Audi brings the pain, right on time

Yeah, because the guy who takes the temporary Santa gig at the local mall is SO in the market for a new Audi.  I'm sure the other people in the crowd include your average Starbucks barrista, High School teacher, metro bus driver, and grocery store cashier.  All running down the street, trying to catch up to the truck delivering Audis, so they can be told where to sign away half their monthly take-home pay for the next four years.

Seriously, bite me, Audi.

This guy can date this girl, and I'M going to be alone Saturday night? I'm not buying it, Taco Bell

1.  The girl in this ad is really cute, yet her "new boyfriend" looks like he's just rolled out of a dumpster, wearing the same clothes he put on in October.

2.  Dad sees that New Boyfriend has his hands full, yet offers to shake hands.  Does he expect New Boyfriend to just drop the food on the ground, because

3.  Girl doesn't make any effort to take some of his food so he can shake Dad's hand.  I guess she expects New Boyfriend to drop the food on the ground too?

4. I know this is kind of repetitive, but why is this girl with this guy?  Oh right, I forgot- because guys write these ads.

(oh, BTW- January 1 will mark the sixth anniversary of this blog, and this marks my 1500th post.  Wow, who would have thought there were so MANY bad commercials out there....I really thought I would do this for a week or so and run out of material....)

The greasy stuff does help clear nasal passages a bit. I'll give you that, Vicks

I've always thought that commercials for Nyquil and Dayquil were amongst the most hilarious and dishonest on television.  They always show people looking like they are on their deathbeds, coughing and sneezing and aching, etc.  Then they pop this pill or gag down a cup of this glowing green mostly-alcohol "medicine," and five minutes later they are off fighting fires or directing traffic or taking down terrorists or winning gold medals.  Please.

I mean, come on.  If this Nyquil junk works at all, it's as a sleep aid- I've noticed that if I gulp down half a bottle or so before bedtime, I can pass out pretty quickly and sleep through the night.   When I wake up, I'll have another day of coughing and sneezing and achiness to look forward to- but at least I got some sleep.  That's if I take Nyquil.  If I take Dayquil with my coffee in the morning, I suppose it adds a couple of calories to my breakfast but that's it- I'd call the weirdly transparent little gelcaps a placebo, except that placebos are kind of supposed to make you feel better.  Dayquil doesn't qualify.

So whichever monster pharmaceutical company that produces this stuff?  Please, stop insulting my intelligence.  There's nothing miraculous about the healing powers of alcohol and bad artificial, gag-inducing flavoring.  Thanks for helping me get to sleep, but I'd sooner believe that Saint Blaise medal I found in a box of Cracker Jacks relieved my cold symptoms than this overpriced crap.

Wow- and I thought Flo was just a freakishly bad computer animation!

And it turns out I was wrong- this commercial proves that "Flo" is an actual human being who has not seen the sun since the Clinton Administration but has instead been "starring" in horrible insurance commercials waiting for that Sitcom offer that is apparently never coming.  My bad.

As for the people who are just blown away by the sight of Flo in the Flesh- well, not a whole lot going on in your lives, is there?  Personally, I'd be too busy being grossed out by this fishbelly-white, overexposed weirdo than thrilled to be in the same room with her, as you clearly are.  What the hell is the matter with you people?

And Flo?  Seriously, I'd rather watch a dozen AFLAC Duck Commercials in a row than learn that your contract has been picked up for another season of Progressive Knows How To Beat An Idea To Death Just As Much As Geico.  In other words, you've gone to seed.  A long time ago, actually.

Eat Like That Guy You Know- the one that has Type 2 Diabetes.

I have no idea why, at the end of this ad, we see the apparently athletic, fit White Guy eating disgustingly fatty, salty, totally devoid-of-nutritious value orange chees-y macaroni crud cooked up by the Black Guy From The Food Court.  Or why he was introduced playing with one of those little helicopter toys popular in the trendy electronics stores two years ago and then playing hackeysack like it's 1999.  Simply put, I have no idea what any of this has to do with eating life-shortening sludge.

Or why, if we knew a guy who ate like this, we would want to emulate him.  Any suggestions?

Warning: These Walmart Ads may be used to induce vomiting

I tried to find the brand new one with the grinning idiot who bleats "wait till FRIDAY? That's CRAZY" but it's ok that I didn't- it deserves it's own post anyway.

At first I thought this woman actually said "Thanksgiving HUG" but replayed it again and heard "Hub," which is just a little less horrible, but just barely.  This insane "say goodbye to your family and rush to Walmart before you are finishing digesting your turkey" message is made even worse by the chirpy delight this woman takes in telling us about it.

"We don't want you to miss these 'special events'-- hmm, the whole time I was growing up, 'special events' on Thankgiving meant eating walnuts, then playing touch football, then eating dinner, then watching football and cleaning and basically just enjoying eachother's company.  Then eating desert.

When did "jump into the car and head off to Walmart to push and shove your way through crowds of idiots" become more attractive than any of that?  Oh yeah- around the time society collapsed, I guess.

Hey, it could be worse- you could be one of those people saying goodbye to their families before dawn ON THANKSGIVING in order to make sure the shelves are stocked with Made in China crap so that the heirs of Sam Walton can earn a few more million to toss onto the pile.  If you are one of those Walmart employees, get there extra early and maybe there will be something nice in your store's "Contribute To Your Fellow Employees So They Have Enough To Eat" box.

To all of you on the corporate board at Walmart, from this nobody blogger:  there's a special ring in hell reserved for you loathsome, bloodsucking, soulless toads.  There just HAS to be.

Ameriprise and Tommy Lee Jones aren't speaking to me. Are they speaking to you?

For most of the people in this ad, the answer seems to be "yeah, maybe, if I don't add to the hundreds of thousands I already have in investments, and I don't cut back on the Aspen ski vacations."  I mean, none of these characters look like they are hurting at all.

For me, and for a growing number of Americans, the answer to "will I outlive my money" in retirement is "depends.  If I don't retire, the answer is no.  I won't outlive my money.  I'll just keep working and living off my paycheck until one day I simply don't wake up.  Then I 'win,' right?"

Or it's "no, I won't.  I don't make the salary that would allow me to put enough of it into retirement.  So just like the vast majority of working-class people since the dawn of the industrial age, all I really have to look forward to is work until I can no longer do it, followed by poverty until that day I simply don't wake up."

My question is, what does Tommy Lee Jones and this investment group want me to do about it?  Oh, right- absolutely nothing.  This commercial was not written for me.  It was written for people who have large amounts of disposable income at the end of every month who are spending it on luxuries instead of giving it to this investment group to play with.   Definitely NOT me.

It would be nice if the answer to Mr. Jones' question was something other than "take more of that extra money you have and put it into investments," because that's really not an option for an already huge and growing segment of the population.  How about "let's push Congress to write realistic tax law which shifts the burden to those who can most afford it and takes it off those who can least afford it (and who have been carrying that burden for more than thirty years now?")  How about "let's strengthen and expand Social Security so that it's more like a pension, recognizing that if we are going to have a permanent economy of stagnant wages we are going to have to do more to provide for the people we are denying the ability to save for themselves?"  Or maybe "let's adopt Socialized Medicine in recognition of the fact that the cost of medication is an enormous contributor to poverty in retirement?"

Any of those would be better answers for people who are forced to spend every penny of their paychecks than "invest more."  But I don't know why I expect anything other than this from advertising firms which believe that the answer to "my kids use too much data" is "get this unlimited data plan."  So my only response to Ameriprise's "invest more of what you don't have" advice is "which kidney should I sell?"