Not Ready For Prime Time Commercials

I've always been a fan of late night television, and also of late night commercials. After 11:00 pm or so, you'll see commercials that are too risque or for products and services that are--how should we say?--not family-friendly.

Some of these commercials are so bad, they're effective. For example, there is a local gun dealer whose late-night commercials are practically iconic here in Indy. In fact, we actually studied them in one of my college courses. Of course, the dealer didn't do a ton of market research and strategically plan where and when to place his commercials. He took the package that would give him the most slots for the least amount of money.

That puts him smack in the middle of late-night tv. Which, as it happens, seemed to reach his target market. And they were so bad, people quoted them. They became popular.

Of course, some commercials are just bad. Like, those chat line commercials. Let's have a show of hands. Who believes that those women are representative of the people on those chat lines? And who believes those women were cast for the commercials because of their stellar acting ability?

I didn't think so.

I love the Enzyte commercials, though. They're hilarious. And so multi-layered. Like the wood background. And the driving golf club. They don't even mention these things, which is why these commercials are so well done. They're smart.

But some things, I think, should not be advertised on tv. Like Trojan Twister. I'm not a prude or anything, but seriously. That's a dildo commercial. And I've seen them on as early as 10:00 pm. Now, I realize the Europeans are not phased by this and I'm trying not to be provincial. But come on. It's a dildo commercial!