Have you ever been offended by advertising?

[tasha99]

Some of the things that make me upset are kind of contradictory. For example, I get upset when I see people get upset over things that were supposed to be done as humorous and everyone gets there knickers in a knot over it. At the same time, and in relation to the quote above, how come no one is registering major amounts of indignation when so many commercial, TV shows and the like, make men look like totally incompetent fools that have to be constantly kept on the track by obviously superior women.

I find that to be, not so much offensive, as demoralizing and indicative of the attitudes of many. There are many stupid men out there, no argument, but they don't have a monopoly in the inactive brain cell department. However, in so many things men are depicted as weak, clueless and downright unable to tie their own shoes without a woman to help. In so many sitcoms, the kids are shown to be way wiser then the fathers and they usually are in the same camp as the mother. Dad's an idiot...Mom is the only one that knows anything.

Our humor has gotten to the point that the only thing that we find amusing anymore is when someone else is made to look like a fool. Pretty sad really!

This made me think of Progresso Soup commercials (don't know if they're on anymore--I don't watch much tv). Some guy is happily eating a bowl of soup, only to be demoralized and put down for choosing that "other" brand instead of Progresso. Progresso, we are told by Miss Know It All, is a grown up soup. I loathed those. How does soup choice make someone an idiot, and what kind of woman would make any fuss whatsoever about someone else's food?

I hate those kinds of commercials because not only are men depicted as stupid, but the women are depicted as witches.

 

[mking624]

Love your period "always" -- yea right!

Oh my gosh, yes. I have endometriosis which gives me excruciatingly painful cramps, caused my infertility for nearly 8 years...and a list of other things. So when Always came out with that "Have a happy period"...I was actually pretty offended by it. Periods are anything but a happy experience for women with endo. So I emailed them with information about endo and the statistics of how many people have it, etc...I got a response of "thank you for your concern, but we really don't see the problem with our advertisements since many women don't have your disease." Seriously, it was that cold. I wasn't expecting them to change their entire campaign with my email, but I certainly wasn't expecting such a callous email either. Up until that point, I was a pretty faithful Always user. Never again.

 

[ChrisFL]

I hate the commercials for Bing, we are all to stupid to search for something on the internet without becoming completely overwhelmed, and need Microsoft to save us.

agreed 100%

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I have yet to offended by an advertisement. Annoyed all the time, but certainly never offended.

 

[Shelton123]

All of the weight loss commercials, or commercials for healthy products, because they only show women. It's as if no men want to lose weight, or be healthy at all...

But the Nutrisystem ones are a slight step up, except that it says "real meals for real men" or something like that, and the meals probably aren't any different from the normal ones

 

[bambii]

my daughter wont stop text and our phone bill is out of control...

you are the parent and so there for you can take away the phone.... duh...

 

[OK!]

Yes, there was a Hardee's ad that blessedly didn't run all that long, but it featured this woman eating a burger and kind of--for lack of a better term--writhing around quasi-erotically on a mechanical bull. It was ridiculous and it enraged me every time I saw it. GROSS. If I wanted to watch that, I'd go rent some skeevy food-fetish porn, for pity's sake.

 

[ICF]

I dont think so...but unlike most other people, it really takes a lot to offend me.

 

[DisneyFairytale]

I have. The commercial they have for the condom company where you see the parents in the grocery store, and the young child starts screaming. Really bothered me, to the point where I was actually quite offended.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Any commercial with slurping, chomping, or crunching makes me change the channel or at least mute and look away. Hardees are the worst, followed now by Kit Kat commercials.

The worst Hardees commercial is of a young pregnant woman in her doctor's waiting room balancing a Hardees burger on her belly. I have been pregnant twice, and at NONE of my doctor's appointments did I ever feel it necessary to take my lunch in the waiting room and slurp it down. OH yes and the one where the young woman drips something from her Hardees' burger onto her calf and wipes it up with her finger and licks it...disgusting.

The bull riding woman with the burger was disgusting, too. I see a pattern with Hardees and women and burgers. Insulting and disgusting.

 

[Buckalew11]

another for Hardee's. Any commercial even like those that depicts women that way.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

What is Hardee's?

NM, I googled it, it's just known as Carls Jr. around here...

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

What is Hardee's?

NM, I googled it, it's just known as Carls Jr. around here...

