Follow
Share

I already know that what I’d like to see won’t happen, so perhaps this is merely a vent. Saw a commercial this morning for a financial planning company where a couple was depicted visiting their financial planning pros over the years, saving for goals such as a house, college for their children, trips, and finally the big goal, adding on to the house so grandma could move in. And here comes grandma, she comes to the door, fully made up, not one wrinkle, beautifully dressed, comes in and immediately starts engaging with her grandchildren. The daughter smiles and says “welcome home, mom” All I could think was, where is grandmas rollator, why doesn’t grandma have even one wrinkle, is there going to be a Depends leak, is grandma sure she knows who those grandchildren are, is grandma fighting this move and leaving her home, can grandma hide her stroke damage that well?????????? Life certainly colors your outlook doesn’t it?! I could write and direct a far more honest ad, but then no one would do business with that financial planner if they saw that possible outcome! Okay, I feel better now 😜

This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
LOL.. thanks for the good laugh everyone! I so agree with these silly commercials making everything seem so much better then it really is.

The "elders" I see are probably younger then me (in my 50's) with grey hair but young skin... all smiles. I like the home care ads where all the caregivers are blue eyed blonde hair women who are ultra focused on their client.. and always extremely happy. And "elders" who are still young looking and happy.. no walkers, wheel chairs or depends. They are so happy to get someone to help them... hmmm.. this isn't at all what I experienced. My parents were trying to throw their help out half the time.

Even my parent's memory care facility has a sales video that show all residents being engaged and happy, shows only the higher level residents and they all look so interactive.. all of them engaged in their activities. The meals... the "chef" is cutting fresh vegetables and cooking them in a small sizzling pan. Even though it is a good place and they do have activities and do have decent food.. it is nowhere near how they portray it in their ad.
(4)
Report

Jeanne,
Could you tell him how much you liked them as a child?
(0)
Report

Ahem. Jeanne. Sorry, but your little boy was completely correct in this instance. Tony the Tiger would never mislead little children, and in fact if I remember right recovered to win his boxing match purely by eating Frosties, which proves how good they are for you.
(4)
Report

My little boy asked me to buy Frosted Flakes.
"How do you know you'd like them? Have you had them at a friend's house?"
"They said on television that they are great!"
"Ah. Remember we talked about commercials? Those people are getting paid to say nice things about things you can buy. It is their job. It is not exactly lying, but it is more like pretending."
"Oh, no, Mom! This was Tony the Tiger and I know he wouldn't lie!"
(5)
Report

Well, thank God for you that Acorn stair lift runs with batteries Veronica. :)
(2)
Report

Say thanks to hubby from me Send. It has only happened on one day but happened several times. Nothing since.When my brain gets to a better place i will find the auto correct and have a chat with it. It is actually very useful because my never very good spelling is aging along with me.
(1)
Report

Because, Veronica, after awhile, the auto-correct is re-enabled with automatic updates happening to all of us, even when we turn OFF the autocorrect, it gets re-enabled.

Also, you will find that auto-correct is learning to correct from your history, words you have used before.....
So....just saying....lol....(and this is a joke) how often are you using the word "poop, poop, poop?"

Since I had to ask my hubs on your behalf, he wants to know how often? Lol. I told him you are a retired nurse, so very helpful to everyone, and you can say it as much as you want. It happens.

BTW, he says to go into your settings and turn off auto-correct.
(1)
Report

Why does my computer keep changing what I type? Is it a ghost or a gremlin?
I typed coal mine not calming
The other day every time I finished a sentence it put in poop poop poop
(5)
Report

GA they are just getting cleaned up before they get into bed. Both work in a calming and you know the joke about 2 miners at the urinal. Did you go home for lunch today Fred."?

Gershun. I have an Acorn stair lift and it is a life saver.
It actually runs on batteries that are constantly recharged so if the power goes out you can still finish your trip.
Of course in Canada maybe batteries are banned!!!!!!!!!
(5)
Report

"Would you like a nice bath?" :)

"How very dare you!" [slap]
(4)
Report

Well, this is getting a bit racey - sex from 2 bathtubs, facilitated by the right meds??? If any ad people monitor this forum, it wouldn't surprise me to see a tv ad on how to accomplish these dual tub romantic adventures.

Then big pharma will follow with special med ads, then some health care provider will address specific physical issues, possibly resulting in some injury or "condition", then big pharma will come back with another drug specifically targeted for acrobatic, amorous seniors to learn how to be as flexible as Shen Yun performers, then of course we'll all need to have specific outfits to engage in more acrobatic sex....and by that time we'll have forgotten what bathtubs were originally for.
(5)
Report

I actually yell at the TV when those commercials come on showing a family taking an elderly parent in and it is all smiles and sunshine. They act like the hardest thing you will do is help them button a shirt. They never show the elder cussing out a family member or throwing a plate of food at them. No leaky diapers in the ads either.
(7)
Report

I live in Canada and there is this ad for something called Acorn stair lift. You know those contraptions that help take you up the stairs. We have this show here in Vancouver called This Hour has 22 Minutes where they spoof things. They showed this man on his acorn stair lift half- way up the stairs when the power goes out. You see the time at the bottom of the screen showing he's been there all night and you hear crickets in the background. It's hilarious.

