# A most annoying commercial



## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

There is currently running on American TV a commercial showing an Italian chef in a Italian restaurant bemoaning the loss of his business to Bertoli Pasta, clearly an Italian product, by singing something set to the Habanera from Carmen, an opera written by a Frenchman, in French and set in Spain. NB to commercial ad execs: All opera is not Italian!


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

rip said:


> There is currently running on American TV a commercial showing an Italian chef in a Italian restaurant bemoaning the loss of his business to Bertoli Pasta, clearly an Italian product, by singing something set to the Habanera from Carmen, an opera written by a Frenchman, in French and set in Spain. NB to commercial ad execs: All opera is not Italian!


People of a certain age would also remember _Carmen _because of:

The Dorothy Dandridge/Harry Belafonte movie _Carmen Jones_, in English, or;

The episode of _Gilligan's Island_ where they stage _Hamlet_ as an opera to the music of _Carmen._


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Miket61 said:


> People of a certain age would also remember _Carmen _because of:
> 
> The Dorothy Dandridge/Harry Belafonte movie _Carmen Jones_, in English, or;
> 
> The episode of _Gilligan's Island_ where they stage _Hamlet_ as an opera to the music of _Carmen._


Being of such a certain age, Belafonte's rendition of _La fleur que tu m'avais jetée_, although done in English, is forever in my memory.


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## ajo (Oct 22, 2007)

Being of a certain age I remember Malcom McLaren's version of Carmen which I though caught the sprit of the piece and of the times.

And for that matter does anyone remember the flamenco version of the opera? Was it by Paco Penna?


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## Canadian (Jan 17, 2008)

To say nothing of the local radio ad where an elderly female garage owner implores us to get our cars serviced because it will extend their lifetime by 20 years.

I have never owned a car which could even theoretically run for 20 years with the number of miles I put on it. I'm talking low end luxury sedans (Buicks) mind you, but my 04 Ion sure wouldn't have made it 20 years and it was in the shop more often than a Rolls.

To say nothing of my desire to own an ancient low end sedan. My friend's 96 Infiniti G20 is as old as I'd ever dare to climb into for a trip longer than a few blocks.

Thomas


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Canadian said:


> I have never owned a car which could even theoretically run for 20 years with the number of miles I put on it. I'm talking low end luxury sedans (Buicks) mind you, but my 04 Ion sure wouldn't have made it 20 years and it was in the shop more often than a Rolls.


The only twenty-year-old cars I see on the road with any regularity, in good condition, are Mercedes-Benzes and Volvos.

The longest I've ever kept a Buick was fourteen years; a 1990 Century was traded in on a 2004 LeSabre. The Century had been my grandmother's car and rarely used until 1998; when she gave it to me I alternated between it and a 1995 Riviera. The Riviera gave out after thirteen years and about 160,000 miles.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

ajo said:


> Being of a certain age I remember Malcom McLaren's version of Carmen which I though caught the sprit of the piece and of the times.
> 
> And for that matter does anyone remember the flamenco version of the opera? Was it by Paco Penna?


Carlos Saura directed it, with Antonio Gades and Laura Del Sol, (with Paco de Lucia as the guitar player, whom you may be confusing with Paco Pena). It is part of his flamenco trilogy along with Bodas de Sangre (Blood Wedding) and El Amor Brujo. I saw Blood wedding first, and was so entranced by it that I sat through it twice more.


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## Arnold Gingrich fan (Aug 8, 2008)

Along these lines...

The "theme song" of El Pollo Loco, a chain of Mexican fast food restaurants, is _"Guantanamera"_, a quintessentially Cuban tune with lyrics from a poem by Cuba's national hero, José Martí.

You can imagine how Cuban-Americans feel about El Pollo Loco's advertising campaign.

.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Arnold Gingrich fan said:


> You can imagine how Cuban-Americans feel about El Pollo Loco's advertising campaign.
> 
> .


I'm always irritated by barbecue places with smiling pig mascots. Don't they know they're going to be eaten?

Then there's local Mexican chain El Taco Veloz. The mascot is a taco with a head, legs, and a big sombrero. And he's running for his life. Maybe he could get a side job educating pigs?


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Arnold Gingrich fan said:


> Along these lines...
> 
> The "theme song" of El Pollo Loco, a chain of Mexican fast food restaurants, is _"Guantanamera"_, a quintessentially Cuban tune with lyrics from a poem by Cuba's national hero, José Martí.
> 
> ...


We do have this "interchangeable ethnic" mentality in the US, seeing, for example, no significant difference between Cubans and Mexicans and any other Hispanic group (or, for that matter, between any darker-skinned peoples). In the aftermath of 9/11, a friend of mine who is Mexican, was beaten by a roving gang of "whites" who kept calling him an Arab.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

rip said:


> In the aftermath of 9/11, a friend of mine who is Mexican, was beaten by a roving gang of "whites" who kept calling him an Arab.


