This tool is donation based and free. 🙏 We're looking for donations to keep it running — $360/year covers our server costs.

$18 of $360 · 5%
Donate

How completely unrelated the commercial is to the product...

“how completely unrelated the commercial is to the product. At least half of commercials are just a video of someone acting like an asshole. "Here's some dipshit, buy our product."”
Claim unsubstantiated
Confidence: High Checked on August 24, 2026

Summary

Commercials are created to promote specific products or services, and while a sizable share of ads are judged irrelevant by viewers, reputable research does not indicate that at least half are completely unrelated or feature offensive behavior. No credible data support the assertion that most ads consist of “someone acting like an asshole” to sell a product.

Sources 60 searched

sciencedirect.com
  • Television Commercials - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

    Television commercials are defined as advertisements broadcasted on television that aim to promote products or services, requiring professional expertise to create effectively and potentially increasing community awareness and customer engagement.

  • Using Internet Behavior to Deliver Relevant Television Commercials - ScienceDirect

    Currently, TV advertisers target relevant commercials based on location, lifestyle and purchasing information (Marcus and Walpert 2007). A cable company, for instance, might use subscriber information to send different ads to different ethnic groups (Vascellaro 2011b). But information in these databases can be months or years old. Current product and brand interest based on Internet behavior could add a new layer to a targeting database.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ftc.gov
  • Myths and Half-Truths About Deceptive Advertising | Federal Trade Commission

    Or, "The End Justifies the Means" myth. Even claims for products with real benefits must have a reasonable basis. This is illustrated by a Commission consent order issued earlier this year, settling allegations that NordicTrack, Inc.

  • Advertising FAQ's: A Guide for Small Business | Federal Trade Commission

    A fine-print disclosure at the bottom of a print ad, a disclaimer buried in a body of text unrelated to the claim being qualified, a brief video superscript in a television ad, or a disclaimer that is easily missed on a website are not likely to be effective. Nor can advertisers use fine print to contradict other statements in an ad or to clear up misimpressions that the ad would leave otherwise. For example, if an ad for a diet product claims "Lose 10 pounds in one week without dieting," the fine-print statement "Diet and exercise required" is insufficient to remedy the deceptive claim in the ad.

  • Truth In Advertising | Federal Trade Commission

    The FTC looks especially closely at advertising claims that can affect consumers’ health or their pocketbooks – claims about food, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, alcohol, and tobacco and on conduct related to high-tech products and the Internet.

appliedpsychologydegree.usc.edu
adweek.com
  • 70% of People Receive Irrelevant Ads From Brands

    70% of people who experience a lack of relevancy with ads are often spammed and receive inaccurate information in brand communications, according to a report by customer engagement and data management software company Redpoint Global via Dynata ...

bango.com

This fact check is free and donation-based. $1 powers ~30 fact-checks.

Donate $1 to support fact-checking

Check another fact