HeadOn
A wax stick rubbed on your forehead while a voice repeated the same phrase three times and never explained what it did. The most annoying ad on television—and it somehow worked.
HeadOn was a wax stick in a glue-stick applicator, sold for $5–8, marketed by Miralus Healthcare of Florida as a topical headache remedy. The 2006 commercial showed a woman rubbing it on her forehead while a voice repeated "HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead" three times without saying what the product actually did. Miralus's own research found that people remembered repetitive ads best. Even their VP, Dan Charron, claimed nobody in focus groups had called the spots irritating—a claim nobody believed after seeing them.
The ad became iconic for all the wrong reasons. It was parodied on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, The Daily Show, and the 2008 film Disaster Movie. Sales doubled from 2005 to 2006 despite—or because of—the irritation. The catch: HeadOn was a homeopathic product with ingredients diluted to trace amounts, and no clinical trial ever proved it relieved headaches. Experts chalked any relief up to the placebo effect.
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