Don’t get me wrong. I love Febreze. I think it smells delightful. But there is a new Febreze commercial out that annoys the shit out of me whenever I see it (typically in the morning during the Today Show). Let’s take a look at the commercial first, before I proceed to rip it a new one:
Let’s start with the obvious: WTF is up with their voices? The audio is clearly dubbed in for both the mom and son, and it even seems that it’s not even the voices of those actors. I mean, seriously. It’s like they want the kid to sound like the generic prepubescent kid from the Simpsons or something.
Now, let’s pick the rest of this thing apart. The mom tells Karl she thought he had friends coming over. Look at this kid. No way in hell he has friends. But we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Then she notices how messy and smelly his room is. And it truly is a pigsty. There’s crap everywhere, and most likely crusty bodily secretions all over the place. (She notes how bad the chair smells, and if I were her, I wouldn’t put my face so close to it, as you just KNOW he’s been sitting on that chair bare-assed every night for the past week). And the mom’s like, “oh, we’ll just clean with Febreze”. That’s fair enough to cover up Karl’s wretched stink, but look what happens when she starts spraying…the mess in his room magically disappears without either of them lifting a finger! That is a truly amazing spray!
Then, the kicker. Karl’s “friends” show up. Now, when his mom said he had friends coming over, after the shock of realizing he had friends, I figured they would just be a couple of nerds coming over to play Dungeons & Dragons or something, but it turns out to be a couple of cute girls. Yeah, right!!! Like either of those chicks would have anything to do with that pimply-faced dweeb. Then the blond chick seductively tells Karl how nice it smells in there (points for the audio possibly actually being her real voice), and he puffs his chest and acts like he’s responsible for the state of his room. What a d-bag.
So Febreze would like us to believe that a) spraying their product will not only improve the odor of your room, but also magically clean any messes within it, and b) if you’re an ugly awkward teen boy, spraying Febreze in your room will make cute girls want you to take their virginity. Who are the ad wizards that came up with that one?
But still, it’s the audio that bothers me the most. When that self-righteous little prick boasts that he likes to keep things fresh because it helps him concentrate at the end, I just want to reach through the screen and wring his scrawny little neck til his head pops off. Then dropkick it across the room.
So kudos, Febreze, on crafting one of the most ridiculous commercials in recent memory. I hope you burn in a hell that stinks like Karl’s room for eternity.
Tags: 00s tv commercials, crusty bodily secretions, d-bag, dbag, dubbed audio, dungeons and dragons, febreze, jizz, karl's room, keep things fresh, messed up audio, pigsty, pimply-faced dweeb, poor audio, prepubescent, self-righteous prick, squeaky voiced teen, stinky room, the simpsons, the today show, who are the ad wizards that came up with that one
Thank you thank you THANK YOU for putting into words everything I despised about this commercial. I thought I was drunk (and like you, seeing it in the morning) the first time I saw that commercial. The HORRENDOUS dubbing drives me so crazy, I scramble for the remote and mute it or turn the channel…whichever button I find first.
I hate this commercial so much that when I was at the store and saw Febreze, I actually growled at the bottle. Growled. Is that the response they were looking for?
I’m so glad someone feels the same amount of hatred towards this commercial as I do.
…and I wasn’t cool in high school, and I STILL wouldn’t hang out with a guy like that.
PS – after reading your thoughts and seeing the commercial yet again, I actually wrote to the makers of Febreze and asked them if they knew how annoying their commercial was.
@melissa – Thanks for the comment, Melissa. If you hear back from the ad wizards at Febreze, let us know by posting a comment here!
@jamie – Ok! We have received our response –
“Thanks for contacting Febreze.
We rely heavily on consumer comments regarding our advertisements, and feedback
like yours will help us decide how to approach future advertising efforts.
Please be assured I’m letting our marketing team know how you feel.
Thanks again for writing.
Jacie
Febreze Team ”
Although I wish they would have defended themselves more, or said, “you’re right. The jig is up…it was dubbed.” Or perhaps even a – “What? We thought it was brilliant! When we spray Febreze in our own bedrooms, it cleans our closets and satisfies our wives in ways a grown man never could.”
Alas, they have responded in such a generic way that I am left feeling somewhat anti-climatic about the whole situation.
I shall proceed to make posters and start a picket line in front of their ad agency. Boo-ya.
