People Are Tired of Companies’ Sappy Pandemic-Themed Commercials

As the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing stretch into yet another month, many people are at their wit’s end with one particular aspect of the crisis: the commercials. Many companies have made note of the coronavirus pandemic in their latest ads, while some even seem to have rushed to get a commercial up that mentions it. The result has been some of the most sappy commercials breaks in TV history — and they do not always land.

Twitter is filling with more and more complaints about coronavirus commercials — where companies pay deference to the virus currently raging through the U.S., then explain what they’re doing to help. The result is the same as any other commercial: It tries to persuade you to buy what the company is selling. Along the way, however, these ads have really brought the mood down for the TV-watching public. Even more than usual, people seem to be fed up with being pandered to in advertising.

It makes sense that some advertisers might be hesitant to run a light-hearted TV spot during this global catastrophe. With death tolls around the world still rising and millions of people out of jobs, they’d be ignoring the elephant in the room if they did not acknowledge that the economics of February no longer apply to almost everyone.

Still, viewers are being constantly inundated with these more somber ads day after day, and at this point it is becoming hard to take a single one of them seriously. With the coronavirus pandemic expected to continue for some time, hopefully advertisers will find another way to acknowledge the emergency without remaking the same TV spot over and over again. Here is what Twitter is saying about the coronavirus commercials these days.

Parody

Too Many Ads

Escapism

Insincere

Filming Questions

Sad

Normal