When I was eight, commercials for the Coloriffic brand of coloring impliments were all over the place. And I desperately wanted a Coloriffic brand thing, because it showed the kids drawing wild stuff that came to life. Unfortunately the school supply shopping trip passed and we just got normal Crayola (I didn't bother telling my parents why it had to be Coloriffic and nothing else so I just went with Crayola). It wasn't until about fourth, fifth, or sixth grade and I got a set of Coloriffic colored pencils that I realized I had been done in by a clever marketing ploy.

Anon..can't think of anything else

Seeing all those time-share commercials I believed that for some reason everybody in America owned a time share in at least one condo or resort, and you just had to call up a bunch of people and sort through a lot of paperwork to see which one you had. Once you had documentation to prove which was yours, you could then sell your time-share.

Farid

I used to believe that there was a tropical island called Paradise where everybody went around in swimming costumes eating Bounty bars all day.

B-)

Billy

I don't know why, but I used to be afraid of the Royal Bank logo. There was something about that maze of yellow lines that freaked me out, apparently. Whenever I would go upstairs from my basement, I would run because I thought the logo was chasing me.

Now a TD Canada Trust person

When I was younger, I thought that every television show was filmed live and that commercials were so the people could stop to use the bathroom.

Anon

When i was about 4 there was a commercial on tv for preventing child molestation. At the end it showed a finger pressing against lips as in "shhh" in black and white and slightly blurred. To me, this appeared to be a finger touching female private parts. I was absolutely disgusted by this commercial, and wondered why they would so graphically depict the very thing they were trying to prevent. I finally realized what it actually was when i say my little sister (who was barely a year old) see this part of the commercial, press her finger to her lips and go "shhh". I felt like such a pervert for having thought it was something else. I'm relieved i never told anyone what i thought it was!

Little pervy girl

Have you ever seen the "concerned children's advertisers" commercial about house hippos? I saw it and for a long time belived house hippos were real. I always wanted to pet one, they're so cute and small. :)

Horse

The National Enquirer used to run television ads that teased you with tidbits from that week's issue. Then they would state, "On sale at newstands!" I always thought they were having a sale that week, and it would be cheaper then it usually was. One time I walked to several different stores trying to find one that had it discounted! (I was only 11!)

DukesOfHazzardAddict

When I was little I used to believe that R-O-L-A-I-D-S actually spelled "relief." So then I wondered what R-E-L-I-E-F spelled.

Jennifer

I used to believe - when I was a child - that when advertisements on frozen foods instructed the consumers that they can find said product in their "grocer's freezer," they were saying their "grossest freezer." I wondered for years why anyone would want frozen food from a gross freezer. :-)

Aparna

After my dad explained to me that the searchlight beams I'd occasionally see at night were like commercials - "adverts" to some of you, and meant to attract attention to an event or a business - I imagined that every time I saw one, it meant that a commercial was about to appear on a TV set somewhere.

K.H.

I thought that "Celebrity Cruises" meant that at least one celebrity would be traveling in the ship and that mingling with the celebrities was part of the package. I was a tad disappointed when I found out it was just the name of the upscale cruise division of a large cruise company.

Scandia

that actors went to the toilet during the ad breaks.

ash

When I was 8 an advertisement for Cif (cleaning stuff) showed little men coming out of the bottle to clean the floor.
When i went to my cousins house he started shouting @ me and burst into tears because his mum had just cleaned the floor and he believed that i had squished all the little men.

k@t

There used to be an advert for St. Ivel Gold (a kind of buttery spread). And it used to end with a shot of the top of the tub. Then a knife came across and in one simple move from right to left, the spread became shaped into the name of the product. I used to spend ages trying to do it and could never figure out why it only flattened the spread further.

Geoff

When I was five, the television advertisement for one brand of sanitary napkin would feature models wearing polka dotted dresses. I truly believed that "Carefree" was actually clothes that are sold in the local grocery stores and asked my mom to buy me carefree clothes for my birthday.

Grown up now

iused to think the Foldger's coffee jingle went "The best part of waking up, is soldiers in your cup!" i still can't sing the song without picturing soldier's in your coffeecup...

alea

I wanted to order Sweet Pickels when I was little SOOO BADLY because that bus would come with all the characters in it. My mother kept telling me that it wouldn't really be delivered that way, but I was convinced she was lying to me so that I wouldn't want it.

Heather C.

i used to think that 1980s Pepsi commercial said: "Catch that Pepsi spirit, to get in, to get in, to get in" when they were really saying: "Catch that Pepsi spirit, drink it in, drink it in, drink it in..."

olaf griegheimer

When I was little (now i'm 19) there was a milk commercial on TV where village family went in field and then boy started milking cow by... pumping her with her tail like pumping water with handle, and mother was gathering milk pouring from udders. For some time, I believed this is actually how we get milk from cows! (my mum iluminated me when I told her my theory once...)

Father Rydzyk, Poland