Those (Annoying) Local Cleveland Area Commercials

You can’t get away from them even if you tried. They’re commercials for local Cleveland area businesses. Some of them only seem to come out in the wee hours of the morning. Some get repeated ad nauseam during the morning news shows.

The question is – do they work? I suppose only the companies can tell you for sure. But one thing I will tell you, some of them will stick in your mind whether you want them to or not. Case in point, a commercial from the 1960s for aluminum siding that sang out the phone number “Garfield 1 – 2323.” I still can hear that jingle in my head after all these years, just like it was yesterday. I never knew anybody who actually got aluminum siding from them, though.

Fast forward to the present time, and you may find that the new crop of local commercials are more memorable for the wrong reasons, maybe because they annoy, maybe because they are just…odd. Here’s some of them, and why they may annoy - or entertain – you.

Fred Martin Superstore
“We’re the Fred Martin car guys – We know cars!”
My opinion: Stop yelling at me! Thank you.

Spitzer
“Our world revolves around you.”
My opinion: This slogan has been done for so long and in so many ways (some of them not so well done), that I can hear the slogan even when they don’t actually say it. I also still see the face of Del Spitzer saying the old slogan, “I want to sell you a car now!” It makes me feel older than I really am. Of course, recent commercials feature Allison, reminding us to “tell them Allison sent you.” Sorry, I still see Del. Never bought a car from them.

Sheraton Furniture
I don’t like commercials where the people trot out their kids to help sell their stuff. But, I actually have bought furniture from them because, well, they have very nice furniture. But those kids in the commercials almost made me not want to even go there. They may think that it’s their location next to train tracks that keeps people away, I think it’s those kids.

Regency Windows
“I’m gonna save you a lotta money!”
No, thank you. For some reason the windows always look like they are made of plastic. And Mikey just gets on my nerves because he yells. Why must people yell at the viewers?

Norton Furniture
“If you can’t get credit in my store, you can’t get credit anywhere. My name is Marc – and you can count it!”
For someone like me who is an early riser, one can’t possible miss Marc’s commercials that usually air at odd hours. “Now, seriously,” you can’t possibly NOT watch one of his commercials when they come on. They are the most bizarre commercials ever made, and he does change them often to keep it fresh. I am compelled to watch, but not to buy furniture. Still, weirdly entertaining.


So do they work? I still don’t know. But the fact that I could sit here and write all this information without having to look anything up for reference or confirmation is scary. They will stick in your head like a traumatic experience. And maybe for some people, it helps them to buy.

For your enjoyment, here’s a string of Norton Furniture commercials, from YouTube. Admit it, you are compelled to watch.



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