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Commercials which pretend they are something else.
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Pax Americana View Drop Down
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Points: 38 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pax Americana Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Commercials which pretend they are something else.
    Posted: 27 Dec 2011 at 9:05pm
I have been seeing an apparent trend to making commercials which disguise themselves as news or public service announcements.  Life Alert has one of these about some intruders entering a home and he ends it with the dramatic line "More than likely, life alert saved her life".  I find that particular one annoying as the final sentence is unquantifiable and unprovable.  MAYBE the intruders would have harmed her.. maybe not... no way to know.  I also see a number of home refinancing advertisements posing as some sort of government announcement as well.
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Dr. Dan View Drop Down
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Points: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dr. Dan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Feb 2012 at 4:36am
Oh, yes: FAKIN' IT seems to be all too popular and ever-more cliché. My pet peeves, besides the one you mention:
 
Consumer Reports...NOT!: Example: "Brand Power," where a "reporter" explains the virtues of a brand of whatever (V8 juice is a common one). "Medi-Facts" is another.
Movie Trailer with Voiceover Guy: The latest one is from our old friend Progressive featuring Mr. Voiceover going through a description of Flo the superhero preparing to save the day with her super-weapons to save the day.
MORE In the News: Example: "We're interviewing Real Ford Owners..." Not to be confused with those fake Ford owners who unknowingly bought Korean knock-offs.
Between Friends: Example: "I'm so glad you told me about Colonial Penn life insurance." Another example: Blue Buffalo dog/cat food ads with ladies discussing the superiority of BB over the national brands. Not only is the dialogue outrageously phony sounding (nobody talks like this in real life), but the acting is horrible.
 
I'm sure I (and others) can think of others.
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Christine View Drop Down
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Points: 925 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Christine Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2012 at 9:00pm
Energizer had an amusing campaign a few years back, where they'd start with a parody of some other type of commercial, making you think it was for roach spray or whatever......then the bunny comes marching in pounding the drum LOL
 
Activia sort of does this with the woman videotaping her "diary" and reporting back to Jamie Lee Curtis about her ability to poop.
 
Although I really don't think these ads were meant to trick people- seems pretty obvious that they're not actual, candid discussions.
 
OH wait- just thought of one that DOES mean to deceive: The one where people walk into a dry cleaners, only to be confronted by a blender on the counter, no human in sight. We see "real" (I doubt it) people coming in, one after one, and watch as they get irritated by the blender.
 
The narrator says something about the company won't make you talk to a machine.
 
First of all, the one guy toward the end who stands there looking doofy, calling, "Hello.....??" is to me the tip-off that these are actors. Second, I can't imagine any dry cleaning business agreeing to take part in pissing off a whole bunch of customers.
 
Third, so what if people don't talk to a machine when they call your company? They probably get some live people in India. Yay.
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MrsHill View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Christine Christine wrote:


 
Third, so what if people don't talk to a machine when they call your company? They probably get some live people in India. Yay.


LOL  How true!  Not saying anything against our friends in India, but I don't catch accents well at all....some New Yorkers can baffle the hell outta me, so I'd be the person who'd rather talk to the machine.


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tvpirate05 View Drop Down
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Originally posted by Christine Christine wrote:

Energizer had an amusing campaign a few years back, where they'd start with a parody of some other type of commercial, making you think it was for roach spray or whatever......then the bunny comes marching in pounding the drum LOL

I used to love those! LOLLOLLOL

There was a Rogaine parody with a guy in the pool talking about how he's so much sexier now, and in comes the bunny. They then cut to a close-up of the bunny marching and he knocks over the bottle, which causes hair to grow alongside the pool! LOLLOLLOLLOLLOL

There was another one with the intro from the "Wide World of Sports" that showed the skier falling off the slope. I remember cracking up and my mom scolding me because the skier might've been seriously hurt...from what I read many years later, he wasn't.
The poster formerly known as producer757
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Dr. Dan View Drop Down
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Points: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dr. Dan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2012 at 10:33pm
Originally posted by Dr. Dan Dr. Dan wrote:

Oh, yes: FAKIN' IT seems to be all too ....
A couple of others I forgot earlier:
Fake radio or TV talk show: Fairly recent example: "Geico Radio" with the gecko as host. I'm one of the apparent minority who likes the little lizard, but I hate this so-blatantly-fake-it-makes-me-puke format. Worse than that is the "Live from Progressive" that is the subject of a post under the radio-ads forum.
Fake game/quiz shows: I don't remember any current ones though it seems like, a few years back, one imitated Jeopardy!. Invariably, the "winner" represents the brand being advertised, the "loser(s)" represent(s) the competitors (which I'm tempted to buy in protest).
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Dr. Dan View Drop Down
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Points: 43 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dr. Dan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Feb 2012 at 10:37pm
Originally posted by Christine Christine wrote:

Energizer had an amusing campaign a few years back...
Talk about a bullseye! Energizer's agency really connected with the masses with that series. My favorite was the spoof "Sitagin" hemorrhoid treatment featuring the stuntman jumped onto a horse for a movie shoot (Ouch).
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Points: 252 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote keyboardplayer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Feb 2012 at 3:50am
I hate the ones that pose as newscasts or radio talk shows or whatever. Those are so fake and obvious. However, my favorite types of ads in the world are what I call fake out ads, like the Energizer Bunny commercials. The Ad Council used to do this a lot, which used to always startle me. Oh my, you don't want me to start posting PSA's. I think I may have to start a new thread for this type of ads.
This is your brain on commercials.
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