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

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

When I was about four or five, The Publisher's clearing House ran a commercial that said; "we'll find you, wherever you are." I guess I took it very literally, because not long after, my dad took a different route to my grandmother's house, and got lost. I was'nt scared though- I was certain it was just a matter of time before PCH came to the rescue.

K.O.

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 saw these commercials on TV about how "sniffing" is bad for you and kills brain cells. I thought it meant that when you have to blow your nose if you don't blow it, but sniff it in instead, then that kills your brain cells. So for years I wouldn't sniff in whenever I had a runny nose. The commercials went off the air for a few years and it wasn't until the end of high school when they re-aired them did I realize that it was referring to sniffing drugs/chemicals and not sniffing snot.

Tobi

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

Bismillahir Rahman ir Rahim -- when I was a kid in the 80's I believed (along with a lot of adults, I suspect) that the "cola wars" were terribly serious. I imagined a nation divided in vicious opposition between two warring soft-drink superpowers, and followed developments anxiously, fearful that any day one would crush the other utterly and rise victorious to reign over all Americans with its tyrannical single-soda regime.

Ali

When I was at school a boy in my class started singing 'Goodness, Gracious, Great balls of Fire'one day. Because of particular advert for cereal at the time, I immediately told him to stop being so stupid and that the real words to the song were 'Goodness, Gracious, Great Bowls of Fibre!!' Obviously everyone laughed!!

Anon

When I was little--I would stand in the shower and do a Zest soap bar commerical--and then watch the tv for my commercial to be on. HHmm...never did!

JnMcKm

I used to believe that commercials on T.V. were true. I begged my mom to buy the Chips Ahoy cookies with colored sprinkles. After I ate one, I said "Gee, it doesn't taste like a party in my mouth."

K

When I was a kid I loved commercial jingles like the Barbie commercial: "We girls, can do anything... WHITE Barbie" (despite my parents pointing out it was "right Barbie?" I insisted it made sense because the doll was, in fact, Caucasian.

WEBBMD

When I was little I believed commericals on TV were "live" and re-enacted over and over again each time they were repeated.

One Saturday night our babysitter was trying to get us to sleep at 11 PM- I protested that the kids on the "slip and slide" commericial were still awake and working so I could stay up too; she asked if it the commercial wasn't "recorded" then why was it sunny outside at 11PM at night? My bubble burst then and there.

Joanne

I used to think that if you ate ready brek you would get an orange glow like the people in the adverts. So when i had a bowl of ready brek i was really exicited and i ate it and nothing happened!

WHY CANT I GET AN ORANGE GLOW

I used to believe that "some assembly required", as heard in countless television ads, meant that some of the boxes in the stores held completely assembled products and some required assembly. I could never figure out how I could never pick a box that contained an assembled toy. Never lucky enough I thought.

Greg Shores

In northern California, there's a car dealership owner named Cal Worthington. The jingle for his commercials (set to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands"), was something along the lines of,
"If you want a car or truck, go see Cal!
If you want to save a buck, go see Cal!
If you want a brand new truck, if you want to change your luck, if you want to save a buck, go see Call!"

I, like the majority of kids my age, though he was saying "Pussy Cow".

I thought it was some sort of expression that meant "tough luck", as in, "you want a car? Well, tough, because you can't have one".

Sin D

I used to get overly worried by the Scottish Widows adverts. Did they really only offer their services to widows from Scotland? What if you were a widowER from Scotland, or an English Widow? If they were only for Scottish Widows, why did they bother advertising in England at all? And really, how were they still in business with such a restrictive customer base?

Rhube

When I would hear the Grand Am commercials, I thought the announcer was saying Gran Damn! I was very worried about what our society was coming to that we could swear on our commercials!

Anna

When I was little and watched tv and they would have commercials that were advertising a contest or something and at the end they would always say "Void where prohibited." Except I always thought they said "Voidware prohibited" and I thought Voidware was like Tupperware and it was prohibited.

JennyLou

One day I asked my dad what Billboards were. He replied "they are showing things that you can buy". I thought that you could buy the woman who was sprawled all over a car!

Adam

When I was about 7, I thought that there were so many car commercials on TV because people bought cars once a week or so, and I always wondered why my parents kept the same old car for so long. 

marshmallowgodzilla