This is too funny. My sister and nephew pointed out to me that the voice was dubbed (I never really watched the commercial to notice). What the?! Why do they do that? And the comments here are hilarious! Glad we’re not the only ones who think this is odd.
check out the girl in the background in yellow… she just lets her head fall down for no reason…. this commercial annoys me on so many levels
@Kevin – Actually Kevin, at the end of the commercial the “girl in yellow” you refer to is the mom. And she’s hanging her head after Karl talks about wanting to keep things fresh, because she knows if it were up to him, his room would still reek to high heaven. So she’s hanging her head thinking, “Oh, why is my son such a total dickbag?”
AMEN!!!!!! I swear I thought it was just me! Its excruciating! This commercial could be used as a torture technique!
I’m convinced that the reason the dubbing is so awful is because the commercial originally aired in either Britain or Australia (or maybe some other English-variant-speaking country), so that the American English audio doesn’t exactly jibe with the facial features and expressions the actors have in the scene. I have absolutely zero proof this is the case, but it’s what I irrationally scream at the tv and my wife every time this commercial comes on.
This commercial annoys me so much that I actually searched to see if anyone else felt the same way. Thank you, thank you for this. I feel vindicated!! Especailly love this from Kris….
On 08.01.09 Kris wrote these pithy words:
AMEN!!!!!! I swear I thought it was just me! Its excruciating! This commercial could be used as a torture technique!
me too i hate the commercial so bad! What mom lets her son have a disgusting room and then only sprays some deodorizer>?? also, don’t dub voices!!!
I hate this commercial…if not more than the Binder and Binder ones…the ads of Charles Binder and that stupid hat.
My twelve year-old sister could do better ADR editing on iMovie than the people who cut this together.
Thank you for posting this!
@wade –
HAHA yes fuck that hat! And let us not forget about that disgusting mockery of a human beings mole that magically disappears from 0:13-0:16. I guess febreze fixes that too.
I totally agree, the only reason i found this post was because like everyone else I hate the febreeze commercial as much as everyone here
This commercial is almost DEFINITELY from a commercial that sprang up in Britain or Australia. (Probably the UK). When I lived over there, there would be tons of these bad dubbing jobs over there also, but from obviously American commercials. Guess it’s cheaper to do it this way then shoot a whole new commercial for each country. Either way, as a large point of evidence I reference all of the Soccer (or Football if you’re not American) throughout the kid’s room. Not that an American kid can’t have soccer posters in his room, but it would make much more sense to portray this room as the ‘average kid’s room’ with soccer posters in the UK, rather than here in the US.
Thanks for this post. It fills my heart with joy that there are others who are equally filled with rage at this atrocity. The way he bends down to smell the Febreze he just doused his fart-stained carpet fills me with the urge to drown puppies. And what 15 year-old boy brags about his concentration? I agree with the assessment that this is likely a UK commercial – partially because they are all so homely and pasty – but why, then, does the girl’s voice sound perfectly normal?
The commercial is sooo poorly done…I am guessing the original was in German…
watch it with the sound turned off. it is a little easier to notice the mouth movements as being a non american accent. probably british, or australian.
Thanks for recognizing what a truly awful commercial this is. It’s been driving me nuts.
HAHAHAH…
I hate that commercial!
it irks the hell out of me..
was just checking to see if maybe I wasn’t the only one..
thankfully I am not.
THANK YOU. This commercial bugs me to HELL. It’s the most retarded thing I’ve ever heard/seen. It makes me want to burn my television.
I completely agree – the kid’s voice is like nails on a blackboard and I feel like it comes on every 10 minutes! “are you kidding? Wash it?” AHH!
THANK YOU! I hate that I even took the time to Google “Dubbed Febreze commercial”, but it’s just so bad. I’m with you – it’s not even the actors’ real voices. WTF? I have actually hurt myself lunging for the remote to mute this shit. No one else seems to care when I voice my annoyance over this crap, so it’s good to know I’m not the only one.
The only possible explaination is that is it a UK or other English speaking European commercial they simply dubbed to have American accents. I am in marketing and it does happen. I agree this commercial is terrible. They keep running it. Maybe they want idiots like us talking about it.
It has to be that it was originally recorded in another English speaking country. Another prime example is the Cheerios commercial, that has Steve and his wife. He talks about what the box says, and ends up saying “the box says Shut up Steve”. Both commercials irritate me like none other.
I understand that companies want to save money on hiring actors, but doing horrible voiceovers that obviously don’t match the actors lips is just a poor value for their money. Commercials that incite me to buy their products are ones that have a good blend of smarts, humor, and/or ingenuity that come together to make a memorable commercial.
PS I probably wouldn’t have noticed the disappearing moles unless I had read it here. On YouTube under the 2009Commercials profile someone mentioned it there also. At the end of the commercial the kid only has one low on the cheek. I begin to wonder if they did a bad job to try to make it memorable, to get people like us to remember and talk about their commercial. It just insults my intelligence and I will not buy Febreze just based on the commercial. I don’t think they are clever enough to put enough quirks together in it on purpose to get us to analyze it, since it simply looks second rate.
