Expedia: Air Sickness Bags not included?

Ugh, I can't be the only person on the planet who gets seriously nauseated from the camerawork in this commercial.  Whose idea was it to do all these zoom-ins, zoom-outs, and wipes?  Got some malicious psychopaths working in your ad department, Expedia?

Meanwhile, I can't imagine caring less than I do about the people in this ad.  They want to get away- so they get away.  Good for F--ng them.  Not good for us, because we've got to experience their fun getaway with dizzying-for-absolutely-no-reason cinematography which just left me queazy and mad.  I'm like that enough already, Expedia.  Don't need any help.

Born Free to be a clueless, inconsiderate jackanapes

So according to this commercial, having insurance means feeling perfectly free to be a completely oblivious jackass douchenozzle who simply couldn't give a flying damn about anyone else.

In a matter of seconds, while this idiot is singing "Born Free" at the top of his lungs (an act which should be a capital crime all by itself) he's backing into a parking space barely missing a set of parked motorcycles- but that's not the really criminal act he's committing here.  He might be frightening those bikers but as long as he doesn't touch them or their bikes, the driver is doing nothing wrong there.

Nope, the BIG issue is the fact that he's parking himself only inches from the driver's side door of a car parked in the next space.  That driver will NOT be able to exit from the driver's side door- if he just parked, he's going to have to slide over to the passenger side to leave his car.  I'm consistently amazed at how often I see this situation in parking lots, and I'll never understand what goes through the alleged minds of people who will do this.  Seriously, what if you returned to your car to find that you could not get into it from the driver's side because some sociopath parked his car three inches from your door? 

And the singer in this ad doesn't even HAVE to pull this crap- he could just pull in head-first.  Oh, but then he'd be eye-to-eye with the other driver when he opens his door and puts a nice gash into that other car, or when he acknowledged that no, there actually ISN'T enough room for that car here, better keep looking for another space?

Nah, just back in there, buddy, that guy next to you was just leaving- or, at least, we can assume he was just leaving, because that's more convenient.  And if he WASN'T just leaving, and he had to crawl on to the roof or hood of your car to exit- well, I guess that's why you've got that insurance. 

Another Memorial Day, another BS "Salute to the Fallen" presented by AMC

..because for the umpteenth year in a row, AMC presents the theory that the only way to properly Honor the Fallen and Salute our Vets is to air a marathon of War is Awesome films featuring a parade of actors who managed to avoid actual service.

I am quite certain that what every veteran wants is to be "honored" with a day of explosions, machine gun fire, barked orders and oddly bloodless deaths dotted with faux-patriotic monologues delivered by the likes of John Wayne, Cary Grant, Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando.  Because what those old guys love more than anything else is being reminded how awesome those Best Years of Their Lives were-- except of course for the friends who didn't come back.  Well, they aren't watching television today so I guess it doesn't matter.

So here's another day of manipulative tripe, conveniently presented with plenty of long commercial (bathroom) breaks which turn those 2.5 hour films you saw in the theater to 5 hour marathons.  "The Longest Day," indeed.  But it's all for the Greatest Generation, so it's totally worth it.

Volkswagen's Just Sign Here Sucker Deal is back again!

1.  You're at the dealership, about to sign a stupid lease contract which will hand the guy across the desk from you thousands of dollars a year for several years.  And you're going to get up and get your own coffee?  To heck with that.  Put the pen down and tell the car monkey to go fetch you and your significant other the coffee.  And tell him to step on it.  You haven't signed yet.  You can turn all of the time he spent on you into a great big waste by simply walking away.

(Oh, who am I kidding- if you're one of the characters in a car commercial, you're begging to be sold a car and all the power is in the hands of the salesman.  I slipped into Real Life for a moment there.)

2.  Yeah, I'm sure the Sign and Drive Deal really does go that fast- don't want the customers to look too hard at the bottom line, after all.  Sign Right Here and No Money Down, so easy you'll be driving off in "your" new car before you even know it, don't worry about the fine print that's just boilerplate don't she ride nice though?

(And you get to enjoy this feeling of getting Something for Practically Just Your Signature for a week or so before the bills start showing up like homing pigeons*- for tags, title, registration, tax, and the first month's payment.  But that will be a fun week with your Felt like You Were Getting a Steal car, won't it?)

*Speaking of pigeons, I hope they enjoyed that coffee.

A Seriously Damaged iPhone Ad

Hell, it may just be the worst iPhone commercial ever.

Never mind that, it might be the worst commercial for ANYTHING ever.

I mean, seriously- it's sixty-eight seconds of this horrible obnoxious woman chuckling, then giggling, then laughing at loud at the "inside joke" on her phone screen.  She's in public, probably surrounded by people who have to be there and therefore have to listen to her act like a sociopath pretending she's the only person on the planet- but that's ok, all that matters is that she's got her phone and she's got her privacy.  Everyone else in her vicinity? F--k them, they don't matter.  They can leave.  And if they can't leave?  F--k them just the same.  They are just going to have to listen to this lunatic make a nuisance and total ass of herself Because She Can.

Did Apple think that this commercial would go over well with the audience?  Well, perhaps not- comments are disabled.  I imagine some of the comments would have been on the racist side.  Maybe even most of them.  But I have to believe that a lot would have just pointed out how obnoxiously dumb this mess is, and how nobody should think it's ok to act like this demented woman in public.

It's all about privacy?  I don't get that message at all- if I heard this woman behaving like this, I wouldn't have even the slightest curiousity concerning what she was watching.  I would be too busy wondering what the hell became of civilization, and why there are never any heavy mallets available when you need one.

OnStar gets right what Geico got horribly wrong

I guess that if this were a Geico ad it would open with a CGI deer giving a high-five to another deer in celebration of causing a horrific accident that nearly cost the life of a human being because that's so LOL funny.

Because it's an OnStar ad, it just shows an actual deer drinking water in a calm manner, probably because it's pea brain hasn't processed that it's successful crossing of the road had any impact on a car or the person driving it....because those are concepts way, way beyond the ability of that pea brain.

In other words, the deer in this ad is acting like a deer, while the squirrels in the Geico ad act like....well, like scummy human beings, proud of themselves for possibly colluding in the murder of a human being.

Speaking of that human being, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she isnt partially responsible for her predicament because she was driving too damn fast on a forest road, because animals can jump out at you very quickly and cause accidents even if you aren't driving over the speed limit.

A few rather obvious questions for the cops in this OnStar Ad...

If the police were capable of calling OnStar and having the service "slow down" the stolen car, why did they wait until they saw a kid in imminent danger of being hit by the stolen car to actually UTILIZE that service?

What if the car thief had driven on to a sidewalk and killed a kid?  What if he had smashed into some parked cars?  What if he had done any of a hundred other potentially deadly things he could have done while the police were casually tracking the stolen car from a safe distance?

While we're at it....OnStar can actually cut the power of equipped cars, not just slow them down.  Why didn't the police ask OnStar to cut the car's engine once it was within sight?  What if the stolen car had not slowed down enough to avoid hitting this kid?  First thing I would have asked in court was "why did you ask OnStar to slow the car down instead of cutting it's power?  You could have saved a life if you had done that very obvious thing."  The second thing I would have asked was "how long did you intend to just follow this stolen car?  Where you waiting for it to run out of gas, or kill someone, or what?"

So, Pringles....who IS this kid's daddy?

I mean, I can't be the only person out there who thinks that when mom says to her son "that's not really daddy," what she means is that the guy this kid THINKS of as "daddy" is not actually his biological father.  But as long as the kid THINKS that guy is "daddy," well, that's fine with Mommy, she's going to celebrate with some Pringles.

The important thing is that the guy who is paying for that house and everything in it keeps believing that he's daddy in every way.  Got to keep up appearances, because there's no Second Act for a TrophyWife.

Random Thoughts about this old Ensure commercial

The woman in this commercial has a refrigerator which includes fruit (some of which has no business being ain a refrigerator, but never mind...) yet reaches for a bottle of water, sand and artificial flavoring while wearing a big smile which reads "I'm so happy I'm about to drink this sludge, yay me!"  Seriously, WTF?  Why not finish off that....lemon?  Grapefruit?  Um, you didn't even put that in a bag, woman- what do you think that's going to look like after a day in a dark refrigerator? 

