Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Even More Politically Incorrect

Of course, the last commercial disaster pales in political incorrectness in comparison to this Ribena ad from the 1950s.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Friday, August 26, 2011

NC-17 Disaster

I never thought I'd see a TV ad for a strip club. But I stumbled across one. And it's every bit as tasteless and offensive as you would expect.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The British Take on Why You Shouldn't Smoke

I'll say one thing about the Brits, they seem to have no qualms about putting unsightly things on the air. That still doesn't explain Rowan Atkinson though.

Monday, August 22, 2011

You Can't Milk a Bull

The title of the last post had me thinking about '90s hip hop, which led me to this commercial disaster from a foreign land (which one, I'm not quite sure) for Nidar's milk chocolate featuring a dancing blue bull and a slightly modified version of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This". In a way, its timing and catchiness are almost brilliant. But I just can't get past the fact that it's a blue bull with udders. I certainly don't want to know how they make that milk chocolate...

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Return of the Mac

After taking a short break from the disasters, I'm back. And consequently, so is the Credit MacDaddy. (Haven't heard of the Credit MacDaddy? Check out his first commercial disaster here.) As you can see from this newest entry, the Credit MacDaddy is just as terrible and disastrous as ever.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Unbearable

After so many shocking (and consequently, disturbing) commercials lately, we need to lighten things up around here with a good, old fashioned laughable disaster.

Yep, this'll do.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Unfortunate Case of AYDS

No, this isn't a skit from the Kids in the Hall or the Upright Citizens Brigade. AYDS was an actual diet product that was on the market in the U.S. in the early and mid '80s, just as the AIDS virus was coming into the national consciousness. Anyone under 30 reading this may be surprised to learn this product and commercial were not immediately pulled from the market as awareness of the disease spread. In fact, as anyone over 30 can tell you, the two co-existed in the same collective consciousness for many years. This caused many children, such as myself, to react in horror upon seeing a candy that transmitted a terrifying, deadly disease for sale at the local Revco. (I mean, what if someone slipped this into our milk at lunch when we weren't looking??... This was our thinking, anyway.)

Finally, in 1988, the makers of AYDS gave up their bullheaded attempt to keep their familiar product name "come hell or high water", and they renamed their product. Their new name? DIET AYDS.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

The Flintstones Sell Cigarettes

Everybody knows Fred Flintstone loved bowling, the Water Buffalo Lodge, and his wife. But I bet you didn't know he loved smoking too. Specifically, Winston Cigarettes. (It probably would have been more amusing if they called them "Winstone" Cigarettes for this ad, but you know how ad agency-types don't EVER want their brand watered down... even if it kills people.)



Eventually, Barney gets in on the cancer-hocking too. (There are minor audio sync issues with this commercial, but not so bad you can't watch it.)

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Another Bad Lesson for Children

While we're on the subject of lessons we shouldn't teach our children, I'm not so sure cross-dressing and keeping secrets from parents is something children should learn about in a video game commercial.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Ronald McDonald, Child Predator

A handy tip for any would-be child predators... it's perfectly acceptable for kids to leave home with you, as long as you dress like Ronald McDonald and give them 3 hamburgers.



Interesting side note: That's Willard Scott in the clown makeup. Amazing how some things never change.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Crazy from the Heat?

Perhaps the best cure for one of the hottest, most blistering summers on record is a nice, refreshing anti-malarial soda. Wait, what?

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Disco Inferno

If this is good enough for John Travolta, then it's pretty much proof positive that it's good for, well, no one.

Monday, August 1, 2011

The Model Glows in the Dark

I've been watching a lot of "vintage" commercials lately, and you wouldn't believe some of the things that used to pass for "acceptable" behavior in commercial production in the 50's. One of those things, apparently, is making your spokesmodel glow in the dark.



Yeah, you heard right. They made their model/victim radioactive to demonstrate that their cleanser gets your face cleaner than the competition. That may very well be true... Their cleanser may clean your face better than everyone else on the market, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can scrub away radioactivity! Clearly OSHA was still a long way away from being created when this commercial was produced.