People Explain Which Products They Stopped Buying Because Of Aggressive Advertising

Advertising is an odd beast. On one hand, we need to know what variety of products are available from which retailer. Without it, it'd be a much harder forest to navigate. On the other hand, deep down we know they're manipulating us to see things the way they want, telling us things they think we want to hear. Occasionally it works splendidly, but sometimes it tries too hard and forces people to stop purchasing your product altogether.
Reddit user, Osilux, wanted to know what you just had to cut from your life because of commercials when they asked:
What product did you stop buying due to obnoxious ads?
It's Booty Paper...That's It.
"Charmin. I can't stand those obnoxious dancing bears that sing relentlessly about "hineys."
"Bears obsessed with wiping their butts. Like wtf."
Never Quite What You Expected
"Wish."
"I used to buy a few things from them but their youtube ads give me ear cancer and their products mostly suck so I gave up on them."
"My girlfriends mom bought the "lego" taj Mahal from wish for like $10. It's the really tiny piece lego knock off and according to my gf the instruction manual is like a pamphlet and entirely useless. For reference, the real lego Taj mahal is $370 and the instructions are about half an inch (1.5 cm) thick"
What's More American Than A Cheeseburger?
"Never been to a Carl's Jr because all of the ads I've seen are just women deep-throating sandwiches."
Want To Fix Your Typos? *skip ad*
"As a principle, I don't use Grammarly. Ever time I use a computer on campus of my university, their stupid ads constantly appear, and not just in YouTube ads - which really get on my nerves."
"I tried using their product when I was in secondary school, but I found that it was kind of useless unless you purchased the premium version. I'd rather rely on my own proofreading of my work and using Word spell check to find grammar and spelling mistakes."
Be Honest: Who Cleans In Heels?
"Any and all cleaning products where you see a woman in high heels acting as though cleaning is the greatest thing on earth. Men clean, too. Stop being bad."
I'd Rather Risk My Life Than Buy What You're Selling
"Progressive's Flo commercials."
"Actually all of their commercials."
"They're all so godd-mn obnoxious. Genuinely switched because of them."
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME??
"The more you know the more you Kohls"
"That makes no sense! I didn't shop there anyway, but that slogan always pisses me off because its so damn stupid."
Well, That's Just Messy...
"Any ad for a shake/drink/liquid product that shows the product being poured into and overflowing a container and dripping down the sides, making a fucking mess, is a 100% guarantee that I will not even finish watching the ad much less buy the product."
Decide What You Are, Then Come Back To Me
"I have hated every Subway ad I have ever seen."
"Seriously, their advertising department has no idea what to do with the product. Are we healthy? hip? fun? Who the fuck knows. It's just a goddamn sandwich."
Everyone Deserves A Bowl Of Sugary Goodness
"Trix cereal."
"I think every kid in existence just wanted to see that rabbit get a bowl of cereal."
Smell Just Like A Bowl Of Potpourri
"Any. Perfume. Advert."
"Stop sexualising how we smell. Please. I want to be able to smell good without someone thinking I want a shag too."
What If She Just Ate One?
"That current commercial about Tide pods or detergent or whatever it is, with the people singing about their stains. That one lady singing to the tune to "Fur Elise" makes me want to cut my ears off."
877-CASH-NOW
"J.G. Wentworth. I haven't ever used them, but if the occasion ever arises, rest assured those stupid opera jingles will remind me who NOT to use."
"Wait until you're in a structured settlement and need cash now."
Kind Of Working In The Opposite Direction With This One...
"Swear to god if I see like 10-15 more Truth anti-smoking ads, I'm gonna pick up smoking."
Way Off Base
"Does a free app that I ditched due to ads count?"
"It was an app where you made little planets and tried to match the required orbits around a black hole/gravity source. Each level had different requirements. When you tapped to make a planet it would be a random colored dot."