Oh wait, apparently the light never goes out in this fridge.  That's annoying.  Is the light really turning off in my fridge?  Now I'm getting paranoid.  This is going to keep me awake.  I mean, I'm not concerned about the food in my fridge being bullied by a bottle of Ensure, becasue I don't have any Ensure in my fridge, or food for it to bully for that matter.  But is that light turning off after I've fetched another can of Diet Coke?

Oh, and that fridge looks to be the size of a walk-in closet.  Maybe that's why she's so happy- it's not a refrigerator, it's that extra room in her house which is kept unusually cold for the food products that live in it.

The Ensure bottle has taken it on itself to make sure that the woman who bought it stays healthy and proceeds to banish unacceptable foodstuffs to....the crisper, I guess.  I mean, tha's what's at the bottom of my refrigerator, so I assume that this one is designed the same way, even though it is about eight times larger than mine.  Come to think of it, I've never had anything in my crisper.  I should make sure my fridge actually has one. 

Wait, where was I?  Oh yeah- the woman put a corndog and a cupcake and a jar of mayonaisse in her fridge, but they don't pass "mustard" (sorry, I couldn't resist) with Field Marshal Ensure so out they go? And which bottle of Ensure is in charge- there are several bottles there?  Do the other bottles just sit there and wait to carry out orders? 

MLMs are the bane of YouTube, but pure gold for me

Every. Other. Commercial. on YouTube is some guy jacked up on speed standing in a mansion or (more likely) in front of his Maserati and Trophy Girlfriend waving his hands and telling me in a manic voice how he made five million dollars in six months selling stuff on YouTube and went from being a college dropout dishwasher living in mom's basement to owning everything worth owning on the planet.

In reality, there's no "Amazing Secret" to making money in a Multi-Level Marketing scheme.  It's actually very simple.  I'm going to share it with you because I'm Just That Kind of Guy- the kind that isn't satisfied being Super Rich and Successful but is so Big-Hearted that I want everyone to experience the kind of lifestyle I've come to experience, never mind that it would make no sense economically for everyone to be rich Shut Up Hater.

Here we go:  First, work is for suckers.  Don't do it.  Remember the Three F's:  Family, Friends, and Facebook.  Mine them for people who A)  are naturally inclined to want to help you out, B)  are greedy/stupid/gullible, and C) are desperate enough to believe anything.  You find enough people like this, and you are definitely on your way to that first Million.

These are the people who are going to do the work.  Explain to them how the company you work for sells Amazing products nobody else sells- products that are so Life-Changing that once people are introduced to them they are hooked for life and will shove fistfuls of money in your face to get more.  Sign them up and you'll get a percentage of all their sales while doing no real work yourself.  Doesn't that sound awesome?

Second, be prepared to deflect the complaints of your Family, Friends and Facebook recruits when they can't sell even five percent of the overpriced crap they purchased after you assured them they'd sell like crazy Without Any Real Effort On Their Part.  Tell them they just have to Believe in Themselves.  Tell them to Have Faith.  Tell them to recruit more people and then dump those essential oils, supplements and home-flipping DVDs on them.  Tell them how disappointed you are that you went out of your way to Present This Opportunity and now they are Being Negative How Dare They This is So Sad.

Third, keep your soul in cold storage and don't ever let it out for exercise.  I mean, what did it ever do for you?  Did it get you that first five million? 

Fourth, make an ad like this on YouTube.  Be sure to include the House, Car and Girlfriend the MLM made possible.  And don't forget to rant like a freaking lunatic because I guess that's convincing for some reason. 

Enjoy your New, Prosperous Life!  Glad I could help!

Another Made In America Work from Home Selling Not Much Sales Pitch....

You can be proud to work from home for PC Matic, because at least it's not fake anti-virus protection from the boiler rooms of New Delhi.  Nope, it's good old-fashioned home grown junk for your computer.  USA! USA!

I wonder if we're supposed to believe it's legit because it's expensive- $49.99 per year, according to my research (see link below.)  Based on the reviews, I'm not going for it- but I'm not a computer expert and I don't review anti-virus programs or anything else.  I just snark on commercials.  And this one is pretty vanilla:  Trust PC Matic because it's Made in the USA.  Work at home for PC Matic because your bosses are Americans.  Etc, etc.

Strikes me as kind of a two-fer:  Not only is this an ad for Probably Ineffective if not Damaging "antivirus protection," but it's also pitching another "make good money working from home" scheme which seems to account for at least 90% of Youtube ads these days.  So both the customers AND the employees have an opportunity to get the royal shaft.

