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Annoying television adverts...

Mcr Warrior

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Are there any television adverts out there, which you find to be particularly annoying when watching live TV...

Some possible examples...

Purple Bricks (Online estate agents)
Seem to like to make out that they are something different. Only thing that they seem to do differently is charge a fee whether your property is sold or not.

Vinted (Online secondhand clothing sales platform)
Ads appear in just about every ad break and seem to suggest that there are no selling fees. Is that really the case? If so, how does the business make money?

Surf (Clothing cleaning liquid)
Ads fronted by some vacuous "celebrity" (Dani Dyer?) who repeatedly parrots "It's Perf with Surf". Who buys into this guff?

Any others out there? Appreciate there are ways and means of skipping TV ads on recorded programmes these days, or that you can more profitably use the time to go make a cuppa... :s
 
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birchesgreen

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I don't really see many adverts as the only live TV I watch is sport, everything else is either recorded or on demand.

That advert with the bearded bloke singing in his car is annoying, no idea what it is supposedly advertising.
 

yorksrob

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I find it a relief to see an advert for something that's not online gambling.

I hate adverts on the theme of lockdown, like that Maltesers one where they're all on a zoom call. I don't wish to be reminded.
 

Ediswan

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Keep Left The tune might get your attention, but by that time you have missed the point, which only appears very briefly at the start. 'Exit via the passenger door' could be a challenge for the driver shown.
 

GusB

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Seem to like to make out that they are something different. Only thing that they seem to do differently is charge a fee whether your property is sold or not.
Purple bricks is one advert that annoys me too.
That advert with the bearded bloke singing in his car is annoying, no idea what it is supposedly advertising.
If it's the one set in a multi-story car park, it's advertising one of these new online car sellers - I can't remember which.
 

Bevan Price

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Any ad. with some loudmouth wally yelling at me, particularly if said wally is pretending to be an animal.
 
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Ads which were obviously made for a foreign market where the English voice is appallingly dubbed. Calgon is the most noticeable.

Many ads that do not play properly on British TV which have a stutter stop in the picture every few seconds. (Samsung and Microsoft spring to mind)

The ad for Vanish with the over-made-up actor.

Probably loads more.
 

Peter Mugridge

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Meerkats...

Fortunately they no longer sponsor Coronation street, so they're not all over the place now, but they're still a lot more annoying and less amusing than when they first started.
 

swt_passenger

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Ads which were obviously made for a foreign market where the English voice is appallingly dubbed. Calgon is the most noticeable.
[…]

Calgon ads have been badly dubbed for donkeys years, even when the bloke has been a British actor. It’s almost as though it’s done on purpose...
 

yorksrob

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Strangely enough, I quite like the fact that we've got the Go Compare man's back storey now !
 
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birchesgreen

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Go Compare have gone quite post modern and aren't bad adverts.

I don't like the Meerkat adverts though, not sure what they are actually selling these days, stuffed toys or cinema tickets?
 

yorksrob

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I don't like the Meerkat adverts though, not sure what they are actually selling these days, stuffed toys or cinema tickets?

Yes, the Meerkats have gone on too long. My family bought some Meerkat merchandise about ten years ago, but they've moved on now.
 

306024

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Cinch the used car advert which somehow manages to combine a ‘joke’ about vasectomy and buying an old banger in the same sentence. Not helped by being delivered by someone called Rylan Clark-Neal (had to Google him), who claims the ads are “genuinely funny“. No.
 

birchesgreen

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Ah yes I have seen that one, I'd love to have been in the creatives' meeting where they managed to come up with vasectomies as being a good idea for a car ad.
 

Typhoon

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Ah yes I have seen that one, I'd love to have been in the creatives' meeting where they managed to come up with vasectomies as being a good idea for a car ad.
The other one is no better - 'This is Mandy's fella. Amazing bodywork but not a lot going on under the bonnet!'

To me these ads say a lot about their target market.

Not helped by being delivered by someone called Rylan Clark-Neal (had to Google him), who claims the ads are “genuinely funny“. No.
Rylan Clark-Neal presents Supermarket Sweep, so you have an idea of where the service is aimed. (Yes, yes. I'm stereotyping - just like they do!)
 

jfollows

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Any advert with a doorbell, because I have lost most of the hearing in one ear I can't identify the direction of sounds, so I don't know if it's the television or my real doorbell. The solution is clear, I need to replace my doorbell with one with a different and unique sound instead of its current generic one.

EDIT Of course it doesn't have to be a doorbell in an advert, but that's usually when I ignore the television, when I'm watching the television it's more obvious whether the doorbell sound comes from it or from my front door.
 

