by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: September 24, 2010

The utmost in annoyance came from Billy Mays, who never knew a word that could not be delivered at the top of his lungs. He actually became a much beloved icon of entrepreneurial excess, but those loud, repetitive and ubiquitous ads will never be off any respectable list of annoying ads.

A certain collection of pain nostrums, where the announcer repeatedly ordered us all to apply them directly to some body part will stand in second place for annoyance factor. The fact that the company never responded to the rising public ire over such a stupid and irritating set of commercials helped to get the television viewing audience to the nearest store or service provider for a Ti-Vo, DVR, VCR or any system that allowed us to bypass any and all commercials.

One veteran actor who was selling a diabetes related product took it upon himself to tell people to stop feeling sorry for themselves, or words to that effect. The backlash was not pretty, since the old man failed to realize that it was diabetes, not a 12 step alcoholic's program, that he was dealing with.

The "Sham wow" ads were annoying, mainly based on the loudness and the number of times that the product name was repeated, as if we would never remember it unless, like the pain nostrums, the name or instructions were not repeated a thousand times in two minutes.

The Old Navy ads are simply creepy. There is something that is just not right with socializing mannequins, bizarrely behaving people and the whole cheerful creepiness of the characters. 

The horrifically nasal singers on the "Empire" carpet and flooring commercials smacks of nepotism or just bad audition management.

People who are my age (which shall not be revealed) or older do not need to sing "Bye Bye Ooze" while thinking that they are still adorable when they try to act like teenagers or to sing with pipes that gave out from lack of exercise decades ago.

We get the picture about Orange Glo, KaBoom, Oxy Clean and other Billy Mays products. At this point, Billy gets another mention because of the overexposure to the specific products.

It is unclear as to where the GEICO lizard comes from. Apparently, he is not from Australia. But the GEICO cavemen were a complete and cringe worthy  fail when it comes to premise and characters. Not only was the incessant yuppie style whining and digs about fighting discrimination racist and insulting to those who face it for real every day, the truly unattractive and disliked characters were not funny. Being not funny is the kiss of death in commercials that try to aim for humor.

The Nuva Ring birth control commercial rivals the Old Navy ads in unspecified creepiness. The board stiff and completely unreal young women, in a bizarre setting that attempts to be a combination of a Busby Berkeley aquatics scene and something that approaches barely living and mute barbie dolls just takes it too far.

Finally, the Burger King "King" is a travesty of scary creepiness, with his huge head, wannabe hip hop attitude and surprising litheness, given that the actor is wearing what must be a thirty pound plastic head! The Jack In The Box "Jack" character is far, far superior and is funny, too.

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