When March Madness rolls around, you can expect three things: shocking upsets, last-second thrillers and commercials replayed so often that you want to throw your remote at the TV.
The title for Most Annoying NCAA Tournament Commercial has become a competition of its own in recent years, and we’re here to talk about the most memorable contenders. The phenomenon has become more prominent over the past decade, as CBS/Turner gave fans the ability to watch every game, setting up the experience of switching channels throughout the day and getting hit with the same commercials endlessly across the same handful of networks.
No commercial is meant to be watched 75 times in a four-day span, but the NCAA Tournament makes one wonder whether ad agencies realize people will be pounded over the head with their commercials. By the time the nets are cut down and “One Shining Moment” has played, you welcome the sweet release of leaving some commercials behind.
But not all of them. Some of them are actually good! So I’m here to rank the most overplayed March Madness commercials of years past from best to worst, with a few leftover thoughts at the end. To fit the criteria, the commercial must be most associated with tournament time. The second requirement is that it’s still available on YouTube.
Before we look back at the commercials that left a stain on our souls, we’re going to start with a few good ones.
1. Scoop, There It Is (Geico, 2021)
FRENCH VANILLA. ROCKY ROAD.
This one is still a banger. Like most Geico commercials, the ad has nothing to do with insurance, and when everyone got bombarded with this in 2021, the national mood went from enjoying it to hating it, like most overplayed commercials. But we came around to loving it again, so much so that a limited edition ice cream was released that fall.
I can’t help but appreciate the effort here. The rhymes. The dancing. The way the daughter leaves the room when the dad starts grooving. The chocolate sauce at the end.
Any time the country can appreciate Tag Team, that gets a thumbs-up.
2. NAPA Know How (NAPA Auto Parts, 2011)
This might be the most controversial placement on the list, as one of the first overplayed and annoying NCAA Tournament commercials of the social media era. With the benefit of hindsight, we didn’t appreciate what we had.
It’s a catchy country jam that had different versions, including one with NASCAR Michael Waltrip and Martin Truex Jr. lip-syncing. I like the self-awareness that my auto parts salesman knows he’s not a doctor, but he knows cars. The worrying face he shows at the 0:18 mark before revealing the air filter is concerning, and the mustachioed customer isn’t sold at the beginning. But he quickly comes around and joins in on the song.
It has its detractors, but this ad would prove to be far less annoying than what came in the ensuing years.
3. Shrimp Sensations (Applebee’s, 2006)
When we think of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, we think of Florida’s title, George Mason’s run to the Final Four and this Applebee’s commercial. Like the two previous entrants on this list, a catchy song makes an overplayed commercial tolerable. This remixed version of the “Gilligan’s Island” theme is perfectly fine.
This one came before the social media era, but it was one you and your friends couldn’t stop singing for months.
4. Let’s Make Lots of Money (Allstate, 2021)
Was this overplayed? God, yes. Was it terrible? I say no. This got the nod as the most annoying March Madness commercial of 2021 (the same year as “Scoop, There It Is”), and I think it’s because the commercial was so basic. The song, “Opportunities” by Pet Shop Boys, is a classic 1980s anthem, but the commercial uses that one chorus part over and over and over.
It also makes no sense. The driver is not making money from insurance. He’s saving money. Insurance is making money from him. That’s the business. Why is the hood ornament singing? So many questions.
5. Get It For a Buck/’Sandstorm’ (Wendy’s, 2024)
This one comes down to your opinion of Darude’s “Sandstorm.” If you’re a normal human being, it gets very annoying, very quickly. But if you’re a college football fan who immediately thinks of South Carolina football, you feel differently. “Sandstorm” will always get me hyped.
I’m not embarrassed to admit this commercial convinced me to get Wendy’s during last year’s tournament. It was only a buck, after all. You also have to credit the commercial for knowing how annoying it all is, as the cashier says, “I’m hearing that song in my sleep.”
I am too, and that means another South Carolina touchdown. As a side note, if you’ve never done it before, please look up the Genius lyrics for “Sandstorm” and enjoy a good laugh.
6. Orange Vanilla Coke (Coca-Cola, 2019)
This where the rankings take a sharp turn for the worse. The problem here starts with the product. If people’s first reaction to your flavor is, “Wait, what?” you’re already behind the 8-ball. Why not Orange Coke? Why add it to Vanilla? What is going on?
Then, the commercial itself is full of screeching cars, a grating thing to hear over and over. I can’t stop thinking about how many oranges that truck lost in the process of this drive. And at the end, the woman doesn’t open the can before drinking it. That kind of little thing bothers me in commercials and TV shows.