Calthrop

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Chiming in, as regards the meerkats: delightful creatures in real life, but I find the ads nauseating. Why Russian stuffed-toy meerkats, of all unlikely things? Also the Money Supermarkets "calm bull" -- I kind of wish that ad-makers would totally steer clear of animals...
 

Typhoon

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Any advert with a doorbell, because I have lost most of the hearing in one ear I can't identify the direction of sounds, so I don't know if it's the television or my real doorbell. The solution is clear, I need to replace my doorbell with one with a different and unique sound instead of its current generic one.

EDIT Of course it doesn't have to be a doorbell in an advert, but that's usually when I ignore the television, when I'm watching the television it's more obvious whether the doorbell sound comes from it or from my front door.
You could always put ads on mute. Personally I prefer them that way.
 

Shimbleshanks

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Not TV, but there's a really annoying advert for overpriced pasta that pops up every time I play something on Youtube.
I don't even like pasta; if it was for curry I might tolerate it...
 

nlogax

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Can't speak for TV adverts as all my viewing is online, but I do feel like chucking the iPad out of the window whenever I'm watching something on YouTube and Nigel Farage's mug pops up telling me about his new investment tips thing.
 
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During lockdown I have watched a fair amount of television and what gets me are the constant stream of ads for Sun Life. They have removed the 'I've seen the ads on tele with Parky' over the last couple of years. Daytime televison seems to be a constant reminder of the low life expectancy and frailty of the afternoon audience.
 

jfollows

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During lockdown I have watched a fair amount of television and what gets me are the constant stream of ads for Sun Life. They have removed the 'I've seen the ads on tele with Parky' over the last couple of years. Daytime televison seems to be a constant reminder of the low life expectancy and frailty of the afternoon audience.
I hate them too: I think Parkinson did them originally, then stopped doing them but they still used his name, but now no more.

I'm the executor of an older friend's will and I'm pleased that I convinced him not to buy one of these plans ... for some people they might be appropriate, but I told him that I could afford to pay for everything myself and claim the money back from his estate in due course, he's got the money for sure! So I hope I gave him peace of mind without him having to give money to people I see as slightly better than bloodsuckers.

EDIT to correct my grammar and spelling!
 
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Typhoon

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Not TV, but there's a really annoying advert for overpriced pasta that pops up every time I play something on Youtube.
I don't even like pasta; if it was for curry I might tolerate it...
Never seen it! I will swap you it for Farage (see #23) and his Del-boy financial investments, Royale Life and the annoying bloke from Age/ Insider trying to sell you a funeral plan (or the red haired woman with the woods backdrop who is reading much the same script). And the 'Honey' ads.

It really can't be more irritating!

I'm the executor of an older friend's will and I'm pleased that I convinced him not to buy one of these plans ... for some people they might be appropriate, but I told him that I could afford to pay for everything myself and claim the money back from his estate in due course, he's got the money for sure! So I hope I gave him piece of mind without him having to give money to people I see as slightly better than bloodsuckers.
I did a spreadsheet once, taking into account inflation and interest rates that if I put the money in a regular savings account instead I would be making a profit in less than 10 years (plus, it doesn't pay out in the first year) while I am expected to live for 16 years! But, of course, I wouldn't get a gift card!

I get annual letters from them 'reminding' me that if I cared about my loved ones I would be signing up in the next week or so. I wrote back pointing out that I would be worse off. The letters keep on coming so I just send the junk back (minus the consent page).

EDIT: New Farage ad - over 7 minutes of drivel. Buy gold seems to be the message!
 
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Lucan

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I never see a TV advert. If I watch ITV it is via a recording and I skip the ads. I might see a bit of the sponsorship ad but I am completely unmoved by what I see anyway.
 

jfollows

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The only advert I can recall positively in the last few years was for Pharmacy2U which, despite its cheesy name, delivers a vastly superior service to the pharmacy "attached" to my GP, I now order all my repeat prescriptions online and have them delivered to me by post a couple of days later. I remember the faff that this process used to entail, and the TV advert provoked me to do something about it!
 
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There is one on in the afternoon now for some kind of mattress topper. It lasts forever 2 or 3 minutes. And of course there are the prize puzzles where you have to spot 2 words in a grid and pay a fortune in phone fees to enter. They seem to last best part of 2 minutes as well.
 

Trackman

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I never see a TV advert. If I watch ITV it is via a recording and I skip the ads. I might see a bit of the sponsorship ad but I am completely unmoved by what I see anyway.
If there is something on TV I want to watch 'live' so to speak, I'll pause it on my Sky box just as it starts allowing for about 15mins per hour, after that time will watch it but will be able to skip the adverts and see the last 15mins 'live' so to speak.

On another subject I detest betting adverts when watching live sports.
I've seen the damage what gambling can do to people and I think they should be banned.
 

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