"This game entertained a previously screaming 1.5 year old during half of a 5 hour car ride. With him just making planets, laughing at them move around and occasionally informing the car of what color they were. The problem was that ever 3 levels or so there was an ad. Normally would not be a problem but these were some of the most graphically violent ads I'd ever seen on a phone app. Machete's being thrown at clowns and embedding in their heads, men firing automatic rifles and blowing each other's limbs off with blood flying across the screen."
"It bamboozles me why such a tame game would run ads like that and I had to remove it."
APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD
"As soon as Head On started those commercials my friends and I stopped using it."
*crunch* *crunch* *CRUNCH*
"Kit Kat had a commercial where they used the sound of people chomping into their candy bar to the tune of their jingle. I'm extremely sensitive to the sound of people chewing so when this commercial would come on I'd have to dart for the remote before it sent me into a blind rage. Haven't eaten a kit kat since."
WE PROMISE. THESE ARE NOT ACTORS.
"Chevy "real people not actors" 🙄"
"OH MY GOD WE ARE AT A CAR STORE IN A CAR FACTORY AND OH MY GOD CARS APPEARED WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED"
What products have you stopped using for a similar reason? Let us know in the comments below.
With the world's finances the way they are, it's a miracle if people can save their spare change.
Inflation has a stronghold on too many people.
Sometimes it feels like just breathing can cost you money.
It's hard to make and absurdly easy to lose.
So be vigilant with your wallet.
And try to spend on certain things in moderation.
Going out for meals three times a day adds up.
Even with Wendy's value menu.
Redditor gejiw94601 wanted to compare notes on how money can slip away so easily, so they asked:
"What's the biggest waste of money?"
Money is so easy to lose.
Just ask my best friend... vodka.
WHY?!
"Donating to rich Twitch streamers. I’ll probably never understand why people do it."
dring157
"I remember watching one guy drop $60k to Ninja. I was making 30k a year at the time, this guy drop double my salary in one stream."
IanFPS
Adulting
"Credit Card interest."
DweeblesX
"When I first go a credit card I used it only when I was short on cash, but it ended up me throwing money at stupid things because I knew I had a credit card to fall back on if I needed it."
"Now I use my card for the points, and I pay it off about every two weeks. While I'm still not great at adulting, at least I figured out this part."
boardmonkey
What about Florida?
"The $50 scratch-off lottery tickets you can buy in Iowa."
notthesedays
"I used to work for the VA lottery. I got to see the numbers, the payout was only about 20% (if that) of profit for scratch-offs. Slightly higher for the draw games. But print-n-play was almost 1-1 for payout vs profit. Don't know how it is now or how other state's payout margins are, but print-n-play is where it's at if you're gonna play anything."
DarthWeabu
Always Upgrade
"Buying cheap crap you have to replace."
coinkeeper8
"My dad once told me to not spend excessive money on tools at first. Buy them for dirt cheap, and learn which tools you really need. And when they break: replace them with quality ones. Buying pro-grade stuff you don't need is wasted money."
.HarlequinSyndrom
Spending a little extra can go a long way.
Cheap doesn't often equal quality.
Flex
"Buying ridiculously expensive clothes to flex."
PinkLemon4
"Clothes are a two-way issue. Good clothes last a long time and the price is worth it for the comfort on top of that. But some clothes are 100x the price and 1/10th the quality. So there is a fine line here."
Wdrussell1
Pay to Lose
"Pay to win games."
testthrowawayzz
"I played a lot of mobile games with in-game currencies. I have never spent a cent on these games. Why would I spend hundreds of dollars if I can enjoy the game and learn how to play even if it's slow? And many items don't even help you at the game. It's just skins or titles that only show other players how stupid you were to pay for a free app."
Pintermarc
And Silver?
"Gold Food, or more accurately food that is covered in something called gold leaf. In my eyes, food is worth buying if they provide a great amount of nutrition for considerably good prices. After all, you probably avoid paying 50 million dollars just to buy a few molecules that are useless to your health and needs."
