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Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket: Difference between revisions

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Too Incompetent to Operate a Blanket (view source)

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{{trope}}
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{{quote|''"First, there is the sequence where someone is shown trying to unsuccessfully impale the cap of a normal pen, which suggests not only a lack of familiarity with pens, but also the visual-spatial reasoning ability of a pot-smoking chimp."''|''[[Cracked.com]]'' [http://www.cracked.com/article_15768_as-seen-on-tv-10-most-laughably-misleading-ads.html "The 10 Most Laughably Misleading Ads"]}}
|''[[Cracked.com]]'' [http://www.cracked.com/article_15768_as-seen-on-tv-10-most-laughably-misleading-ads.html "The 10 Most Laughably Misleading Ads"]}}
 
There are people in this world who take incompetence to an art form. You know who we're talking about; people who [[Major Minor Inconvenience|cannot be trusted to use scissors, cut themselves to ribbons when they try to use a potato peeler, and cannot even use a blanket without help]]. How can such utterly incompetent people make a living in this world?
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A popular format is to have the narrator say "stop wasting your time with conventional blankets", and showing a big red X or "no" slash over an [[Deliberately Monochrome|invariably monochrome]] video of someone apparently having a lot of trouble with it, or someone tossing it down and shaking their heads melodramatically. Bonus points if these conventional products cost thousands less in the long run. Expect [[Bad Bad Acting]] to be used to [[That Makes Me Feel Angry|demonstrate frustration.]]
 
Might be [[Truth in Television]] for some products and some users. In fact, many of these products were invented specifically for the elderly and disabled, people, who legitimately ''could'' have problems with some of these tasks. The Snuggie, for instance, was originally meant for wheelchair users who often have problems regulating their body temperature - the design allows for the upper body and legs to both be fully covered without a corner getting caught in a wheel and without fabric bunching up in the back (which can cause bedsores). The incompetence factor usually arises when the item is marketed to a general audience and it becomes necessary to convince ''them'' that they can't live without these products. (This is frequently necessary in order to simply be able to provide the product to its actual target audience, who usually number too few to make it profitable to manufacture otherwise.)
 