I just figured something out.  The real reason why this doesn't pass the smell test is because "PC Matic" sounds a lot like "MyCleanPC" and "FinallyFast" and a lot of other fly-by-night Your PC Is Filled With Viruses Take Our Word For It Go Online and Download Team Viewer and Give Us Control Because We Popped Up on Your Screen "services."  Maybe try another name, PC Matic. I suggest Patroit Clean PC or American Eagle Antivirus or Freedom PC.  I also suggest you hire some rugged ex-sniper Navy Seal to sell your product instead of this creepy old guy.  But what do I know about marketing.

Here's the reviews.  Not all that surprised this page doesn't allow comments after seeing this:

https://www.reviewopedia.com/pc-matic-reviews

https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific_search/PC%20Matic

Smarmy Disembodied Voice pretends Capitalism is a Revolution. I'm going to get a lot out of this series

There are two things I want to happen in this ad:  I want the woman staring at her phone as she crosses Times Square to get run over by a car, and I want the woman with the "edgy," "don't f--k with me I'm making money with money" look on her face as she walks away from an exploding car to be taken out by a flying shard of glass. 

And then I never want to see this stupid, manipulative tripe aimed at the people who are too smart to fall for "make $4000 a month working at home with Amazon" scams but too full of themselves to avoid ego-stroking "you're too smart to be part of the herd in the market" crud like this.  But since there's a lot of these ads on YouTube, I expect I am going to see more of them, and they'll be getting more than a little play time here.

What DOES happen when you see the Geico lizard wearing "The Infinity Guantlet" or WTF-ever?*

1.  Paid shills claim they lost control of their bodily functions when they saw this ad.  They claim this on YouTube, thankfully using fake names so as not to shame their parents.

2.  Unpaid losers post exactly the same thing; that is, when they aren't repeating lines from the commercial becasue that's the go-to when you can't think of anything to write yourself but still want to post in the comment section for a YouTube video.

3.  Nobody anywhere asks even once what any of this has to do with insurance.

4.  America gets a little dumber.

5.  Donald Trump's chances for re-election become more and more obviously good.  Why?  See #4.

*based on the comments, I'm assuming that "the infinity gauntlet" is some macguffin that pollutes the Avengers movies, which are themselves apparently infinite.  Don't know, don't care even less.

GoodRx Strikes Again!

 

             
"Kate" is a "hard worker" (check out the coveralls and the hard hat) who has insurance but still pays too much for medication for herself and her son.  She's arrived at the pharmacy to pick up the medication prescribed for her kid, which costs $67 (of course.)  Except that she already knows in advance that there's this thing called GoodRx and she's already downloaded it to her phone.  This allows her to put this stupid triumphant look on her face after her kid runs off with his meds and convinces her to fold her arms and stand in the middle of the pharmacy as if she's just conquered the world.

Like "Linda" in a previous ad, there's clearly not a whole lot of Positive going on in Kate's life.  She's on meds, and her son, who seems to enjoy just hanging around all by himself just outside the window (if you can figure out what he's doing out there, please feel free to drop a comment) just wants to get his medication and get on with his life but he's being delayed by mom and her Celebrate Every Victory weirdness.  This is one kid who looks forward to Dad's weekend, I'll bet.

More fun with GoodRx

1.  This guy just jumps Linda as she's heading to the pharmacy and starts hitting her with questions about that perscription he Just Happened to Notice she's got there in her hand.  I guess he just hangs out around pharmacies looking for people holding bits of paper which kind of look like they were torn off of prescription pads?

2.  Isn't ambushing total strangers on the street to pimp for some service more of a Verizon thing?

3.  The guy then asks Linda how much she thinks her medication will cost.  Well, that's rude- how does he know she doesn't have great insurance that will pay for the medication?  Why does he think this is his business?  And anyway, the answer is $67.  Because in GoodRx commercials, the medication ALWAYS costs $67.  I think they just keep using the same cash register shot over and over.  It's kind of weird.

