Tuesday, April 15, 2008

#2 Local Commercials

It never fails. No matter where I travel in this country (and I travel a lot), as soon as I plop down in my hotel room and turn on the TV, there it is...the local commercial. You can recognize it right away.

The worst is the local car dealer. Talk about a walking, talking cliche'. Just switch over to any local station and he's there...with his greasy hair, standing in front of a line of used cars, shouting at the camera. Sometimes he wears a costume. Sometimes he's riding a horse. But he's always there. And is it just me, or do they all buy hair creme at the same place? Is there a brand of hair gel just for used car salesmen?


And when the screaming cheeseball isn't enough, they start with the kids (usually pre-pubescent twins who monotonely drone on about how "their daddy is the best car dealer ever!") and the animals. I've seen dancing dogs, talking cats and yes, even a yodeling camel.
Probably the worst local commerical I've ever seen, is Eagle Man:


But car dealers and insurance companies aren't the only ones. Here's a commercial for a local furniture store that's just awful:




That's 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back.

Lets be honest. Yeah, maybe they help make the name of the business memorable. But do you really want to do business with grown men who ride carpet rolls and lay eggs on cars?
I used to work in television. And it doesn't matter how much you tell the client that he shouldn't be in his own commercial...these guys insist on it! I don't know if its ego or the fact that they're just too cheap to fork over money for a quality spot. Probably both.

Local television commercials...You Suck.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL, here is Tulsa's version of suckish.... We have Dad'll Do It !! .

Then we also have the pleasure of seeing this dude selling furniture, Mattress Mack .

And darn, I missed out on this one - Free Turkey When You Buy A Stove .

Hoover Maneuver said...

Oh those are horrid! "Dad'll do it!" At least dad had the common sense to put a semi-attractive girl in his spots instead of doing them himself!

Mattress Mack...another screamer. Why do people feel like they have to yell at the camera? Don't they see the microphones?

Thanks for sharing Monique!

Anonymous said...

L - The screamer, I know, it's crazy.

I actually couldn't find the one that came to mind when I read your post. We have a guy who sells furniture, he has the weirdest bug eyes I have ever seen and does this robotic motion w/ his arms making a circle while he says "Four Day Four day Four Day Furniture". It's a riot.

I'm loving your blog, as if you couldn't tell. I'm going to link to you on Escape Hatch and Doodle Page .