Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO SelfCloak. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic
Cquote1

Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator: It's like shaving your chest with a lawnmower!!

Cquote2


A commercial which doesn't really tell much about the product, only how it will feel to use it.

Usually, the commercial starts out by asking "What's it like to try new Product X?", then shows a ridiculous metaphor of it. Alternatively, the commercial shows the metaphor first to make you wonder what the heck you're watching, then reveals "That's what our product is like."

The name comes from the ads for York Peppermint Patties which apparently will make you feel like you're skiing down the alpines from atop your coffee table.

Examples of Get the Sensation include:


  • York Peppermint Patties, of course. Currently intersects in the North American ads with Sex for Product, since these spots feature really hot women seemingly having orgasms while eating the candy.
  • 5 Gum, with visual metaphors
    • How exactly is eating gum going to make me feel like I'm in my underwear in a pit of vibrating ball-bearings?
  • Sierra Mist - Extremely cold experiences followed by, "Yeah, it's kinda like that."
  • Parodied in The Muppets Take Manhattan.
Cquote1

 Bill the Frog: How about this? "Ocean Breeze Soap: It's just like taking an ocean cruise, only there's no boat and you don't actually go anywhere".

(...)

Kermit the Frog: Why don't you try something like: "Ocean Breeze Soap will get you clean"?

Jill the Frog: You mean just say what the product does!?

Gil the Frog: No one's ever tried that before!

Cquote2
  • Parodied until it screams for mercy by The Powerthirst Ads (to which the Brawndo ads were a Spiritual Sequel)
  • Drinking Nestea is like a MAGIC TINY SWIMMING POOL appearing behind you and then you fall in backward.
  • Taken to non sequitur extremes in early PSP ads. "It's like cheese you can listen to outside!"
  • Caribbean Essence Bath Oil commercial on Saturday Night Live. Transcript
  • Fisherman's Friend. "It's a bit strong..."
  • "Calgon, take me away!"
  • The Douglas Max-Air bubblegums are SO FRESH IT'S LIKE CHEWING THE SVALBARD AND JAN MAYEN ARCHIPELAGO! (which is actually close to the real thing!)
  • The in-game radio in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has a deodorant ad that says "When fighting the war against personal hygiene, bring up the heavy artillery: PIT BOMB! It's like NAPALM for your skin! AGENT ORANGE for your sweat glands! It kills bad odors like GIs in a peasant village!"
  • Practically every Perfume Commercial ever. Somewhat understandable, as the only thing that really distinguishes one perfume from another is its smell, and smells (1) cannot be transmitted via television and (2) are almost impossible to adequately describe in words.
  • In 2000, an ad ran during half time at the Super Bowl, showing a full minute of cowboys herding cats. At the very end we got a slogan: "In a sense, this is what we do." Many people remember the ad but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who can tell you what was being advertised. We can, though. It was for EDS, an IT services company that until then was better known for being the source of Ross Perot's fortune — if you were familiar with it at all. EDS was bought out by Hewlett-Packard in 2008.
  • All but parodied in a series of radio ads for Pine Sol floor cleaner, which featured an excited man going on about things like getting sucked into a giant lemon or having pine cones shoved up your nose.
  • This is actually the reason the Old Spice The Man Your Man Could Smell Like ads are so popular. Who needs to listen about the bodywash once we know that it gives men the ability to build kitchens, bake cakes, and swan dive into motorcycles in hottubs?
    • All the while stating outright the body wash 'cannot' give men the ability to do this, only make the man 'smell' like he can.
  • Non-commercial example: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy describes the experience of drinking a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster as being "akin to having one's brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a large gold brick." Although this one may or may not be metaphorical.
  • Dentyne Frost Bites: don't chew too many or your head will freeze solid and fall off, freaking out everyone around you. Oh-kay...
  • Forcibly done with some products as a result of them being legally unable to say what their products do. Some, like the Q-Ray bracelet and Head On, can't or couldn't prove that their so-called benefits are anything other than the placebo effect, so they aren't allowed to list these benefits in their commercials. Instead you get "Advertising/HeadOn - apply directly to the forehead!"