4.  Having been told about GoodRx, Linda confidently approaches the pharmacy counter, hands the prescription to the pharmacist, and announces that she has a coupon before she's even told that it costs $67.  The pharmacist responds "good coupon," and not what we all know she would actually respond- "um, ok.  We'll have that filled for you in between 3 and 5 hours.  Do you want to wait or pick it up tomorrow?"

5.  Linda ends the commercial by giving herself a personal high five. Because there's not a whole lot going right for Linda these days.  I mean, she's getting assaulted on the street by intrusive spokeschoads who assume that she's got crappy or no insurance and must watch every dime, and she sees a coupon for some drug as scoring a serious victory over The System.  I suspect that Linda does cartwheels every time the 7-11 cashier informs her that she's scored a free Big Gulp.

Just a few quick questions about this Entyvio Commercial

These people with overactive bladders which are keeping them in the bathrooms while the world goes around them finally seek help from their doctors, good.  No problem with that; that's how it should work.

But when they are finally in that little room with the table covered in paper and that old-timey scale, they tell their doctor their problem and...then what happens?  Apparently the doctor excuses himself, goes into his office, and comes back with a tablet on to which he's downloaded a commercial for Entyvio.  Because....the doctor can't just TELL his patient about the drug he wants her to try?  This guy is billing some insurance company $300 for his time, which consisted of him listening to the patient describe a symptom and then downloading a freaking commercial to show her?  Why does he do this?  Is it because he knows that the patient is more likely to take the advice of a 20-second ad she sees on a flat screen than a guy who actually went to med school?

Maybe that's why he comes back with the commercial-bearing tablet:  "I understand that you're reluctant to begin a regimen which includes a drug with all kinds of nasty side effects.  So here's TV to calm those fears.  You trust TV.  TV would never lie to you.  I'm just a doctor, don't take my word for it.  Here's your Electronic Second Opinion."

For some reason, I'm going to talk about Tomb Raider today....

Tomb Raider (2018) "starring" Alicia Vikander is a reboot of a moderately successful film series which ran from 2001-2003 which was itself a spinoff of a very popular series of video games.  The video games featured a number of female voice actors, the original films featured Angelina Jolie in the starring role, and the newest version, as I've noted, "starred" an inexplicably popular mannequin named Alicia Vikander.

I caught this film on HBO the other day and I just have to make a few observations concerning why I found this film so insulting and dumb and am not at all surprised that it was a box office failure:

1.  In the opening of this film, we see the character of Lara Croft engaged in a kickboxing contest and even though she's beaten she looks pretty tough.  I assumed that the purpose of this scene was to establish Lara as a hard-as-nails type who can definitely take care of herself.  Boy, was I wrong, as we'll see later.

2.  Turns out that Lara Croft is a lowly bike messenger who jumps at the chance to earn money by participating in a dangerous bike race through the streets of Large City.  Thing is, through flashbacks we've already been shown that just as with the Angelina Jolie version, this Lara is heir to a massive fortune, she just has to sign some papers to get it.  She's holding back from signing for reasons we're about to get into.  Meanwhile, she's willing to risk her skull to go after a small cash prize because She Needs the Money except we know she doesn't.  I bet several of her fellow bike messengers could legitimately use that money, Lara.  Maybe stop pretending to be poor?

3.  Lara doesn't want to sign the papers declaring her missing father officially Dead because she's convinced he's just missing.  Never mind that signing would allow her to inherit his massive wealth, which she could then use to go out and find her father.  If she believes Dad is really alive, of what benefit is she to him as long as she's scraping by as a bike messenger?

4.  When Lara gets to Asian Port Stock Footage Location, she's instantly accosted by three young boys who steal her bag.  She runs them down and gets the bag back by putting one of the boys in a headlock, but then runs away when another boy pulls out a knife and threatens to cut out her tongue.  Angelina Jolie's version of Lara would have beaten up all three boys without breaking a sweat.  A few minutes before this scene we saw Lara holding her own in a kickboxing match. Vikander's version shows panic, runs away, and needs to be rescued by Drunk Asian Boat-owning Stereotype.  You go, girl!

5.  Lara escapes the Evil Men on the Mysterious Island by Jumping off a Cliff into a Roaring RiverTM, barely escaping going over a waterfall by clinging to the ancient ruins of a downed airplane.  The plane looks like it's been perched over the waterfall for at least a decade- yet within seconds after Lara pulls herself into the rotting fuselage to escape the Roaring River, it begins to disintegrate under her feet.  Seriously, WTF?  This plane has survived floods, storms, probably thousands of tree trunks crashing into it, and has remained perched over that waterfall- but when a 110-pound woman is added to it's bulk, it begins to dissolve like a graham cracker in milk?