I guess it would be sad if it really happened but you have to laugh at these things some times.
(9)
Report

SnoopyLove, only if they use the right meds. Wouldn't this be a good place to insert an ad for a double tub?
(4)
Report

Wait, they aren't able to have sex from the separate bathtubs? Asking for a friend....
(7)
Report

Windy, your post caused me to immediately envision the two bathtubs, and, well... let's just say the rest of your query made me laugh hilariously as I tried to envision the situation you described. I needed that tonight. Thanks for the humor.
(7)
Report

Thanks everyone, for sharing my frustration at the ads, giving me some great laughs, and relating the real honesty of life lacking in what’s so often portrayed in media. I got afraid after I hit post that maybe everyone would misread and think I was being mean to poor grandma! You all have given me a good day 🤗
(7)
Report

They have a "real" commercial; the one for Life Alert, where the woman is taking a shower and falls in the bathtub.
(3)
Report

On the soap opera "The Young and the Restless" there is one actress who is playing an older person with Alzheimer's and the show is doing a good job of representing some of what is happening.... like Mom coming downstairs to go out but her makeup is all over her face....

or Mom wanted to fire one of her daughters thinking that daughter is one of the Staff... and thinking her grown son is her husband. Then one time out on a trip with the caregiver and she getting lost. Now she is claiming her grown son wasn't her husband's child but that of an affair.
(8)
Report

Yeah, the two bathtubs thing.......Is that before or after the sex? During? That’d be quite a trick.

My poor mom would see the dementia wonder drug ads, then call me asking if we can get dad on that stuff. Keep in mind, at this point my dad didn’t know if it was xmas or garbage day. Used to break my heart to have to explain to her the drugs wouldn’t help.

We laugh about it here but big pharma and Madison Avenue are some purely evil entities.
(11)
Report

My daughter says, Alzheimer's is nothing like the movies show.
(6)
Report

My personal favorite is the woman who says "Mom started losing her words a year ago. That's when my brother and I called v------". We promised dad we wouldn't put Mom in a nursing home ........
Then they show Mom sitting at a table all smiles with her home companion.

Not in my life. One of my brothers would have been sizing up how to cash in on Mom's money. The other one would have been in total denial and left for a business trip to avoid being involved. And when the home companion showed up Mom would have bit her head off and said I was mistreating her by bringing a stranger into her house.

These commercials are so phony.
(15)
Report

The commercial that is the real head-scratcher for me is the one for a COPD drug showing a grandpa playing with his grandchild with puppets: three little pigs/big bad wolf puppets. So he's slowly and laboriously huffing and puffing and... What?!?

When I see this commercial, I can't help wondering what the fictional son or daughter of this poor old fictional man is thinking. Really?!? You want your COPD dad huffing and puffing and practically keeling over in front of grandkid? And then having to explain COPD and wonderful new drug for it to grandchild... Right.... Bring out the little red riding hood puppets, the chicken little puppets, anything else... Sheesh....
(8)
Report

I chuckle at the commercial where the the adult son helps his dad button his shirt and then they go to the barber shop to get their haircut...they should have added them skipping along the sidewalk in the sunshine.. these commercials really give false hope.
(11)
Report

Shaking my fist at the reverse mortgage “machine” — and all its attendant marketing. Pure evil. Yet the silver-tounged devils make it sound so good.

If an elder is truly that strapped, it’s better to have pernicious unsecured debt than a lifelong lien on one’s home.

Jeez, “financial security” by way of living your final years under the threat of homelessness. While the income makes the [effectively] broke elder ineligible for Medicaid. 

And the POA/executor gets to spend one of the most stressful stints of his/her life navigating the cruel matrix of payback-or-repossess. 

What a world we live in. 🤬
(9)
Report

Thanks for the chuckle. I needed it today. Of course these are the same people who sell sexual "enhancement" drugs with an incomprehensible picture of two people in separate bathtubs. Huh?
(11)
Report

I can hardly wait to get back after visiting Dad - I know this thread is going to produce some insightful, thoughtful and realistic comments. It helps me channel my contempt for advertising.

But, realistically, glorified inference of much better and higher levels of literally anything is part of advertising these days.

Whether it's being transformed into a beauty through application of chemicals on one's face, or getting buff through some new so-called exercise regimen, or having your lifestyle transformed by a several thousand dollar vehicle that's basically a means of transport, or bopping around as if on a sugar high after taking some diabetic drug....the game's the same.....change your life through products, not through personal introspection, health, exercise, or your own efforts. You need to buy these products and spend money in order to be happy.

I can see that the "back to the land", "roughing it", and other so-called off the grid lifestyles could easily have their routes in a counterculture opposed to the fictitious and misleading advertising.
(7)
Report

A product in the eldercare industry is being advertised. Just think of the amount of money that can be made and how the government can benefit! It’s a boondoggle!!!!
(4)
Report

Oh, let's not forget Tom Selleck and the Reverse Mortgage advertisements. He so convincingly saying you can get equity money from your home to pay off credit card bills. Ah hello. The homeowner is just exchanging one really big bill for another really big bill.

Nothing is said that the "loan" needs to be paid back. I believe some homeowners believe since it is equity in their house, it's free to claim it.... [sigh]
(10)
Report

I truly laughed through my tears at your post, Daughter! How true, how true! Even though I am a customer of a popular purveyor of mobile phone contracts, their ads slay me. Hubby goes out with his good buddies to a restaurant. Couples go on walks, cruises, flea markets, entertain their lovely grandkids (well, I DO have those at least) all within their large group of close friends. Houses are big, well-kept and expensively decorated. Clothes are stylish and flattering. In what world? My hubs is bedridden and I am his bitter and exhausted only caregiver. We have no friends. We go nowhere. We are on the verge of bankruptcy due to a few bad housing decisions and medical bills by and for him. Our house is in need of a few expensive repairs and some minor ones. Right now, I’m wearing a torn t-shirt and hubs’ sweatpants. The last piece of clothing I bought was a t-shirt from the thrift store.

There is “reality tv”, but this for sure ain’t it.
(12)
Report

This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter