The Worst Commercials in America, 2011
Back before America was complaining about those annoying Charmin bears, or Head On (“Apply directly to forehead!”), or that weird blacksmith shilling mac and cheese, Mr. Whipple was the guy to hate.
For those of you too young to remember the Mr. Whipple commercials, he was a fictional grocery store manager who hung out in the toilet paper aisle and warned shoppers not to “squeeze the Charmin:”
In his book Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising, Luke Sullivan writes:
“Certainly, the viewing public is cynical about our business, due almost entirely to this parade of idiots we’ve sent into their living rooms. Every year, as long as I’ve been in advertising, Gallup publishes their poll of most- and least-trusted professions. And every year, advertising practitioners trade last or second-to-last place with used car salesmen and members of Congress.”
A Modern Look at the Worst Commercials in America
Unfortunately, bad commercials are still going strong. Last month, the Consumerist published results from its annual poll on the worst commercials in America. The results, with percentages and links to the videos, are:
• Luv’s – Poop, There it Is (32% of votes)
• AT&T – Wife Berates Husband for Unlimited Plan (24% of votes)
• Summer’s Eve – Hail to the V (18% of votes)
• AT&T/Samsung – Infuse 4G Spider (14% of votes)
• GEICO – Smart Phone, Dumb Things (12% of votes)
What Can We Learn?
What can we learn from the worst commercials in America? Well, there’s the obvious: cutesy is out. Stupid husband/bitchy wife stereotypes won’t get you far with consumers. And touting the powers of the vagina while selling products designed to interfere with the vagina’s natural functions probably isn’t a smart marketing move.
But don’t expect bad commercials to end any time soon. While Mr. Whipple topped countless “Worst of Advertising” lists, he was also hugely effective.
“These shrill little interruptions that irritated nearly everyone, that were used as fodder for Johnny Carson on late-night TV, sold toilet paper by the ton,” Sullivan writes.
Is the answer to boycott products that have commercials you hate? Or is it simply a reminder that annoying ads will never go away? Either way, these commercials perpetuate the myth that marketing is annoying and it sucks. A myth that hurts countless small business owners in countless ways. And that’s sad.
What commercials do YOU hate? Let me know in the comments section below.
2 Responses to The Worst Commercials in America, 2011
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There are far worse commercials in the recent years. Most of these are banned commercials. If you search for them in YouTube, you’ll find a lot of it and it’s really not pleasing sometimes. The banned commercials are most of the time, offensive and not appropriate to the general audience but a lot of companies are doing it on purpose just to raise publicity. Sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it’s bad, and sometimes it is not worth watching.
I just about fell over when I heard Hail to the V! I like the concept of accepting and celebrating everything that goes along with being a woman–and thought Have a Happy Period was clever–but Hail to the V is a bit over the top.