Christmas commercials you hate ...

[meegbear]

I hate the Burlington Coat Factory commercial. It shows a group of people nicely dressed with a photographer taking pictures. It then cuts to this:

Woman to little girl: So, do you believe in Santa?
Little girl: I believe in cashmere.

Future snit of America in training. Good God.

[SallyMander]

1. Every freaking jewelry commercial

HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM!!!


Edit: Haven't seen the one you mentioned, but your description totally gives me the creeps!

[madinmaryland]

4. I hate them also.

:grr:

The Lexus December to remember is equally annoying.

[underpants]

5. I must be in their demographic because that is all I see

I must watch all their focus shows or something.

[SallyMander]

6. We get "every kiss begins with Kay"

and "He went to Jareds" NONSTOP!!!


Barf-o-rama!


You don't really love your SO unless you shower them with DIAMONDS!!!


(Please ignore the fact that diamond mining is an ecological and humanitarian catastrophe...)

[underpants]

8. I was wondering about just that

Has there been some boon in diamond mining?

[SallyMander]

9. Diamonds are actually NOT a rare commodity

Not by a long shot... it's just that the supply is tightly controlled by DeBeers, which creates the illusion of rarity, and therefore value.

I started learning about all this when MrMander and i got engaged -- it's actually totally infuriating. My ring is moissanite -- tons of info here: http://www.diamondssuck.com/

And more on the "Diamond Invention" and why DeBeers is EEEEVIL: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/198202/diamond


(I'm a nerd about all this, sorry if that's too much info :hi: )

[underpants]

10. Thanks-printing it out now

:hi:

[SallyMander]

13. It's a really neat article

but too bad it's from 1982 -- i'd love to know what's gone on in the last 25 years! (I'm sure i could dig it up, but i haven't had the time/motivation yet...)

[VenusRising]

18. National Geographic had a huge article a couple years back.

I'll try to see if I can find it for you. I actually read it when we were at dinner at Dr. D's house.

I got no engagement ring, and my wedding ring has a heart shaped garnet in the center. All the diamonds in our wedding rings were taken out of other jewelry before we melted down the gold. :thumbsup:

The whole "Blood Diamond" thing pisses me off to no end.

:hi:

[SallyMander]

23. I KNEW you were the shit!

:loveya:

I'd love to see that article if you can find it -- i can take a look myself after i finish making graphs :P

(your ring sounds beautiful by the way!)

[VenusRising]

24. Thank you.

I'll be sure to show my ring to you, and Zodiak's. I actually like his better than mine.

Here is one article, I'm not sure if it's the same one, but I'll keep looking.

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2002/03/01/html/ft_20020301.1.fulltext.html


You're the shit, too! :yourock:

:loveya:


Found it!

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/data/2002/03/01/html/ft_20020301.1.html

[SallyMander]

25. Bookmarked for my lunch break

(which should be soon judging by the volume of my stomach grumblies ;) )

Thanks!!! :hug:

Hope you are snowed in somewhere warm and cozy! :D

[VenusRising]

26. I'll be venturing back up there in a bit.

Gotta pick the husband up and stuff.

I could leave him there, but he might not like spending the night with flesh flies and mosquitos. :rofl:

[SallyMander]

27. LOL

Drive safely! I stayed home today, since i'm just grading and working on a manuscript... much better to do so in sweatpants on the couch. :D

Hey, if you guys ever want to get dinner or a beer, just send me a PM, K? :hi:

[VenusRising]

28. Smart lady!

I tried to talk him into staying home, but he started a bunch of reactions in the lab yesterday. x(

I'll definitely PM you. We are home-bodies most of the time, but we will definitely get together. :hi:

:hug:

[SallyMander]

31. That would be great!

:hug:

[Phillycat]

29. my ring is pink sapphire.

For the same reasons. Once I saw "Blood Diamond", I swore I would never have a diamond engagement ring.

Good for us!! :hug:

[SallyMander]

30. Ooooh, that sounds beautiful!

Mine has blue side sapphires. Do you have any pictures? (Cuz i'm a girly girl ;) )


:yourock:

:hug:



Edit -- here's mine -- it's so hard to get good pictures of jewelry!