I can’t believe that I found this site, I got to blow off some steam. Haha.
YESSSS! I am SO HAPPY I found this site. I was just telling my husband how annoying this commercial is – and I don’t even think that’s the red head kid’s voice. I had to look up and see if this was true, but I found this site and it’s even better! I laughed so hard until I cried. I needed that, thank you. I’m glad there are other people out there that agree.
THANK YOU! FRICK! I hate this commercial more than I hate tuna, and, man, I hate frickin tuna. I mean, it smells like fish, looks like vomit, and tastes like something that stank while it was living, died, was chunked up into small pieces, stuffed into a can, and left for months in a grocery store. Yea… you eat that nasty. Anyway, the dubbed voices in this commercial are so awful it makes me think of eating tuna. Frick.
I just saw this commercial like 5 min ago on tv and I couldnt take it anymore I had to see if anyone else hated this commercial as much as I do!!! I don’t know what I’m going to do if I see it again!!Go crazy probaly
I hate this commercial too and had to google whether I’m the only person who’s noticed the crazy dubbing. I’m pregnant and watch a Baby Story on TLC and they play that darn commercials all the time! Ugh!
Ooooo… good call on the cheerio commercial! i couldnt decide which i hated more…this insulting and painful piece of advertising stupidity or the cheerio one where that pasty white misreable hag convinces all young men to avoid marriage for as long as you can or that is what you get to wake up to “the box says shut up, steve” and she glares at him like a cow, ahhhhh!!! i want to sock that poor innocent actor in the face! why didnt they just cast that kate plus 8 broad? its not only the dubbed voices but the concepts that make me go bonkers with rage. i love every single one of you who is irritatied enough to actually google “what the hell is wrong with that febreze commercial” just to make sure youre not alone. i know i feel better now. i will also email febreze to remove it. its just that important.
The initial post here was summed up well. Also the idiot kid who probably whacks off on the chair that stinks and his mother sprays it with Febreze and magically the semen stains disappear. It is odd that this guy would get 2 girls in his room nevermind them looking way out of his league. Watching the commercial it almost has a porn dialogue to it and the 2 girls one guy theme is what made this seem so obvious.
One other thing is thanks for this post here as I could have sworn the dweeb says it helps him concentrate but the commercials here as of late cut off that part. When he says, “I like to keep things fresh.” you’d think the mother would get a clue her son is going to turn into a habitual liar. Then when he says, “it helps him concentrate.” you know this kid is full of crap. If I was in a situation when I hear someone try to BS like this I call them out on it and embarrass the hell out of them.
I just saw it 3 minutes ago and Googled it. This site came up.
Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the terrible commercial was intentional? Almost like a take on viral marketing? This commercial is getting a lot of heat, which does in deed create even more exposure for Fabreeze.
It is terrible. It reminds of the old Godzilla voice overs.
I HATE how the mom says, “you’ve gotta wash this whole ROOM”. I just hate how she says “room”, and how it’s a ridiculous ‘mom statement’. Washing a whole room? Ugh! The rest of it it just typically annoying but that voice … argh, maybe it reminds me of some silly mom statements from childhood or something, that voice just grates my nerves.
I couldn’t take it anymore…I had to see if I was the only one and I’m happy I found this site to validate my extreme hatred towards this commercial. Bravo…like an earlier post mentioned, I appreciate everyone here who felt the need to google this to make sure they weren’t alone.
This commercial that shows the boy has a traveling zit! First it’s on his cheek, then in a few seconds it’s moved to his jawline. In another version of this commercial it bounces back & forth!!!
Am I the only one that saw this?
Warning:
Febreze may cause traveling moles, weakness of the neck, ginger-vitis, unnatural voice, and loosening of the bowels.
OMG!!! I’m so glad that someone made the perfect comment about this obnoxious commercial. I wonder if we could complain to corporate Febreze and tell them to take this s**t of the air. I would like to know the real name of ‘Karl’!
Thank you so much for addressing this.
I just saw the ad and had to google it to find out if I was the only one who is so creeped out by it.
For another stupid Febreze commercial, visit Pointless Planet:
http://www.pointlessplanet.com/2009/08/febreze-grandma.html
It’s the worst voice matching I’ve heard in a long time.
this commercial makes me hate Febreze…i’m lookin for a replacement now… Good Job Febreze…douchebags!
hey, the reason this advert is so badly dubbed is because it’s originally an english advert from here in the uk, the whole point of the marketing is supposedly to make it cheesy and sort of idylic. the thing that bugs me the most about it is the girl with the mole RIGHT BY HER EYE!
