Social Question

philosopher's avatar

Are some commercials offensive?

Asked by philosopher (9065points) December 16th, 2009

AOL is showing a guy drinking fat . I agree that soda and all products with high fructose corn syrup are bad for everyone’s health but ; the image is nauseating .

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

34 Answers

Blondesjon's avatar

All commercials are offensive. They kiss you ass as they attempt to steal your wallet.

DominicX's avatar

Meh. I don’t really care about commercials and how offensive they are. I’m sure some of them are, but it’s not something I put much concern into. We all know we hate the commercials that show women using cleaning products because it’s so darn sexist, but you know what? Commercials aren’t about political correctness, they’re about making money.

fireinthepriory's avatar

Some commercials are damn offensive. Here is a good example. I don’t think something that is gross is really offensive, though. Annoying, or overkill? Yes indeed.

gailcalled's avatar

Michael Pollan’s new and fourth rule is “Don’t eat anything that is advertised on TV.”

The three earlier ones…words to live by.

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

wildpotato's avatar

@gailcalled Really? He came up with a fourth? Awesome, thanks for the heads up! And come to think of it, he’s right…I don’t think I do eat anything advertised on TV. Though I don’t actually watch TV, so it’s a bit hard to tell anymore.

Some might find this offensive. I find it sidesplitting.

Les's avatar

@fireinthepriory – That was terrible. That can’t possibly be real. Who in their right mind would think that would be OK?

Miles's avatar

I think the car commercials with the giant hampsters are offensive. Mostly because they scare the crap out of me.

DominicX's avatar

@Les

Europeans.

Personally, that commercial looks like it’s done for shock value and it does seem to be shocking people.

fireinthepriory's avatar

@Les My jaw dropped to the floor when I saw it. And some of the comments are almost worse than the commercial.

SeventhSense's avatar

Tasteless. Yes

Sunshine2u's avatar

I dont know if I find it offensive or not but I sure hate to see the M&M guys put into the grocery bag because they are going to be on the menu that night. I love the big yellow M&M.

Merriment's avatar

Most of them are offensive to my intelligence.

Other than that, it takes a lot to shock or offend me in a moral type way and I can’t think of any that have actually accomplished it.

Jewel's avatar

Only if you choose to be offended by them!
Personally, I love many of them because of the extreme creativity required to produce something over and over and be different from every other time and every other product.

DrasticDreamer's avatar

After 9–11 Jack In The Box came out with an extremely offensive commercial, in my opinion. It was the, “We’re meat-eating, patriotic…” blah, blah, blah one that pissed me off. Really? I wasn’t aware that all Americans are meat-eating and patriotic. It was obviously a dig on Muslims that don’t eat certain kinds of meat.

missyb's avatar

@fireinthepriory LOL!!! I mean, it’s horrible and everything, but I cracked up. No way can that be real though, who would sign off on something like that? LOL!!!

therookie's avatar

@fireinthepriory , ok I adit I had to see that twice since I did not get it right a way. but that kind of silly,but not true. I had just recently seen a VW smash up like a soda can form an oncoming mack truck.

rMacker83's avatar

I would say so. Like that commercial for the slap chop.

deni's avatar

I don’t see how that would offend anybody.

supercricketman's avatar

i find the ones that treat you, the customer like an idiot to be highly offensive.
same for commercials with talking lizards, eyeballed money and senile company executives.

wildpotato's avatar

@deni Which? fireinthepriory’s link, or mine?

fireinthepriory's avatar

@wildpotato Hopefully yours, which was hilarious btw. :)

therookie's avatar

yes some are very offensive but to each his own I guess, I can see if the company wants to tragets a certain type of customer (ie diet, health compnays)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNsBc7PBw5E

but trying to funny /or cute can be vulgar to some.
Like this one commerical which was banned, but I do not see why it should have been, ( I thought it was cute)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Jfma9F7Mg

Taciturnu's avatar

I wouldn’t quite call them offensive, just extreme or unecessary. Like this Reebok shoes commercial. Or worse, this one. Ridiculous.

therookie's avatar

@wildpotato
That is my all favorite !! I still think it is funny since swear words are the first words most folks pick up on when learning a forgien tounge.

gailcalled's avatar

@therookie: Speaking of foreign tongues, don’t forget English.

therookie's avatar

@gailcalled
thank you,
I know my spelling and typing is not that great ,, since I am typing with a hand and half,(hand is bandaged) hopefully another week & i am free ,,,

gailcalled's avatar

@therookie : Fair enough; points for creativity, then.

deni's avatar

@wildpotato i was talking about what the OP said about a guy drinking fat.

aprilsimnel's avatar

At the very beginning of the commercial that @wildpotato linked to, there’s a “blink and you’ll miss it” clapboard at the very beginning of the clip. It’s a real ad. Young & Rubicam was the agency. And the language school appears to be in Holland.

I don’t watch enough TV anymore to have seen any truly offensive commercials in the last couple of years.

SirGoofy's avatar

Yes, some commercials could be offensive to some people…but that’s why they created the TV remote and mute button. With dilligent practice, these fantastic little modern age buttons can be operated very easily to help one avoid hearing or seeing things you don’t like. Try it…it’s cooooool!

Darwin's avatar

Commercials need to attract your attention and ideally make you remember and internalize their point or featured product. They can do this by being offensive, or funny, or sexy, or beautiful, or repetitive. Slap Chop anyone?

So yes, some commercials are offensive. However, not all commercials are offensive, and those that are offensive are generally not uniformly offensive to everyone.

Personally, I find the Axe commercials offensive while my son does not. However, we both remember them, which is the goal of a commercial.

Roby's avatar

I can’t stand the feminine hygiene and the male enhancement commercials.

wmspotts's avatar

I think there’s are large number of commercials these days that portray the average white guy/father type as a bumbling idiot who’d be hopeless without the direction of his wife. Just the way I feel.

azlotto's avatar

Yes, the Charmin toilet paper commercials with the bears in it.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBNcQgkXEWE

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.
Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther