When I was little I used to think when movie advertisments said "see it at a theater near you" you had to see the movie within a certain number of miles from your house. I always wonderd how they would know where you lived.

Anon

I remember thinking that companies who advertized TV's on TV were silly. If you could see the commercial, obviously you didn't need a TV!

I also could never get my head around how you could "SAVE" money by buying something.

Holly

When I was a child, living in Western New York State, our family drove up to Lake Erie every summer. We always passed a billboard that advertised DUTCH BOY PAINTS.It was a brand name. But I didn't realize that. I kept watching ahead, waiting, as I wanted to watch the little Dutch boy paint, in his funny cap, billowy blue pants, and funny little wooden shoes. We kept passing signs, but I never got to see the little dutch boy paint!

Joan, in Australia now

You'll see where this is going, but I can't help myself.

When I was 7 or 8 I REALLY wanted some Transformers underwear. I kept telling my mom how I HAD TO have some. The reason for this is because I saw commercials where, as kids put on the Optimus Prime underwear they turned into the big robot/semi truck themselves.

When I finally got them I was devasted. I tried pulling them several times, but to no avail. I screamed for my mom and had to have her break the horribly disappointing news.

-Dave

I use to be convinced that commercials were only made by companies that were doing badly. I felt so clever telling my parents that I've discovered their secret plot to make us buy products that didn't work very well.

Anon

Wheni was young, i thought all the tv ads were done live. Not only was I perplexed at how they did everything the same way each time, but could believe they allowed young kids who starred in the commercial up so late at night

denise thorud

When I was about 8, I saw an ad for Ralph Lauren that said, "First there was Ralph, then there was Lauren" or something like that. I thought it meant that the designer was a guy named Ralph who then had a sex change and became a lady named Lauren. Nowadays I stick to Tommy Hilfiger.

Rachel

There's a commercial on TV for flea medication where a puppy sings, "There ain't no bugs on me! There ain't no bugs on me! There may be bugs on some of you mugs but there ain't no bugs on me!"
From the very first time I saw that commercial to a week ago, I always thought it was "There may be bugs on Sonny and Mugs but there ain't no bugs on me!"
I just assumed that Sonny and Mugs were supposed to be the other puppies he's seen playing with. =S

Kat

Wen i was little there was a commercial for ambesol (sp?) the gum numbing gel, where a woman was drinking orange juice and didnt enjoy it (i could tell by her facial expression) and the man in the commercial said "the agony". So i never liked orange juice with pulp in it only i never knew it was called pulp and i thought it was called agony! it wasnt until i told my mom i want the orange juice with no agony that i found out it was called pulp...

Anon

When I was little I used to think that commercials were live. So I felt bad for the people because they would have to react the same thing over and over every time that commercial came on. Then I found out that they only had to film it once and just replay it.

Dani Rage

In the mid to late 80s there was a commercial for Halls cough drops, and it was some guy walking into a giant long square hallway (a blown-up package of cough drops), and as he walks through it it's all colorful... almost like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and by the time he walks out the other end his cough is gone. My dad told me that when I was really little he caught me sitting in front of the air cooler in my wet bathing suit in the middle of winter, trying to catch a cold so I could "go to the halls of medicine"!

Mel

When I was younger I thought the Army commercial with the logo "Be all you can be" actually said "Be a chimpanzee" I never understood it =D

Tiffy

There used to be a TV ad for Brute 33 which went, "where, where, where would you be without Brute 33?" Well my sister used to go around singing, "where, where, where would you be without Fruit Betty Green?"

StillLaughing

I used to believe that comercials are evil beings that would keep appearing until you bought the product.

Anon

when i was little i thought that Sears commercial with the slogan "We'll do your homework for you" was literal, so i called the 1-800 number and asked the customer service lady questions on addition and subtraction from my 3rd grade homework worksheet! LoL, she was really nice about to too!

reklamfox

When I was little I was terrified of a commercial with dancing pants. Every time the commercial would come on my mom would act like she was calling the cable company to tell them to quit airing it. That would work until the commercial came on again, and then she'd have to "get angry" at them for not listening to her the first time.

Kyla

I used to believe that if you used the kids' shampoos that said 'no tears' it would make you happy.

Emmy

i used to think that every time an add came on that it was live so i thought that the people got to eat the food every time the add came on

samantha

when i was younger i didn't grasp the idea you got PAID for appearing in tv adverts, i thought if you were advitising mcdonalds you would get a years free mcdonald food, etc

jay

When I was little I used to believe that the people in commercials who were acting out and telling how they were talking to someone and mentioned about a problem and the person they were talking to told them about (name of product) were real people who really were in that situation talking to a person and thatg the person they were talking to really recommended that product. I thought it was all a real situation. I was shocked when I found out that these were paid actors who really didn't have that situation.

Aerith