Wow, here it is Oct 1 and they are still playing this annoying commercial. I can’t stand it, I finally broke down and googled because I just couldn’t understand why this commercial bugged me so much! The voices always make me turn to the tv and I am mesmerized with loathing! And Yes, thank you, the Cheerios commercial also drives me bonkers. Please make them go away!!!
I love how your comments are a forum to vent about this commercial…
My girlfriend and I realized its dubbed because the ad is either British or Australian. Note how ugly the actors are and also the copious amount of soccer paraphernalia around the room.
Its just a lazy recycled foreign commercial
What pisses me off even more than Febreze trying to pull one over on us, is the fact that this bloody AWFUL commercial plays OVER AND OVER on every channel including the BBC America network! Which means CHA-CHING for the sucky acting, dubbing and messed up directors and producers in ROYALTIES! Ugh.
My day is so fulfilled by reading each of these comments. I, too, googled to see if there was anyone I could share my utmost hate for this commercial, and this is love at first sight!! My greatest annoyance at this commercial is how Karl’s large ass mole on the left side of his face at the beginning of the commecial not only moves from scene to scene, but fades completely away as his room gets cleaner. WTF! Mothers of ugly kids everywhere should be so inspired.
Rofl, the dubbing is about a million times worse on the English version! >.<
burn notice and psych are two of USAs best shows
so listen i love this page so much. the ad did originate in england but its differnt and alot worse. i advise you look it up. instead of saying your room smells nice she just says ”freeeesssh’! in a weird stupid english voice!!!
“moving mole!” LOL!!! I’m like so many others who found this board! I, too, had seen “Karl’s Bedroom” one-too-many-times and VOILA! Here you are! And these are just people who BOTHER to respond! Ummm…I suspect that Proctor & Gamble’s ad agency for US ad campaigns is a “signatory” agency. This means that talent must be Screen Actors Guild or Am.Fed. of TV & Radio Actors. MUST be union people. However, since P&G’s so HUGE, they likely got a “concession” from SAG/AFTRA regarding the human beings we see. The Brits can be used — as long as an American union voice is dubbed. And very VERY poorly at that. P&G got ripped-off! Time to retire this annoying spot. It’s a tragedy: the product and smelliness really opens things up for GOOD HUMOR. P&G’s ad agency has ‘em hoodwinked!
We were watching Iron Chef tonight, and saw a re-cut of this commercial. Gone are the friends, gone is the smelly chair. All that’s left is the magical room cleaning, stench clearing, zit removing spray, out of sync mom, and smelly son who no longer worries about friends or “keeping things fresh”.
We PORED over the contents of his room, and made some interesting finds. If you look at 0:16, you’ll see that Karl has a teddy bear and a dinosaur. Gee, I wonder why the room stinks and where Karl keeps his stash?
Down with this wretched commercial and the stupid Cheerios one! I lived in London for a while and unfortunately for them they have to view these terribly dubbed commercials way more often then we do. These companies don’t make enough money to create the same tired commercial in various accents?! Right, not buying that. I love all of you that share my hatred for this commercial. hahaha! For googling ‘terrible febreze dubbed commercial’ and finding this! So f-ing funny!
Karl, his stinky room (including those encrusted socks and undies under his bed) ALL make me rank this the number one commercial I hate. It used to be the kid who asked, “I wonder what cheerleaders wear in Florida”, but now Febreze has topped that by far. Those girls had to be paid a LOT to appear with the red head (double entendre intended). As for the mom, why did she let the room get so stinky? Like moms are not in their teen boys rooms every chance they get?!
OMG! I hate this ad so much! Thank you for this site! Yes, it’s cheap-ass UK or Aussie dub. The Cheerios ad ran with the orignla Aussie voices in Canada for a few months before the crappy dub appeared. The orignal was not irritating.
If anyone cares, P&G uses a firm called Grey Group (www.grey.com) for the Febreze ad campaigns.
As bad as ad as it is, it seems to be pretty effective nonetheless. We are all taking about Frebreze! So it must be good advertising…
you should see the european version…. still annoying!!
Well as a matter of fact, I go to school with that kid from the commercial, and not only does he have a ton of friends, but he has had multiple girlfriends that I have seen him with in the hallway. He is absolutely hilarious, so how dare you say he has no capability to have friends? Typical society, baseing everything entirely on looks.
Also, his voice sounds exactly like that.
hia just wondering how did you contact jacie? @Melissa -