Hardees' commercials also have a voiceover by a guy who has the snarkiest snide voice I have every heard. I swear if I ever met him in person, I'd smack him in the face. Does Carl's use him, too?

 

[Buckalew11]

What is Hardee's?

NM, I googled it, it's just known as Carls Jr. around here...

Same thing, different name.

There are or have been several like that over the years. Shoney's and something were the same (they were "Big boy") and Roy Rogers too, I believe.

 

[MiniGirl]

Oh my gosh, yes. I have endometriosis which gives me excruciatingly painful cramps, caused my infertility for nearly 8 years...and a list of other things. So when Always came out with that "Have a happy period"...I was actually pretty offended by it. Periods are anything but a happy experience for women with endo. So I emailed them with information about endo and the statistics of how many people have it, etc...I got a response of "thank you for your concern, but we really don't see the problem with our advertisements since many women don't have your disease." Seriously, it was that cold. I wasn't expecting them to change their entire campaign with my email, but I certainly wasn't expecting such a callous email either. Up until that point, I was a pretty faithful Always user. Never again.

I hate those commercials, too, and that is probably the closest a commercial has come to offending me. Periods are dibilitating for many women for a variety of different reasons, and I really hate things that insinuate that it is all in our heads. Ugh!!! So, believe me sister. I hear you, and I know where you are coming from.

Like others have mentioned though, I would say I find them annoying more than offensive. The latest one that annoys me is a phone commercial. They video Junior taking his first steps and then send it to all those people and then do a conference call so they can all talk about it. I just think "Snowflake" everytime I see it. LOL!!!!

 

[Sparx]

I am annoyed by every single prescription drug commercial, magazine ad, etc.

Maybe I'm the ignorant one, but shouldn't the doctor prescribe what's best for the patient, not the patient requesting a prescription for what he/she saw advertised?

I get REALLY offended when I see SSRIs advertised on television.

 

[Nennie]

I was very offended by the Brooke Shields commercials for Volkswagon, where she was saying that couples were adopting and undergoing fertility treatments just so they could buy a VW Routan, or whatever.

It was supposed to be funny, but I found it especially offensive that someone who went through 7 rounds of IVF to get pregnant, would make fun of her infertile "sisters" that way. Guess once she had her kids, she quickly forgot what it was like for those who weren't so lucky.

 

[WDWBarb]

I'm a vegetarian and a few ads that bother me..

"Eat More Chick'n" - bothers me so much that I can't look at any of those billboards, etc.

I hate the "Bring Me Back My Filet O' Fish" commercial, too. Sick, twisted and wrong.

There's an Axe commercial I've seen once where a girl throws a guy down and stands behind him, rubbing his hair wildly and gets even more inappapropriate from there. Ick.

 

[Scurvy]

I can't think of any commercials that have offended me, but there are a bunch that annoy me. I hate the ones that have people chewing loudly - I can't listen to them, they gross me out too much. I haven't eaten at Hardees since they got their current advertising firm just because I dislike the ads so much.

This made me think of Progresso Soup commercials (don't know if they're on anymore--I don't watch much tv). Some guy is happily eating a bowl of soup, only to be demoralized and put down for choosing that "other" brand instead of Progresso. Progresso, we are told by Miss Know It All, is a grown up soup. I loathed those. How does soup choice make someone an idiot, and what kind of woman would make any fuss whatsoever about someone else's food?

It was Campbells condensed soup, and those ads really irritated me. Mainly because they were comparing Progresso, which isn't condensed, to Campbells condensed soup and saying that condensed soup is childish. But Campbells also makes other soups that aren't condensed and that would have been a much more fair comparison. The fact that Progresso chose not to compare their soup to Campbells' non-condensed soup made me think they knew they wouldn't fare well against them. And it annoyed me that they thought their audience wasn't smart enough to figure out that those ads were basically comparing apples and oranges. (Yes, I know it's a silly thing to be irritated about and I've put too much thought into it. I think I must have had to much time on my hands when those were airing! )

 

[locolala]

I hate all the ones they show for weight loss drugs or the Nutrisystem type diets. They make it seem like all you have to do to lose weight is to take this pill and you'll be fine.. what they fail to mention is that you have to EXERCISE and change your lifestyle in order to become more healthy. Ugh.