Don't tell me what I want.

"Because I'm worth it!" Hate it, fueled a whole load more of self entitlement, it's almost a motto for some today.

"What the public wants is" (Whatever the advertiser is trying to to sell)

This advertising ploy seems to play on those who cannot make up their own minds and don't want to seem different.

Or Hovis style "Remember the good old days." when you woke up to the smell of ? put your pitch in here.

Maybe we GNrs are more adverse to being told what we like or need or should have, to keep up with our friends, or that we should wish to be the "envy of our friends and families".

I dislike the use of the "bullshit" word "pro" this pro, that pro ! It's a totally meaningless word designed to sound scientific.

Patronising stuff in adverts like.. "Now comes the science bit. Which implies our elderly and probably female minds cannot possibly understand this.
Much more to moan about but I have other things to do right now.. I'm sure other GNrs will oblige.

Well said, Nellie

Delighted to see M. Mosley's programme saying PRO- Biotics only useful if you have diarrhoea (short-term) or have Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Virtually everyone where I live includes enough for all family! What a waste of money, but v. clever advertising, of course. Here's to real science.

"Must Have" coat,jumper,whatever,annoys me most.Why must I have it,so that I can wear the same as everyone else?
Recently the words "Hero Piece" have also been applied to items of clothing!Surely a hero is a brave,selfless person,not a little black dress.
I must admit that tv ads just wash over me because I'm sick of them all trying to be so clever.I do online surveys and am often asked if I have seen such-and-such advertised recently.Nearly always,I have to say no,so is this proof that ads don't work?

Likewise oznan it all washes over me too. More important things in life than getting stressed out over averts.

'Other people buying X (an item I have bought) also bought A,B, C.' What makes a company think that I would want to buy something somebody else bought just because we have one purchase in common.

And the one that nearly made me a litter lout. Driving up, I think the M6 last year, for about 15 miles those electronic noticeboards said 'Take your litter home. It is what other people do.' I have never been a litter chucker but I reached a point where I was searching through my handbag for a miniscule piece of paper, about 1 centimetre square, to drop out of the window. Why should my behaviour with litter be dependent on 'what other people do'.

Yes "must have" is so distasteful. But maybe this is what young people now believe, having been fed this stuff by the advertisers for so long.

Of course TV adverts work - companies would hardly be spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on them if there was no evidence that they worked.

Psychologists are employed to press all the right buttons to induce people to buy a particular product. I think it's sad that some of those people who have studied psychology have gone on to use their knowledge to manipulate other people.

The litter notices that Flickety mentions are based on research that demonstrates that individuals are more likely to do something if they are told that other people do it.

Loathe almost all TV ads - they are even worse in Australia because a half hour programme that I like, will have ads before and after, and THREE in between. For this reason we have a recorder, and only watch ABC (our BBC) live, plus occasionally SBS because they have fewer ads.

I agree about hating assumptions being made about me. They often mention "The night Australia didn't sleep' when an Australian yachting crew won some big yachting race eons ago. I, like most people, was indifferent to watching rich men at play.

And we have those 'you're worth it' adverts too- and so many ads that I classify as 'you too can be as beautiful as me'. Then there are the greed adverts - 'do this investment and you'll be successful and rich' and a growing number of ads for death cover insurance, with smug looking oldies.

Completely with the 'let it all wash over me' posters. I think we all know everyone is photo shopped and airbrushed in advert land.
I love looking for the little disclaimers at the bottom of the screen. 'False eyelashes were used in this ad for lash lengthening mascara.'

Another her who dislikes these adverts. The ones that really annoy me are the bathroom / kitchen cleaner ones. They show a floor or bath that is so dirty it can't have been cleaned for months. It is presented as if everyone is this mucky. I also hate 'the whole world is waiting, mourning, excited'. Actually the whole world is not. We may be sad , happy, interested or not but most of us have a life to get on with.

In our house we turn the sound off during the ads. They drive me mad!

We record most of the programmes we want to watch now and skip through the ads.

The problem with me is, if anything is recommended to me, a purchase, a line of behaviour, on the basis that 'it is what other people do' , my immediate instinct is to do precisely the opposite, and a lot of people I know react like that.

That may say more about me, my family and friends than people in general.

Or it may say more about people's resistance to ads!

Well, it just seems so sheep like. It also makes me feel uncomfortable because it is this willingness to do what other people do that has led to so much cruelty and mindless behaviour. It was the sheep factor that brought Hitler to power and many a young thug has justified violence of harassing the weak with the explanation; 'Well everyone else was doing it'

The Sheep Factor isn't a bad name for it!

It's near what I call 'This is What People Do'....as demonstrated in the media every day.
Includes ads, but also the sort of pattern where, for instance, the city riots a little while ago were all over the TV news - and guess what, it spread all over the country.

Anyone see an Axa ad where people were walking along the pavement and belligerently and roughly pushing others out of their way? I actually complained about that one, but didn't get anywhere.
I thought of three-year-olds watching telly and having this as an example...

Once you notice it, it's very pervasive.