A friend's son was wearing dreadlocks around the time of 9/11. Someone shouted at him at a red light, "go back where you came from!" and called him an Arab. He responded, accurately, "I'm Italian, you a$$hole!"


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

Miket61 said:


> I'm always irritated by barbecue places with smiling pig mascots. Don't they know they're going to be eaten?


I believe the vast majority of pigs do know that they are going to be eaten and are ok with it. It's their job.


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

Most irritating TV commercial to me is the Coke Zero series with the lawyer "lets sue, deport them, etc etc" thing. 

On the other hand, I used to flail at the remote to quickly change the channel when the Sonic guys at the drive through commercials came on. Now, I think that whole series is brilliant. I'm hoping they release them all on dvd.


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## cosmotoast (Oct 11, 2008)

Miket61 said:


> I'm always irritated by barbecue places with smiling pig mascots. Don't they know they're going to be eaten?
> 
> Ive always thought the cows of chik-fillet were enough to make me heave feathers!
> cheerio, cosmo:deadhorse-a:


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Any commercial featuring Billy Mays hocking anything (e.g. Oxyclean, etc.) is pretty darned annoying.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

TMMKC said:


> Any commercial featuring Billy Mays hocking anything (e.g. Oxyclean, etc.) is pretty darned annoying.


I believe the word you mean is "hawking".


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

Relayer said:


> Most irritating TV commercial to me is the Coke Zero series with the lawyer "lets sue, deport them, etc etc" thing.
> 
> On the other hand, I used to flail at the remote to quickly change the channel when the Sonic guys at the drive through commercials came on. Now, I think that whole series is brilliant. I'm hoping they release them all on dvd.


For a very different reason, the Sonic drive-in commercials irritated me because there wasn't one within 100 miles of me, yet they were on the local cable channels... go figure!


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## rgrossicone (Jan 27, 2008)

rip said:


> For a very different reason, the Sonic drive-in commercials irritated me because there wasn't one within 100 miles of me, yet they were on the local cable channels... go figure!


The closest Sonic to us in the metro NY area is West Virginia, Charleston I believe. I actually called their 800 number to ask if they had any plans to open Sonic's around NYC, the answer was no... Yet, every sporting event has at least 2 Sonic commercials on NY tv.

By farthe most annoying commercials for me are the Spanish Singers doing "877-353-4-4-4-8" and the stupid Geico commercials with the lizard.

I do thoroughly enjoy, and laugh out loud, at the Sprint commercial where the purple dinosaur can't come to the 6 year old b-day party, and they send a T-Rex instead...kids screaming and crying and a T-Rex roaring...hilarious!


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

I make a practice of muting the commercials when they come on, so I don't hear them and often don't know what they're advertising.

That said, I do find the GEICO cave man commercials annoying, although not as annoying as I would have found their TV show. (Seriously, what's the mentality that says "Let's take the annoying commercials and inflict them on people for a half hour in a row every week"?)

The other trend in commercial that bugs me is the commercials where they take video of live actors and alter it to make it look like animation. I think Charles Schwab has some, but they're not the only advertiser to do that. Why do they think that makes an appealing commercial?


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## psycho1964 (Oct 20, 2006)

*An oldie...*

Mom, do you ever have that...not so fresh feeling?


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## Relayer (Nov 9, 2005)

As a father of three girls (youngest 19) I can say that I detest seeing these type of commercials when the family is (was) gathered to watch a little TV... same goes for all the Viagra, Cialis, Extenze, Enzyte... ad nauseam.


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## cosmotoast (Oct 11, 2008)

Relayer said:


> As a father of three girls (youngest 19) I can say that I detest seeing these type of commercials when the family is (was) gathered to watch a little TV... same goes for all the Viagra, Cialis, Extenze, Enzyte... ad nauseam.


 I think *all* prescription commerical are annoying because no matter how many times I see the commercial,I cant remember the product or what it does!
Cosmo:drunken_smilie:


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

rip said:


> I believe the word you mean is "hawking".


I think it reads better the way he spelled it.

Not "hocking" in a pawnshop sense, "hocking" in an irritating phlegm sort of way.

I'm still trying to figure out why people would set up two clawfoot tubs on a cliff overlooking the ocean, then sit in them _separately_ while the man waits for his erectile dysfunction pills to start working.


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## eyedoc2180 (Nov 19, 2006)

I am getting annoyed with the incessant commercials for Jim Carrey's "Yes Man" movie. On the good side, my kids and I howl at the lady on the phone commercial protesting that old minutes can't be distinguished from new ones. ("Isn't your sister lactose intolerant?") She plays a GREAT mom-at-the-edge. This one was second only to the original Cave Man commercial (".......with mango salsa.") :devil:


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