There's obviously no way to test this, but it seems like it would have been easier to judge the rants had there been more participants. It was a pretty difficult call and I enjoyed reading each of the entries.
JLAudio was right on with the Miller Lite ads. The dumdum "Miller Lite Guys" you can spot at every bar are more annoying than any of their ads though. As an aside, in case you didn't know (I can't remember if they addressed this in an ad or if it's otherwise common knowledge) the dude at the Manlaw table with the hook hand is
the hiker who cut off his own hand with a pocketknife after it got trapped under a rock or something.
Breedy came strong with the volume. I totally agree about how incongruous it is for all of the one-person, outdoor bathtubs to be featured in ED commercials, not to mention the absurdity of the older (Cialis?) one with the black couple who seemingly was going to do the ol' in-and-out on the table at the restaurant but didn't simply because some friends wandered by or some such thing. Also, I can't stand the guy who pops a tape into the VCR to record the end of the game. I must admit that I do get a mild chuckle out of all the metaphors for sex (football through tire swing, etc.) that they manage to work into some of the ads. All told, Breedy's entries were just a little too calm, rational, logical and well-reasoned. Not quite enough blind rage or vitriol dripping from the rants.
Switters went back in time a little bit with Miss Cleo--surely on everyone's top 10 list of annoying commercials. Solid entry.
In the end, I had to give it to Irish. His personal reasons for hating the commercial--the sense of fury the commercial provokes, coupled with the fact that every time it's on, he's powerless to do anything about it made for the best rant in my opinion. His ad (which I had never seen before) seemed like it had the potential to wear on a person pretty quickly. Down here in Miami, we've got a years-long reggaeton Ford ad campaign that drive me bonkers. You can see an early clip
HERE. It's been through several iterations and a couple of remixes, but it's still fundamentally the same grating, stuck-in-your-head song.
Irish--PM me your address please.
Since my ineffective urging earlier today, I made a list of the commercials that are currently on my shitlist. I'm sure I'm overlooking some. In no particular order:
Dr. Scholl's "Are you gellin' yet?"
Any ad selling glasses. Don't know why, but eyeglass models make me livid. They look so phony and lame.
Progressive Insurance where the savings are enough for a tricked out nametag for the tarted up saleswoman.
All Olive Garden commercials ever made or that will ever be made. Even if the food wasn't mediocre, I still wouldn't eat there based on their ads.
Free Credit Report Dot Com. Any of them. All of them.
Five. Five dollar. Five dollar footlong.
HI!!!! BILLY MAYS HERE!!!!!! He seems to sell everything, and he screams about it on every channel--sometimes every channel at once.
The smug, condescending, vaguely hot redhead shilling for Hughes.net satellite internet service.
The Toyota commercial where the lady customer shoots the salesman in the face with pepper spray, then they both make a damn racket.
The various mutants extolling the virtues of eharmony, as well as any of their ads featuring the lily-livered founder, Dr. Neil Clark Warren.
The Geico Cavemen and the Geico gecko.
The Expedia garden gnome and his stupid accent.
The limited edition 9/11 "coin" from Liberia or some such nonsense.
Guy Fieri and T.G.I. Friday's.