[Phillycat]

32. Here you go:

It's a stunner. :) He picked exactly what I would have chosen for myself - and got an incredibly vibrant stone, too. He made them bring stones in from a bunch of different places to get just the right one! And no frills, no nothing - I'm a plain girl, so I am SO HAPPY with it! :D






EDIT: fixed 2nd pic

[SallyMander]

35. Soooo pretty

I love it! What a gorgeous stone. How long have you been engaged? Do you still just stare at it all day? :D

[Phillycat]

36. Hee! We got married in August. :)

But yes, I still stare at it sometimes and think how beautiful it is and what a lucky girl I am! :) And I do feel good every day that I didn't get a diamond. I couldn't enjoy it if I knew someone had suffered so I could have it.

[SallyMander]

39. Congrats!

:toast:

I feel the same way you do -- to bad everyone isn't as cool as you, me and VenusRising! ;)

[krispos42]

37. That was a topic of a Clive Cussler novel, "Shock Wave"

It's about a fictional diamond mogul who's right up there in line with DeBeers. There's a lot of information in there about how the market is fixed, how rubies, sappires, and emeralds are far rarer (and thus worth inheirently more), etc.

I originally thought it was just the usual evil-soulless-corporate-empire-conspiracy, but now I realize it was probably accurate factually, and while the Dorsett family business is probably not exactly how DeBeers operates, it's probably close.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_Wave_%28novel%29

Seriously, you guys should read Clive Cussler. He takes down a lot of neocon business types!

[SallyMander]

38. Sweet!

I'm always looking for book recommendations -- will have to keep this one in mind!

[krispos42]

41. If you want twisted, plots by souless, greedy people...

A Clive Cussler book is a good place to look.

Stick with the Dirk Pitt ones, though. I think Cussler is shifting away from Pitt to a new guy, but I like the Pitt books better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Pitt

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. or car adds.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Yah I hate the cars with the big frickin bows on them.

[Drunken Irishman]

33. I do like that Lexus Christmas song, tho.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. You bet!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. All of them, but especially the one where the guy gives his wife a Lexus.

And the Chia Pets.

[seemunkee]

3. Jared

Worst ever. Even if I was in the market to buy a diamond I wouldn't go there because of their commercials

[devilgrrl]

7. Any high-end car for Christmas. Jags, Lexus, etc...

Yeah, those are affordable for most people :sarcasm:

[kwassa]

11. I hate ALL Christmas commercials

Anything that makes family happiness dependent on product purchases.

If you loved me, you would give me something really expensive.

[DS1]

12. Obviously she's a Pakistani terrorist with nukes

[WolverineDG]

15. The Best Buy ones

The most offensive one that springs to mind is the one where the husband promises his wife they can open presents after they visit Grandma. They all pile in the car & then drive to Grandma's house. Grandma is on the porch & everyone waves at each other. The family then decrees that "that's enough time with Grandma" & drive off to open their presents. Grandma, obviously loaded up on valium-laced egg nog, is neither shocked or stunned; she happily waves at them as they drive off.

Because, of course, Christmas is all about the haul you get, not being with loved ones. :sarcasm:

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Yep. That one super sucks

[texas1928]

16. The Hyundia(sp?) commercials.

Those people in the choir are freaks, and they are soooo intense about saying DUH. And the actual changing of the song to saying duh over and over again. I want to break my TV.

[petronius]

17. Right now, it's the one where the guy lies to his wife about being stuck at work

so he can surprise her with a car - what a dick.

Basically, I hate any commercial that tries to convince us that unexpected cars are a normal Christmas present, followed closely by all jewelry commercials...

[Orrex]

22. Any commercial featuring elves or a bastardized Christmas carol

Abominations, all of them.

Probably the worst three offenders are commercialized variations on The Twelve Days of Christmas, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and A Christmas Carol, though countless other examples exist as well.

[Critters2]

34. The Lexuses with the big red bows on top!

What can these appeal to--2, maybe 3% of the population? Stop making me watch 'em!!

[crispini]

40. I'm getting pretty fed up with the pony commercial.

The one where the friends get the great phones and the girl gets a pony that bites. It was cute the first 1,000 times, but now it's just getting annoying.

[meegbear]

42. I never liked any of the Verizon commercials ...

that one ain't doing much for me either.