Yeah, back when I still watched cable TV, Canadian Tire had a recurring character in their ads where some neighbours were talking about a problem and the Canadian Tire guy would pop in with how Canadian Tire had a product that could help with that very problem.

Sounded like a normal kind of ad, but the guy came off as so smug and corporate, he was pretty much in the uncanny valley with his behaviour. Trying to play the ad off as a natural conversation just came off as so fake and I hated the ads to the point where I boycotted the windshield wipers despite them looking like exactly what I wanted.

They weren’t, I’d later learn after enough time had passed after they fired the guy (because turns out I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stand him) and I decided they had learned their lesson. But the ads did more to drive me to other stores than help Canadian Tire’s business, even though they were already one of the default options (for those who don’t know them, they are a big box store that is like Home Depot plus car parts, outdoor sporting/camping/hunting, but minus a bunch of the hardware and any contractor focus).