Nusrat Jahan
Ten-minute long advertisements are the reason why we Bangladeshis prefer watching Indian or American television channels. Even after the time period of advertisements were shortened down to two or three minutes, the severe annoyingness of the ads made it impossible for us not to press the remote. Then the Indians started producing really annoying advertisements too, and since we run the Indian version of American TV channels, we are basically trapped in the world of catchy, irritating jingles. Below is a list of the most terrible of advertisements to ever come across my TV screen.
l Banglalink
People dancing around in bright orange clothing because they have good mobile network and the most affordable internet packages; does not really make any sense. What’s worse is that they keep remaking the same advertisement every single year with the very same tagline that goes desh desh desh Banglalink desh.
l IDEA “Honey Bunny”
You’re my Pumpkin Pumpkin. Hello Honey Bunny. I am your Dumpling Dumpling. Hello Honey Bunny. Feeling Something Something. Toko Tokooo a jingle cannot get any more annoying than this. What is worse is that it was so catchy that, everywhere I went, people were singing it. No matter how much I hated it, even I could not get this out of my head while I was trying to sleep at night.
l That face wash ad
I cannot quite recall the name but you know which one I am talking about. You know the Indian ad that was translated to Bangla, which went “scrub scrub, clean and clear wash”. Yeah… so it did not really make me super happy when this is the song that was playing every time my mother turned on the TV, while I studied hard for my A levels. No wonder I flunked Chemistry!
l Ponds “Googly Moogly Moosh”
This one came out back when I was a little kid. It became so popular that people would go up to cute children, squeeze their cheeks and go “Googly Moogly Moosh”. Yours truly knows how creepy it is when random people touch your face like. Oh the horror! *shivers*
l Banglalink “Yo yo pops”
Funny how Banglalink makes it to the list twice. So the plot was how this girl surprises her Father by marrying some random “cool and hip” guy called “yo yo kits” and after she introduced the two, her father faints. The point of the ad was that Banglalink does not have surprises like that, and that they provide incredible call rates. Erm…what? *fails to realize how this relates*
l Knorr Chicken Noodles
This was probably the most hated advertisement shown on TV during the series of cricket matches Bangladesh played. Almost every single person in my Facebook friend list updated a status about how annoying it was to see that ad every 15 minutes. In case you do not know what it is about, it shows two kids dancing like they are possessed by the spirit of a dead chicken and an asylum escapee, to tell their mom that they are hungry.
l Airtell Buzz
That beche thako ajibon, beche thako shonamuni ad that basically showed bizarre dance sequences in various places like the street, holuds, pools, camps and what not. I think the song was more annoying than the ad in this case. “I feel like breaking the TV every time this ad is on”- says one of my friends.
P.S. there is no such thing as bad publicity. So, it’s probably because of their horrible ads that the names of the products or services has been etched in our mind.