6.  The Breaking Into The TombTM scene is pretty much a poor retread of Indy's final journey to reach the grail in The Last Crusade.  Except not as interesting, because....

7.  Alicia Vikander.  I'm sorry, can someone explain this person to me?  She worked in Ex Machina because she played a soulless android.  But in every other film I've seen her in, she's continued to play that same soulless android.  Her expression never changed in two hours of Jason Bourne.  And she shows all the range of a garden gnome in this waste of time.  Did she ever actually act in anything?

The latest Tomb Raider was supposed to launch a new series of films, but it returned only $274.7 million at the worldwide box office- oddly enough, the exact amount of cash generated by the 2001 version, which means that it was a significantly less successful film and that the franchise is probably dead for good (I don't think that 1990s nostalgia is going to come back in twenty years.)  So I guess I won't be complaining about any sequels in the near future.  Which means commercials will have to stay terrible to keep this blog going.  I'm not worried.

Call me Unpatriotic, but...

....the dial on my BS meter snaps right off whenever I hear someone refer to themselves or anyone else as "patriots" or puts the words "Patriot," "Liberty," "Freedom" or "American" on their products.  Maybe it's just me, but this level of buzzword patronizing just screams "manipulative selling technique."

We're supposed to take this guy's word for it that this solar cell phone battery is terrific because after all, he's an ex-Navy Seal, used to make his living shooting people, and wrote a book.  None of which has anything to do with expertise in collecting, storing and releasing energy, but gosh he sure looks rugged and he's a Fellow Patriot, so.....

....so, sorry, no.  I'm sure that there are good solar-powered cell phone chargers out there, and I think it's something that would be helpful for pretty much everyone to own because after all we spend so much time away from charging stations (like the ones that decorate our walls at home that we used to call ELECTRICAL OUTLETS.)  But if this particular version works well, then sell it to me by explaining the physics involved, not by expecting me to just buy in to the claims of a Manly Man who starts right off by attempting to stroke my ego by calling me a  "fellow patriot."

BTW, the giveaway that this is just probably just another Late Night Overpriced Junk Trinket product comes when the guy discusses the "extras" that come with the charger-it includes a flashlight setting with strobe feature (gee, that's a great feature for an item that is supposed to be collecting power to charge something else, huh?  Law of Thermodynamics, people,) a keychain with a tiny compass attached, and a CHARGING CABLE (in case you are home, or somewhere else where you could just plug it in....like you do with your phone already....um....ok.....)

I'll go ahead and watch the review now; that's only fair.  But nothing in the review will change the fact that this company is using symbolism and slogans instead of science to sell their product.  Lame.

The TacAmplifier: One of few good reasons to watch the CometTV channel

You only get awesomely snarkable commercials like this one for a cheap hearing aid way up the dial, which is why I will ocassionally tune to GetTV.  No, I don't really want to watch Knight Rider or Good Times or really crappy old movies like Young Guns II.  But in between scenes from this crap is pure comedy gold in the form of these awesome commercials, so I'm glad the channel exists.

"In the woods you need every tactical advantage..." you'd think that having a gun and wearing camoflauge would be enough "tactical advantage" against an unarmed animal, but you'd be wrong- you also need EagleEye Blue Light Blocking Sunglasses (available on another commercial) and Superman-level hearing if you REALLY want the edge against the grazing herbivore you're hoping to take down and earn your man card with.

Know what's really great about this hearing aid?  No, it's not the super-low cost-- so low that you probably will not be able to resist getting an ADDITIONAL one to share with a friend (ick, I really hope you're just going to GIVE that friend the additional one, who wants a used hearing aid back?) just pay Seperate Shipping and Handling.  It's the fact that no one will even know you're wearing it- never mind that it's slightly smaller than a billiard ball and you can see it quite clearly in the ears of everyone wearing it in this commercial. No one will know you're wearing it.  Not the other people in your dinner party, not your elderly spouse, and certainly not that four-legged prey that doesn't even know it's involved in a contest with you.