"And then there's gold leaf food, sure the food looks fancy but at the cost of a ludicrous amount of money! And with the gold having no usable nutrients at all, it is just not worth it to buy such expensive food for a relatively small amount of nutrients."
"For instance, Industry Kitchen (hopefully that's the name of the place) in NYC serves a pizza with a gold leaf covering for a whopping price of $2000. While at my home country which is Indonesia, Domino's serves an American Classic Cheeseburger Pizza (IDK that's a thing) which is the most expensive pizza I could find on the website costs around $7 which is just baffling to me."
ScopeRicrit
Pretty Boom
"Fireworks, I love them, but it's like $50 per second for the good ones."
endisnigh-ish
"Yeah, I end up spending probably $300 each summer buying fountains and batteries and helicopters and cardboard tanks and sh*t--none of the big professional skyrockets. It's absurd, I'll be the first to admit."
"But it's fun!"
-RadarRanger-
Just Elope
"Weddings."
"Crazy expensive day. Guaranteed at least one relative will kick up a stink. Massive pressure to be The Happiest Day of Your Life. Everything doubles in cost if you say it's for a wedding (dress, suit, cake, venue) Just do the quick registry office paperwork, have a surprise party, and run away for a long honeymoon with the money you saved."
PinchAssault52
Roll of the Dice
"Gambling for sure."
snazyfragz
"I live in a small town where a casino is the big attraction They've had numerous people crap and pee themselves because they didn't wanna get up from the slots because 'it's just about to pay out.'"
11BREWER
Gambling is the greatest way to lose money.
Addiction will take everything if you let it.
We all have strong opinions about something, but when we think of opinions, we often think of hot button topics like political subjects.
But as it turns out, sometimes we can have just as strong of opinions of our preferred types of pasta.
Redditor PeeB4uGoToBed asked:
"What's the best pasta shape and why?"
The Right Answer
"I prefer my pasta, like my nuggets, to be dinosaur-shaped."
- bearstrugglethunder
"This is my true answer, but if I have to pretend to be an adult, I always say Cavatappi."
- YourGlacier
Radiatori
"Radiatori. Thick and perfect for pasta sauces."
- AuthenticVanillaOwl
"They're so fun. They're my favorite, ahead of rotini. I just like ridges, I guess."
- arcosapphire
Cavatappi
"Cavatappi!!!!"
- floatingvibes
"Best for mac and cheese."
- pacheckyourself
"My first time having cavatappi mac and cheese changed my life."
- Salt_Blackberry_1903
"Cavatappi gang, RISE UP."
- Sharp_Easy
Cavatelli
"I see your cavatappi and raise you cavatelli."
- dumbf**k
"Cavatelli is the bee's knees, man."
- elhooper
Conchiglie
"Conchiglie (shells)."
"The shell shape stores cheese and sauces, so with each bite, you get tons of flavor."
- WingerRules
"Yes! Mac n cheese always tastes amazing with Conchiglie, I don't make the rules."
- Inconvenient-Pebble9
Rigatoni
"Rigatoni. My favorite dish is baked rigatoni with bolognese. I love the texture of the ridges and the larger hollow part scoops up the sauce very well as compared to ziti or penne."
- AllDressedJalapenos
Cascatelli
"Cascatelli. Some crazy f**k got obsessed with answering the OP's question and invented this."
- PhantomMenaceWasOK
Vesuvio
"Cascatelli is great, but his second round of shapes, specifically vesuvio, might be better."
- mriners
"Agreed. Vesuvio is peak."
- jll3523
Quattrotini
"I prefer quattrotini. I find it has better forkability and toothsinkability."
- banjo215
Fusilli
"Fusilli because it's silly."
- HorrorxHeart
Bucatini
"Bucatini is the best of all worlds. You have everything that's great about the long noodles and it's hollow! It absorbs sauce and oil on the inside."
