Worst YouTube Commercials (Canada)

Many advertisers have unique commercials they run on YT and not linear TV. Often they are far worse than their broadcast versions. Right now there are several awful ones running in Canada. First and foremost: Scotiabank. At least 2 spots have a setup where a stranger asks someone “What do you make?” I don’t know how anyone could think that could be a good premise. Who does that? They also have several for a different campaign where obvious new arrivals to Canada speak to the camera in a heavily accented voice. Probably works OK for that target market but irritating to other viewers.

Questrade recently dropped their campaign which featured the actor from “Suits” which I thought were quite good in favor of a new campaign featuring older actors doing things people of their age were unlikely to do. The ads are not appealing in any way and the premise seems clearly fake. Bring back Mr. Specter!

Fountain Tire may run these ads on broadcast TV in other markets but they have no locations where I live so I only see them on YT, but they are horrible, with a too-cutesy woman spokesperson in a sidecar attached to various vehicles, just an idiotic premise. They are just dumb.

The most irritating was going to be the Downy Unstoppable ad with the woman with long, dark hair and a severe case of vocal fry, but now unfortunately I’ve seen it on broadcast channels as well, so it doesn’t quite fit any more. Worst ad of 2025.