Worst Food Commercials

[docsconz]

Watching the Olympics on NBC, McDonalds has aired a series of ads for their "new" chicken product that are unbelievably bad even by their standards. They show individual people "defending" their meals against non-existant adversaries. I believe these ads appear to make fun of people with significant mental health problems and are in extremely poor taste. I offer no comment as to the actual taste of the product.

What food related ads do you find to have particularly bad taste?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Too bad those endless ads for DiTech.com don't mention food .. they do, however, give me the same sensation as syrup of ipecac .... nor that nail fungus cartoon dude .. ecch!

and, yes, the McDonald's ads you have just mentioned are decidedly in poor taste ... but I have become so inured to that stuff, I think I tune most of them out.

The new Bud Light ads are getting stupider by the day .. attempts at humor are not particularly appealing in a beer commercial. I do miss those Budweiser Frogs, however!

[Pickles]

What food related ads do you find to have particularly bad taste?

Most Of These

[docsconz]

What food related ads do you find to have particularly bad taste?

Most Of These

And I did a search too!

[shelly59]

I HATE those McDonalds ads so much I am boycotting the food. What insulting, stupid ads...for pete's sake, Phhthttthhh

Edited August 23, 2004 by shelly59 (log)

[jhlurie]

What food related ads do you find to have particularly bad taste?

Most Of These

And I did a search too!

We get variations on this topic all of the time. I made one myself recently, but focused on the pitchmen instead of the commercials themselves. Another thread around focuses on the jingles.

There's a lot of crap out there no matter HOW you stack it up. I mean, "Uncle Nick" the character from the Olive Garden sucks, offends, and irritates me, but so does the rest of the commercial as well. "Dr. Angus", from the Burger King commercials REALLY pisses me off, but I can see that minus the slimy portayal of him, the commercial might actually be amusing. The little "I'm loving it" song in the recent vintage McDonald's commercials get me heated, but I'm not particularly angry at any of the people who appear IN the commercials. So there are many ways for them to be bad.

[Fritz Brenner]

Racial stereotyping in food advertisements is awful, and it's everywhere... as is gender stereotyping, etc.etc.... but I guess that's ads in general. Food ads in particular can really get everyone, though, as we all eat and are all targets...

[=Mark]

For years I've been annoyed by the Total cereal commercials. The "You'd have to eat 4800 bowls of Colon Blow to equal the vitamins..." ones

I've wished for years that some vitamin company would parody them. I can picture it...

"You know, you'd have to eat 7.6 million bowls of Blork Nuggets to equal..."

"Hey genius, I take a daily Mega Dose vitamin, so I can eat any damn thing I want to for breakfast or any other meal for that matter! Now get the F*ck outta my face and take that goddamn bowl of bitter tasting extruded sawdust flakes with you!"

Edited August 23, 2004 by =Mark (log)

[winesonoma]

Cheese filled crust pizza with dipping sauce. Don't even know who does it cause I always mute and check Egullet for new posts.

[Mabelline]

Ah, yep, mama with rip and dip? Stack and gack!

[winesonoma]

Ah, yep, mama with rip and dip? Stack and gack!

That's the one. I have visions of 300lb 10 year olds running around.

[Pickles]

For years I've been annoyed by the Total cereal commercials. The "You'd have to eat 4800 bowls of Colon Blow to equal the vitamins..." ones

Very funny post! I don't like the taste of Total because to me...it always tasted like "vitamins" and made me belch "vitaminy" tasting air. Ekkk!!

[Rachel Perlow]

I HATE those McDonalds ads so much I am boycotting the food. What insulting, stupid ads...for pete's sake, Phhthttthhh

Yeah! That's why I haven't gone to a McDonald's in ages!

[phaelon56]

I have been genetically blessed with the capability to tune out commercials completely. Can't think of a single one that irritates me 'cause I can't remember any of them. It is truly a blessing.

[beans]

I nominate the recent Lea and Perrins (sp?) commercial about those juicy burgers -- while they show this moron squeezing the burger while it is on the grill! Aaarrrgh!

[=Mark]

What about the A1 steak sauce ads that defy physics? The janitor is in a centerfuge attempting to get the last drop of A1 out of the bottle, you can see the effects of the centerfuge pushing his face back against his seat. Then, while holding the bottle and forkfull of meat (In itself would not be possible with forces involved), you see the drop of A1 go from one side to the other instead of back to the rear of the chamber. Am I the only one that detects these physical anomalies? Yeah, I need to get a life...

[FoodMan]

I nominate the recent Lea and Perrins (sp?) commercial about those juicy burgers -- while they show this moron squeezing the burger while it is on the grill!  Aaarrrgh!

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I say the same thing everytime I see this commercial. STOP squeezing the damn burger.

[beans]

I say the same thing everytime I see this commercial. STOP squeezing the damn burger.

[Cusina]

My least favorite was from a while back... Quiznos subs and the guy who was raised by wolves. Disturbing.

[beans]

My least favorite was from a while back... Quiznos subs and the guy who was raised by wolves.  Disturbing.

My memory is fuzzy at times if it is something I don't particularly care about, but wasn't there a similar one with Honda or some other such SUV manufacturer?

I agree. It was odd, and not in a good way.

[JennotJenn]

I say the same thing everytime I see this commercial. STOP squeezing the damn burger.

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Me too!!! Man, I'm glad I'm not the only one that's really bugged by that. I want to rip the spatula/turner out of his hand and slap him across the face with it.

Saw an...interesting...one last night. Hardee's Thickburger commercial with pretty young woman in skimpy clothing riding a mechanical bull set on slow while eating a gigantic sloppy burger. I didn't know whether I should be aroused or disgusted. (To quote the old neighbor lady from The Simpsons: "That's disgusting...but genuinely arousing"). For the record, my husband was just grossed out---the fact that the mayo on the burger was visable over-rode the fact that the woman's cleavage was also visable. Anyway, I KNOW I miss the old testamonial style Thickburger commericals. Those were hilarious.

[skrattypants]

ooo, those quiznos rats that looked like hairy toes. that was so nauseating i wrote the company.

[Ocean_islands]

I don't know about commercials, but Hamburger Helper I find in incredibly bad taste. Should be outlawed. God help the child who finds it on his or her plate!

[Rebecca263]

THAT'S IT. I have got to try this Hamburger Helper. I've read it mentioned in so many posts, I just MUST. Where do you find it? It's driving me crazy, wondering if it's good for my tofu nights. As an aside, to remain ON topic, I adore commercials, unfortunately I never buy the products in the ads, and I wonder who does!! Has anyone else noticed that everything that you buy in a package or from a fast food place is incredibly salty or sweet or greasy? ACK, choke, splutter.

[Katie Nell]

I say the same thing everytime I see this commercial. STOP squeezing the damn burger.

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Saw an...interesting...one last night. Hardee's Thickburger commercial with pretty young woman in skimpy clothing riding a mechanical bull set on slow while eating a gigantic sloppy burger. I didn't know whether I should be aroused or disgusted. (To quote the old neighbor lady from The Simpsons: "That's disgusting...but genuinely arousing"). For the record, my husband was just grossed out---the fact that the mayo on the burger was visable over-rode the fact that the woman's cleavage was also visable. Anyway, I KNOW I miss the old testamonial style Thickburger commericals. Those were hilarious.

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What about the one with the girl stuffing her fist in her mouth?!? That's even worse!

The commercial I really hate isn't even for food, it's for antibacterial kitchen wipes, but the lady scrubs down the kitchen with a raw chicken breast! It really makes me gag!