- winterORgethen
"I hate bucatini! You can't suck a protruding part into your mouth because of the hole in the middle. You can't pick it up with a fork, because it's too slippery with sauce."
- CalTechie-55
Penne
"Penne... because the sauce is in AND on it, lol (laughing out loud)."
- secretxamy
Orecchiette
"Orecchiette."
- Realistic_Try_6738
"The pasta that would literally drive me insane if I tried to make it from scratch."
- BullsOnParadeFloats
Farfalle
"Farfalle."
- Preference-Best
"I came to say this. Just something about it. Amazing mouth feel. Great texture. Good with light and heavy, meaty sauces."
- Fracture_98
"This one. There’s something so nostalgic about it for me. And I feel like it does well with most sauces. A very versatile shape for a variety of pasta dishes."
- BlueHeelerChemist
Linguine
"Linguine: the spaghetti that went to private school."
- feeflet
"I am totally on board with linguine. Flat to catch the sauce and thin enough to cook evenly for the perfect consistency! Pairs with many sauces too!"
- Odd_Calligrapher_407
Pappardelle
"Pappardelle."
"Flat pasta is better than round pasta (like spaghetti) for sauces and flavors being absorbed. It's long enough to give the lady and the tramp vibes and not feel like you're a kid eating some superhero shapes out of a bowl like Fusilli and Farfalle can give off."
"It's thicker than tagliatelle to give it enough girth to feel like more of a main event than just being the bed your sauce and toppings sit on."
"Overall, it's just the best all-rounder in my book."
- bawjaws2000
This conversation just goes to show how many pasta options there actually are in the world, some that we may have not even heard of yet, because of them being invented in 2020!
But it also goes to show that we all have our favorites, and we can have very strong opinions about them.
One of life's most unfortunate moments is when we feel our lives are genuinely in danger.
These horrific moments can involve the behavior of people with malicious intentions or just being at the wrong place and time.
Even though many people live to share their harrowing stories, the trauma doesn't necessarily go away completely.
But all anyone who's experienced a terrifying ordeal can do to find peace is to count their blessings and be grateful they are survivors.
Curious to hear from strangers online, Redditor Fearless-surfur-ee asked:
"What was the scariest incident happened with you?"
These Redditors experienced heart-stopping false alarms.
Wrong Target
"Half a dozen masked men broke into my bedroom, threatened me and my girlfriend, realised they had the wrong house, apologised and left. Edit - I told the full story here a while back."
– The-Go-Kid
Witness At A Shopping Mall
"Similar thing happened to my Aunt. She witnessed an attack at a shopping centre (on going disagreement between 2 well known families) and was threatened. A few days later one of the older family members approached her in her driveway and apologised profusely for the younger persons behaviour and offered her compensation. She was so scared she just said no thanks and he left."
– pokerdotts
Sometimes, you gotta listen to your gut.
Unplanned Detour
"Wife and I took a dark exit towards out neighborhood. Whole backseat full of bags cause we went shopping at the mall. There’s a red light at the intersection once you get off the exit and we pull up to this tinted oldsmobile. They were in the right lane to go straight or turn right and we were in the left lane to turn left."
"Nobody is around, maybe 10 at night. I turn left and look in my rear view and it’s the car that was next to us a bit back. I pull in my driveway and just had a really weird feeling, so I told my wife I’m gonna reverse and drive around the block. She thinks it’s weird as hell, but as we are reversing, this dude is walking towards us from that Oldsmobile parked around the corner. I dip the f**k out and make it look like I was just turning around and drove like a mile away before heading back."
"Just had this gut feeling, man. Who knows what would have happened? But it was scary as f'k, nonetheless."
– One_pop_each
A Tragic Stop
"Friend borrowed dad’s Benz to take wife on anniversary date. He stopped for flowers and was followed home by someone thinking he was wealthy. He was shot dead in his driveway in what turned out to be a gang initiation; you did the right thing."
– busjockey
These Redditors looked down the barrel of a gun...and lived to tell their story.
Fearless
"Was at a train station that was empty and I was sitting down waiting for a train and a man walks over with a bag, opens it and takes out a shotgun and points it at me and I just stare at him, he then says 'you're not scared are you' then puts the shotgun back in the bag then walks out of the train station."
"Actually not sure if that was the scariest or weirdest or if I was even scared."
– XenomorphXx121
The Right Answer
"Reminds me of the time a guy put a gun to my neck and said, 'What would you do if I pull the trigger right now.'"
"I was in a completely apathetic state of mind at that time anyway and said, 'Not much I can do, but I'll haunt you.'"
– lazerchin
These Redditors experienced medical emergencies.
Lucky Patient
"Last week had a heart attack after almost recovering from chemotherapy."
"I asked the nurse if I was going to die and she said I’m in the right place and they will look after me. Then I got more scared then I ever have before"
"I should not have survived but I did."
– Fistandantalus
Urgent Appointment
"The scan came back and we found a mass. We'd like you to come in to talk to the doctor today or tomorrow. You should see if someone can drive for you as you may be upset afterwards"
"Can I come in next week, I have a trip planned?"
"The doctor says you should come in today anytime and we will clear an appointment for you."
"Luckily that doctor kicked a**. 3 years post-surgery. Scans are clean in August and I move into the "only 10% chance of reoccurrence" bracket."
– Meet_the_Meat
Mysterious Illness
"Felt sick, kind of like the flu. Felt completely fine in the morning, but got worse as the day went on. It was the middle of the night and I was up with my husband and our new 6 week old baby. I was pumping breastmilk."
"Next thing I know, I’m waking up to EMTs surrounding me on my bed telling me not to move or sit up. My heart rate was incredibly high and blood pressure incredibly low. They took me to the hospital and no one knew what was wrong with me for a while. They kept asking me what drugs I took. I kept telling them nothing (which is true). I just had a baby, the biggest 'drug' I was taking was Tylenol. They didn’t believe me for a while."
"I couldn’t remember a lot of things at this point. I could barely even remember my own kid’s name. I couldn’t tell them who the president was or what year it was when they asked. It was a weird feeling to have memory missing. Kind of like having lost some puzzle pieces. Talking was also kind of difficult."
"After a BUNCH of tests, turns out I had a UTI so bad that I went into septic shock and my kidneys were shutting down. Didn’t know I had a UTI because I was still healing from childbirth and I am pretty asymptomatic when it comes to UTIs. I don’t feel pain when I get them. Spent a few days in the ICCU. Was extra scary considering my brand new baby was at home and I wasn’t and there was a chance I wouldn’t make it home at all."
"In the end, I thankfully made a full recovery."
"Not as intense as some of these other stories, but please don’t sleep on a UTI guys. Sepsis is no joke."
– mxbear
The last time I truly feared for my life was when I was at a party and a fight between two drunk partygoers turned into a Swiss army knife fight.
I'm not kidding.
A couple of my friends and I jumped off the second floor balcony and got chased in the parking lot.
After some fumbling with the car keys, my buddy managed to get five of us crammed into his car and the perpetrator started pounding on the rear window with his fists and bloodying it up from smashing his knuckles onto the glass.
The police came just in time. Thank you annoyed neighbor who called the cops on us for our blood-curdling screams disturbing the peace.
Perhaps the best thing about our friends is that we can always rely on them.
To help us out, to give us words of comfort and wisdom when we need them, or to just be a willing pair of ears.
Even so, our friends still have a way of surprising us, as well as disappointing us from time to time.
Sometimes they'll do things that just make us groan and roll our eyes but are easily forgiven over time.
Other times, however, they might do or say something which can only be described as "f*cked up."
Potentially putting an effective end to your friendship.
