Trying to relax yesterday to a Sunday afternoon of football, I discovered that the worst hits weren't on the field. Every timeout, touchdown or turnover seemed to lead to a new commercial by Toyota touting their new zero percent APR program on their vehicles: "Saaaaaaaved byyyyyy zeeeeeeroooooo. Saaaaaaaved byyyyyy zeeeeeeroooooo." The ad features a cloying cover of an old song by The Fixx.
It got me thinking of other cringe-inducing ads. I polled a few associates and here is our short list for the most annoying commercials on the tube today:
Toyota, "Saved by Zero"
Reason: Bad cover of a decent, yet marginal song. Plays at least once during every FOX commercial break, sometimes even three times in case you missed it.
CarMel
Reason: Because while she feels safe in the backseat of Mel's livery cab, calling the number causes the Devil to leap from hell and swallow your soul.
Head On
Reason: Because the voiceover strives to be annoyingly repetitive when she's actually just reading the words already displayed on the screen.
Billy Mays - Mighty Putty, OxiClean, etc.
Reason: Because associating a Bob Vila lookalike to normally crappy products gives them cred?
ShamWows
Reason: Best line: "Made in Germany—you know the Germans make good stuff." Yeah, just like how they almost made a perfect race, amirite?
FreeCreditReport.com
Reason: While it's hard to pick the worst of their five new commercials, we'd go with the overenunciating white rappers in the first one and the spelling idiot in the second.
Optimum Triple Play
Reason: Because nothing screams, "Hey Hispanic aquatic creatures, get yer cable right here!" more than this.
TBS Pause Advertisements
Reason: Interrupting any punch line, let alone one in Family Guy, is just plain wrong. You lose. Good day sir!
Have your own personal beef with a TV ad? Let us know!