Best and worst commercials of the year

Only one commercial can top the sheer hatred our readers have for the winner of this year's worst-commercial contest. Yes, only creepy, toenail-snapping Digger the Dermatophyte is more hated than the horrendous repetition that is this year's winning loser, the HeadOn headache remedy commercial.

In case you haven't seen it (you can find it on YouTube, but really, why would you want to?), the commercial is as insanely simple as it is annoying. A female voice repeats "HeadOn: Apply directly to the forehead!" three times as a blissed-out smug woman rolls what appears to be a Bonne Bell LipSmacker on her head.

What in the name of a glue stick in disguise is going on there? First off, does anyone believe that this works any better than, say, rubbing your head with your hand? Who decided that a commercial where only the product name and tagline are repeated over and over was good advertising? What kind of drugs is the model in the ad actually on? And does anyone know anyone who has ever, ever used this product, or seen it for sale anywhere outside these ads?

An article about the ad in Slate produces some interesting factoids. Writer Seth Stevenson gives the commercial an A+, mostly, it seems, for sheer gumption. The commercials never say what the product is for. (It supposedly "creates a cooling sensation," according to what people told Stevenson. Which you could do for free with cold water, or ice, or a bag of frozen peas.)

The commercial's brassiness apparently came after focus groups remembered the nauseatingly repetitious version of the ad more than other, presumably more creative, takes on the topic.  Says Stevenson "The repetition method serves no purpose for a well-established brand ("Coca-Cola: Pour it down your esophagus. Coca-Cola: Pour it down your esophagus"), but for a new product fighting to get noticed, it makes a lot of sense."

The ads may have earned HeadOn some notice, and our worst-commercial dishonor for 2006, but I can't abide the thought that those obnoxious ads are making the company rich. So for all of you out there who voted for HeadOn as the worst ad, thank you, and now let's all participate in a mass hypnosis. Repeat after me "HeadOn. Never heard of it. HeadOn. Never heard of it. HeadOn. Never heard of it."

FREE VIDEO Best and worst ads Aug. 23: Joe Scarborough talks with Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Bex Schwartz about TV ads that bug us, delight us, and horrify us. Scarborough_Country

The Headache Remedy That Shall No Longer Be Named all but ran away with the worst-ad category, but at press time, second place was a very close race between "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks hawking Fords, and Geico's ads in which such "celebrities" as Charo translate what an average Joe Geico customer is saying.

Hicks was a popular contestant on "Idol," but not for his loopy dancing, which is embarrassingly showcased in the ad. And as one reader complained: "the way he 'sings' the word 'possibility' sounds like 'possibilideeee'." Ford is an omnipresent sponsor of "American Idol," and as bad as the ad is, it may not even be as cheesy as some of the costume dramas the car company forces the "Idol" contestants to participate in each year on the show. And for every viewer who rolls his or her eyes at the ad, it seems that there's an 11-year-old girl shrieking "OMG! Taylor ROX! SOUL PATROLLLLLLLLL!"

The Geico ads make the company's own customers come off as bland nobodies who can't be trusted to express themselves, and the "celebrities" (Little Richard, Charo, Burt Bacharach) would not be out of place on a show called "Why Are They Famous, Again?" Geico definitely has an ad agency that's willing to swing for the fences, however, gotta give them credit there. From the accented gecko ("pie and chips!") to the offended cavemen ("I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa"), they're always out there trying something new. At least they're not yelling "GEICO INSURANCE! Apply directly to your pocketbook! GEICO INS--"