"What is the most f**ked up thing you've seen a friend do?"
Those Poor Cats...
"A guy I worked with was about to take his wife on a trip back to their mutual hometown in another state."
"They had a pair of delightful kittens and they asked me if I would watch them while they were gone."
"I had little experience with cats but these 2 were just wonderfully playful."
"I gave him a call when he got back to arrange returning the kittens but he said they had picked up a non-cat friendly dog on the journey and he would just drop off the kittens in the woods."
"Needless to say, I kept them and they were wonderful furry friends for me and eventually to my wife and kids."
"I still think what would have happened to them if I had not been in the right place at the right time."- PoloGrounder
"I went on holiday for a week and asked my 'best friend' to pop in and feed my cat (he lived a few doors away)."
"When I got back, my cat was laying by the back door of my house, went inside and his bowl was empty, I called him and asked when the last time he fed him, he said 'oh yeah, I forgot'."
"My cat had been outside for a week with no food or water. "
"I haven't spoken to him in 12 years."- Reddit
Always Listen To Your Doctor
"Convinced his girlfriend she was suffering from gluten intolerance instead of schizophrenia, and got her to stop taking medication."- lightningandmadness
But Was It A Point Worth Proving?
"Deliberately get knocked down by a car, in order to prove that when drunk (and we were very drunk), his bones were flexible."
"Fortunately, the car had been slowing to turn."
"There followed a couple of minutes trying to reassure the driver he was ok, whilst calling him an idiot."
"Meanwhile, he was laying flat on his back, maintaining he'd proved his point."- anothercynicaloldgit
It Is Never Attractive To Gloat
"Best friend was excited for me to meet his new gf."
"The whole evening he bragged about how she was still married and he was going to be the reason she got divorced."
"Haven't spoken to him since."
"Did hear she broke up with him and sorted out the issues with her husband."- hmfiddlesworth
Karma Is Pretty Unforgiving...
"Brought my friend to watch my boyfriend practice his drumming."
"She kept spreading her legs wide wearing a skirt with no underwear."
"She slept with him and he left me thinking he would be with her."
"Needless to say she didn’t date him because she already had a boyfriend."- Final_Objective_6204Kar
Shameless
"We were working in an old lady's attic and he kicked the sh*t out of a pipe on purpose then went and told her it needed to be replaced."
"I never worked with him again after that."- FriendlyDifference72
Oh, Honey...
"Brag about a then—boyfriend not leaving her despite constant cheating."
"Then cry when he left her."
"I don’t know either."- Snapesnape716
In With The Wrong Crowd
"They were arguing and he made fun of the friend for being an orphan."
"Tried to stab the other friend cuz his ex was crushing on him."- we_are_ghetto
Not Worth A Second Thought
"Throw McDonald’s fries and burger as hard as he could at a homeless lady asking for food."
"I called him a piece of sh*t and never spoke to him again."- Mundane_Tour_3215
You Don't Mess With Family...
"My best friend had just broken up with my brother—who had moved over a thousand miles and changed jobs to be with her—citing personal differences."
"My brother was devastated, but I tried to respect her decision and be a source of support for both of them, especially because they truly weren’t the best fit."
"But then she shared with me, because she knew that I loved her and would be happy for her so long as she was happy, that she’d been cheating on my brother for the past month and had found her soulmate."
"The depth of my brother’s heartbreak, already immense, was further compounded by the infidelity."
"To my bewilderment, she truly couldn’t understand why I was ending the friendship, seemed so distraught that I would end a years long relationship over something so 'small'."
"And I still can’t comprehend why she thought telling me would result in anything other than a complete door slam."
"Hannah, you still suck."
"And I’m still angry."
"I had also asked her to be the maid of 'honor' in my upcoming wedding."
"Ironic."- bitetime
Some friendships can withstand fundamental differences of opinion.
But no friendship is worth hanging onto when people (and kittens) are physically or emotionally harmed.