aware of that too [my mother worked in advertising for 20 years] but to most of us, the vast majority of them are still tripe. Since I can't pretend to know how a teenage girl thinks [thank God!] I can definately see the logic in this.

I say we don't watch tv at all, and instead wittle wood

Yeah, I'm aware of that too [my mother worked in advertising for 20 years] but to most of us, the vast majority of them are still tripe. Since I can't pretend to know how a teenage girl thinks [thank God!] I can definately see the logic in this.
It's something I'll be teaching this semester in my Comp 1 class--the power of advertising rhetoric. I'm using a terrific essay by Susan Bordo as the basis for that part of the discussion.

I always had this hunch that even the dumb ads were done deliberately, that they were targeting some particular part of the human psyche, but it wasn't till I sat in that focus group last year and really listened to the types of questions we were being asked about the ads that I got it, that i saw just how they attempt, in the construction of a commercial, to evoke a frame and then set their product within it. It's brilliant, but its scary as well.

I agree with acid man that quiznos commercial with the talking baby is awesome whilst tripping

I would venture to guess that in order to enjoy any kind of success, one has to be prepared to admit that somebody onboard knows what they're doing. Sometimes, the best one's aren't even all that bright, but they just seem to have a head for it anyway. I was probably errant in so quickly pointing to IQ; as it is, in my opinion, not a particularly impressive barometer for how well someone adheres to reality.


I agree with you on the point of IQ not being a good indicator for coping with reality. I also admit that for any real success in any worthwhile venture *somebody* must indeed know what their doing. In my experience (or rather, having witnesed the successful efforts of friends and family in the world of business) theres is usually only one or at most 2 peole who have any kind of clue, and they have to expend an enormous amount of time and energy making sure the fools that surround them don't sink the venture through their (usually well intentioned) actions.

I enjoy an excellent working relationship with the owner of the company I work for because I'm smart enough to know what I don't know and shouldn't mess with, besides being competent at my actual job.


However, I really don't think making stupid commercials is any indicator of competence or mental powers. Intelligent and competent people occasionaly do stupid things (or in this case, make stupid commercials) but stupid people do stupid things with alarming regularity (well, duh) The sheer overwhelming amount of stupid commercials leads me to beleive that most of the people making them are in fact, well..STUPID.

Look at decent commercials for comparison (ie: the visually rich and complex HP commercials) and you'll see what happens when intelligent and competent people make a commercial.

However, I really don't think making stupid commercials is any indicator of competence or mental powers. Intelligent and competent people occasionaly do stupid things (or in this case, make stupid commercials) but stupid people do stupid things with alarming regularity (well, duh) The sheer overwhelming amount of stupid commercials leads me to beleive that most of the people making them are in fact, well..STUPID.
But making stupid commercials is a sign of adherance to reality, because if you're going to market anything to some nameless, collective mass, you have to appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to be certain you're covering all of your bases.

Advertisements, in the end, are jsut like any other collection of people or ideas: a few winners, a whole lot of losers.

Look at decent commercials for comparison (ie: the visually rich and complex HP commercials) and you'll see what happens when intelligent and competent people make a commercial.
Perhaps we don't understand each other. I'm not trying to imply that everyone who makes a stupid commercial is competent--I've seen my share of bad ones as has everyone else I'm sure. What I'm trying to get at is that the concept of making ads simple is a fundamental component if you plan on making any sort of tenable ad, and the idea was undoubtedly generated by people who 'know what they're doing,' so to speak. Say nothing of the person trying to put that concept to film; most of them don't do a particularly good job.

The really, really good ads are the ones that manage to be simple and clever at the same time.

But making stupid commercials is a sign of adherance to reality, because if you're going to market anything to some nameless, collective mass, you have to appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to be certain you're covering all of your bases.

Advertisements, in the end, are jsut like any other collection of people or ideas: a few winners, a whole lot of losers.


Perhaps we don't understand each other. I'm not trying to imply that everyone who makes a stupid commercial is competent--I've seen my share of bad ones as has everyone else I'm sure. What I'm trying to get at is that the concept of making ads simple is a fundamental component if you plan on making any sort of tenable ad, and the idea was undoubtedly generated by people who 'know what they're doing,' so to speak. Say nothing of the person trying to put that concept to film; most of them don't do a particularly good job.

The really, really good ads are the ones that manage to be simple and clever at the same time.


All right, now I'm understanding you. My beef is that there is a fundamental difference between simple and stupid. Simple and clever at the same time, to me at least, implies a high level of clarity. I must admit that my own ability for clarity, when using words in anycase, leaves a lot to be desired.

Acheiving clarity in any form of communication is very difficult and when it does happen, yes it is a sign of intelligence and competence on the part of the creators. The amount of words we've had to go through to realize what each of us are really speaking of is a testament to the challenge of acheiving clarity.
Moreso when it comes about that we are in agreement on so many points in this issue, though the words we each choose we so vastly different.

Yep. It's great when this happens isn't it? :p

In response to the OP, why not simply boycott their products? I refuse to eat at Quiznos now for their God awful singing potatos or whatever the fuck those things were precisely because their advertising sucked.

watch the BBC ... hence no ads

Feed them to to starving children in the third world. It kills two birdsm with one stone. :D

Everything in a bucket with eggs on top

Laugh at them?

We flip through the channels and wait until our show comes back on or we just accept it because they sure aren't leaving so long as marketing shows that they do work, despite being stupid.

Freedom of Speach is one of our greatest rights that is slowly being taken from us. Lets not help government quiet us.

put together all our money and make a commercial about banning stupid commercials
i'll star :)