The Gadget Help Line
December 19th, 2007Previously I’ve considered the adverts for Confused.com as actually being TV’s Worst Adverts.
Filmed in an empty studio with sets hand drawn by a blind paraplegic. Badly scripted, badly acted, and badly filmed.
They were the rubbish advert barometer. But no more.
The advert for the gadgethelpline.com takes TV advertising to a new low in terms of quality.
Note from Silky: Sadly the advert is no longer available on the Tube, so here’s the opening credits to the Inspector Gadget cartoon instead:
Some speak of this being a work of genius and it’s amateurish production values does give it a certain charm but come on.
In fact it’s so cheap that I get the feeling that it might have been filmed in the basement of a house in Aurora. Which can only mean that in the next instalment we should expect a lot of “extreme close ups”.
(4.7)
17Responses:
silas crippledick
January 2nd, 2008 12:31 pm
I just shat a breadbin watching this!
Does MICK JAGGER need the money this bad?
Silky
January 3rd, 2008 7:04 am
I heard, Silas, that he did it for free because he was really grateful to The Gadget Helpline when they helped him set up his new Roberts DAB radio.
That’s what I heard, anyway.
hello
January 8th, 2008 3:21 pm
brilliant
possibly the thickest people in the world and the cheapest add - saw it on you tube loads of hits for little cash very cleaver but a bit too dumbed down.
message is if your a thick fucker buy this, apeals to those who wouldn’t have paid for it in the first place.
would you trust them with a bank account, easy win for MBNA though
giaco
January 13th, 2008 10:42 am
OH MY GOD THERES A PSYCHO ON MY TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jellyfish McSaveloy
January 31st, 2008 10:01 am
Note from Silky: I’ve removed this comments after receiving a request to do so from the company behind the Gadget Helpline.
They objected to some of the points in the comment on factual grounds and some on the ground that they were simply offensive.
I considered this request carefully. I believe that TWA should be an open forum for people to discuss adverts - and on the whole, I believe it is. However, I agree with the Gadget Helpline that the content of this comment was largely not about the advert but about the company itself. So I have removed it.
Regular readers will know that from time to time I do edit comments and that comments have cause controversy before but I’ve not had to delete a comment.
So this was not an easy decision.
However, after talking it through at length with my bit of fluff, she pointed out that I would be a “feckless cretin” not to remove it. Furthermore she added that case highlighted the fact that “as a concept” TV’s Worst Adverts is “fucking stupid and doomed to failure” and she is sure that the exodus of readers has already begun.
I hope not.
Cheers, Silky.
Ron Atkinson
February 10th, 2008 7:26 pm
It looks like the sort of advert you’d expect to see somewhere in Eastern Europe. It’s so bad I actually find it amusing. But yes, if it was half as long, it’d be more than twice as good.
Jonny Chestwig
February 19th, 2008 10:26 pm
This is so bad I just sawed my own cock off with a broken bottle as a protest. The Cillit Bang was toeing a fine line on the ’so-shit-it’s-good’ front. This is just bowel-detonatingly awful.
R E Krishna
April 4th, 2008 12:30 pm
Hey everyone, don’t knock the gadget helpline. I was having awful trouble with my electric toothbrush, the power switch on it had absolutely no markings, consequently I couldn’t work out how to turn it on. The damn thing sat unused for months until luckily I saw this advert. I resolved to phone the gadget helpline feeling sure they would be able to help. Imagine my dismay when I couldn’t work out how to use the goddam phone. (A friend has kindly typed this for me.)
kenny
April 6th, 2008 3:53 pm
what a load of shit never seen it on tv yet never want to
Matt Beeching
May 1st, 2008 1:22 am
I’ve only seen it on TV once and actually had to pinch myself afterwards. Now I carry it around in all its glory on my iPhone in search of others that may have seen its awful brilliance.
Pete
May 12th, 2008 7:22 am
Umm. I’m speechless.
sophi
June 10th, 2008 11:08 am
wtf dis is da biggest loada shite iv’e eva seen
sophi
June 10th, 2008 11:08 am
wtf dis is da biggest loada shite i’ve eva seen in ma lyf
Jonny Chestwig
June 10th, 2008 4:21 pm
Spelling it ‘ma’ actually saves no time over spelling it ‘my’.
Silky
June 10th, 2008 8:05 pm
Surely that depends on which finger you press da “Y” key with Jonny, innit.
Jonny Chestwig
June 10th, 2008 9:53 pm
Safe Blud.
On a similar topic, it’s a bit like “Fish ‘n’ Chips”, which surely takes as long to type and “Fish and Chips”
Gina
June 25th, 2008 6:12 pm
I for one will not be ringing the Gadget Helpline on the back of this little incident. Then again, I wouldn’t have anyway, since I’m not at quite the right level of feckless stupidity as to fall for such a pathetic advert.
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