Department of Redundancy Department/Advertising

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


No, not the usual. (Greater Vancouver Transit Authority transit ad)

Advertising examples of Department of Redundancy Department in Advertising include:

  • Almost any asthma medication has to use the phrase "like an inhaled corticosteroid" at least 5 times within the commercial. Sheesh, we GET IT!
  • Nationwide Insurance's new[when?] mascot: The World's Greatest Spokesperson In The World!
  • The Monkees' Kool-Aid commercial from 1970, in which Micky Dolenz exclaims, "Hey, let's make some new sugar-sweetened Kool-Aid with the sugar already in it!"
  • DOMESTOS: KILLS ALL KNOWN GERMS DEAD
    • Likewise, on the other side of the pond, "Raid: Kills Bugs Dead".
  • There's a school in south Florida called CBT College. The "C" stood for "College". The College of Business and Technology College. Way to ruin your credibility before the commercial even starts...
    • See also UOIT - the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. They've been trying to drop "institute" as redundantly redundant to "university" by rebranding as OntarioTech University, Oshawa... but officially?
    • See also UMUC - the University of Maryland University College.
    • See also the University of California system where the college name is usually an acronym (like UCI or UCSD). You will see on the campus website statements like UCI University (university of California university) or "California's UCI"
  • The label on this product, a polish for acrylic, reads FINE SCRATCH REMOVER: Removes Fine Scratches. You know, in case it wasn't absolutely clear.
  • Taco Bell once touted a new menu item in a TV commercial as a "grilled carne asada steak". Since "carne asada" translates as "grilled steak", they essentially were advertising a "grilled grilled steak steak". Delicious.
  • Head On: Apply Directly to the Forehead.
  • Ronseal Quick-Drying Woodstain protects and is rain-proof in about thirty minutes. Which means in about thirty minutes, your wood's rain-proof and protected. So if you've got wood to stain, and you want it to dry quickly, use Ronseal Quick-Drying Woodstain.
  • A commercial for Boston Pizza has a man suffering from "turkey brain" after eating too many Christmas leftovers. He describes his symptoms as "the confusion, the sluggishness, the excessive napping, the confusion..."
  • An ad campaign that began in 2011 encourages you to "Take a Cheetos break With Cheetos".
  • A Vevo banner ad on Youtube advertising Lady Gaga's performance on "Saturday's SNL".
  • "If you don't have an iPhone, well... you don't have an iPhone."
  • "In Mexico we speak Spanish, mostly because it's the language we speak."
  • A Target commercial showed a music teacher singing about all the clothes his students will need for the new school year. Denim was on it 4 times.
  • A 1980s print ad for Elephant brand floppy disks promoted the need to make backups by explicitly referring to the Department of Redundancy Department, "and what goes on when it goes on!"
  • A magazine advertisement for a Duel Masters card-pack series (specifically, "Survivors of the Megapocalypse") states "Attack with the Billion-Degree Dragon and watch your opponent run like someone who is under attack and is frightened by that attack!"
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