Compare with [[The Power of Cheese]], which is people acting incredibly stupid due to desire for the product being advertised instead of as a "demonstration" of a competitor. Related to [[Brand X]], [[Cable-Satellite Mudslinging]], and [[Side by Side Demonstration]]. May be used to cover up a [[Never Needs Sharpening]] flaw. Compare [[Deceptively Simple Demonstration]], where the product is being used in a way that looks harder than it really is.
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* The Snuggie, as well as its commercials, were parodied in ''[[iCarly]]'' with "The Sack".
** The Snuggie was also parodied in [[Dueling Shows|Dueling Show]] ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]'' with the "Blarmie", the blanket with arms.
** The funny part of ''[[iCarly]]'' making fun of SnuggiesSnuggie blankets is that Nickelodeon advertised the Snuggie.
** Even funnier, there's something like "The Sack" that actually exists,. albeit with a different purpose.A There's"sleeping somethingbag similarliner" that'sis marketed for people who travel frequently and would prefer a protective barrier between them and filthy hotel sheets.
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' gives you [https://web.archive.org/web/20120527185224/http://www.hulu.com/watch/34460/saturday-night-live-jar-glove#s-p10-sr-i3 the Jar Glove].
* Parodied and subverted in one episode of ''[[The Honeymooners]]'': Ralph and Ed are trying to sell a multi-function kitchen utensil on an infomercial. They only have two apples, so they don't practice coring them. When they're doing the actual commercial, Ed, in full [[Cloudcuckoolander]] mode, doesn't bother faking having trouble with the normal corer, and finishes in less than five seconds. Meanwhile, Ralph spends several minutes trying to get the product to work, growing increasingly frazzled.
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== Uses In Real Advertising ==
* The [[Trope Namer]] comes from the commercials advertising [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huo7h53G0IM "Snuggie Wearable Blankets"], which begin by showing a woman who simply could not make a standard blanket work. As said above, originally the blankets were created for wheelchair users who quite literally couldn't use a regular blanket, at least not safely. However, when able-bodied individuals find their blankets triumphing over them, it becomes logically painful. The best part of the commercial is that the "blanket" she's too incompetent to use is actually a decorative throw - in other words, it's about ''three feet long''. No wonder she can't get warm. This was satirized in this [[Gag Dub]] video for the "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05ZQ7WHw8Y WTF Blanket]".
** Apparently you can buy them for your ''dog''! The commercial even has a small dog in a snuggie wearing glasses and reading a newspaper. Apparently they're trying to tap that incredibly small [[Rocky and Bullwinkle|Mr. Peabody]] niche of glasses-wearing anthropomorphic dogs.
* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' offers a few more examples in "[http://www.cracked.com/article_15768_as-seen-on-tv-10-most-laughably-misleading-ads.html As Seen on TV: The 10 Most Laughably Misleading Ads]". Who'd have thought that ''capping a normal pen'' could be so hard? The commercial cheats by using a cap that is so chewed up that it's unusable.
* Practically every food processor TV spot begins by showing us someone who shouldn't be allowed near a knife trying to use one.
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* Dyson vac commercials actually avert this. When demonstrating the vacuuming pattern with a regular upright, then with the Dyson Ball (the one with the mega huge yellow ball wheel that rounds corners easier), the user of the regular vacuum actually does a good job of using the regular upright.
** Which actually makes the visual improvement more believable.
* There's now a new product called [https://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20150801033543/http://buyeasyfeet.com/ "Easy Feet."] Apparently, now bending over to wash your feet is a horrifying task even for those lacking a physical problem to impair movement. Too Incompetent to Operate Soap might soon be a new trope namer.
** The big problem is that the ad is really uneven. Half of the testimonials are marketing it as a spa product (it massages as it cleans and pumices calluses away!), and the others market it as a convenience product (for those who have trouble bending over, like the handicapped or overweight). The testimonials kind of blend and it just makes it sound like everybody is too damn lazy to lean over.
** Also, they misspelled "heels."
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* Commercials for Bake Pops showcases people that can't operate ''cake'' but somehow can put cake on a stick with no problem.
* In the ad campaign for Subaru's 2010 Outback, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKBbgH2AU0Q one commercial] plays the aforementioned Snuggie commercial... until [[Commercial Switcheroo|a man takes a crowbar to the screen]] and drives off in his Outback, accompanied by the words, "Maybe you should get out more." They eventually created a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA3jEuqf3rI follow up] featuring a [[Parody Commercial]] called "Lap 'n Snack", for those who ''can't ballance a bowl on their knee''. It even had its own [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKYuqbTOY2k full commercial] and [http://www.facebook.com/lapnsnack Facebook page]!
* There's a product out there called the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh0UvrR8UM4 Broccoli Wad]. [[I Thought It Meant|Despite its name]], it's really a band that you put on your dollars. Why someone would want to use it instead of a wallet or a purse is never quite explained - the only reason given is that it's "easier than a wallet" and that "wise guys don't carry their money in a wallet". NevermindNever mind that you can't carry most stuff with it and that it's basically asking people to take it from you.
* A commercial for AFN.net showed how convenient it is to use compared to the general internet, since it features conveniently organized information, while the man trying to use the internet in general was distracted and ended up looking at LOL cats. Of course, the man using the general internet might have been more successful had he not been banging his fists randomly on the keyboard...
* The Flash Dustmagnet is basically a flexible feather duster that allows you to dust around things. Invaluable since, as the advert shows, the only alternative is to clutch the entire contents of a shelf to your chest with one hand; while waving a conventional duster ineffectually in the vague direction of the shelf with the other.
 
{{reflist}}
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