This marketing campaign flooded social media with sponsored posts from CBS Sports personalities and athletes. How did it all work out? Well, marketing agency Grafik measured three times as many negative mentions as positive. The most popular words associated with it were “annoying” and “stop.”
Orange Vanilla Coke was discontinued in 2022. It is not missed.
7. Give Me Back That Filet-O-Fish (McDonald’s, 2009)
This was impossible to get out of your head. I already feel bad for making you listen to it. Another one that was just ahead of Peak Social Media, so some may have forgotten it. It’s better left that way.
8. Woman Dropping iPhone (Apple, 2021)
This commercial is annoying within five seconds. College basketball fans had to hear it for 30 seconds at a time, dozens of times. The concept is limiting, too. Polls say 80 percent of Americans have a phone case. It would’ve saved this woman some worry and saved us from seeing this irritating ad.
9. It Started With A Whisper (Buick, 2012)
This was the one that started the real trend, the one that really caused panic when it came on TV, because we knew what was coming at the end. That fateful line.
2012 was the second year of the CBS/Turner deal, so this was one of the first ads shown nonstop across multiple channels. I actually had to watch it a few times to remember what the point was. Oh, that’s right. Pandora radio in a Buick. Before Spotify, kids, there was Pandora. So all of these singers are watching this woman go into the dry cleaners from their tour buses. To this day, when I see a dry cleaners, I say it like the Gregorian chanting monks from this commercial. Dry clea-ner-er.
But it ends with that line. That outfit. Those glasses. That Neon Trees singer. “Everybody Talks” was a hit in 2011, rising to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. But the way “It started with a whisper!” hit you in this commercial and never stopped over three weeks of the NCAA Tournament was unbearable. Neon Trees is still together and apparently put out an album last year. It’s been 13 years since this commercial. It started with a whisper. It ended with me never wanting to hear them again.
10. What A Pro Wants (AT&T, 2024)
If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander doesn’t win the NBA MVP this year, I like to imagine this commercial will be why. I still hold it against him. And the entire Oklahoma City Thunder organization, for that matter.
Every part of this commercial is baffling. Why does it include two NBA players most casual fans didn’t know at the time? Why doesn’t it tell those fans who they are? Why does it let them sing off-key for a painfully awkward amount of time? Why did Chet Holmgren and SGA agree to this? Why did this commercial continue into the NHL and NBA playoffs later that year? I saw this commercial so many times before even realizing it was for AT&T. I have AT&T internet and considered switching services because of it.
The Carmelo Anthony/TJ Ford/Kendrick Perkins draft suit commercial by AT&T that same year was so much better. It was fun. Why couldn’t that one be played more often? No. We had to get “What A Pro Wants”. It was unfathomably bad. It’s not just the worst March Madness commercial of all time, it’s one of the worst commercials, period.
Honorable mention: Don’t Let Me Go (Apple, 2024), Chris Webber (Burger King, 2014), Greg Anthony March Monotony (LG, 2012), Peter Frampton joins band (Buick, 2012), Darius Rucker TenderCrispBaconCheddarRanch (Burger King, 2005)
I didn’t want to overload this list with recency bias, so Apple’s horrible autotune “Don’t Let Me Go” ad is an honorable mention. That said, it does feel like we’re getting more of these badly overplayed commercials than ever before. I couldn’t find video of the Greg Anthony “March Monotony” commercial, so it doesn’t make the list. The reason a guy is screaming his head off for seeing Chris Webber at a sports bar in 2014 is unclear.
The Darius Rucker BK commercial wasn’t annoying — it was just good and memorable. And it would end up kick-starting his country music career a few years later. How about that?
Lifetime Achievement Honor: Charles Barkley, Spike Lee, Samuel L Jackson (Capital One)
There wasn’t any single commercial from this group that stood out among the best or worst, but you can always count on seeing this trio way too much. Sometimes, they’re funny (In The Annapolis). Sometimes, they’re bad. But to group it all together, they deserve this honor for always showing up and being… fine.
If I missed any other “classics,” let me know in the comments. Putting this together took a few hours of research and reaching back into parts of my brain I’d locked away. Finding video of older commercials is harder than you might think.
Which ad will take the crown in 2025? Could the new AT&T “Thunderstruck” commercial with SGA, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams that aired during the selection show be the one? By the end of Thursday night, we’ll probably have an idea. In the meantime…
SPRINKLES!
(Photo courtesy of GEICO)
