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Harry and Louise

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The Resume

    Harry Johnson and Louise Caire Clark
    Appeared in ads funded by the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA)
    Ads aired from September 8, 1993 to September 1994
    Ads ran in opposition to Congressional health care reform and President Clinton's proposed health care plan

Why they might be annoying:

    Their ads were widely parodied.
    They were yuppies who ranted about big government.
    They were part of a one year $14 to $20 million television ad campaign.
    Advertisements always ran with the convenient disclaimer 'sometime in the future...' (in what -- a galaxy not far away?)
    A rebuttal ad released by the DNC featured actor Douglas Barr in a graveyard leaning on (Louise's) tombstone explaining what happened to the two: 'Harry lost his job and also his insurance. Louise owned a small struggling company that couldn't afford group insurance and so she'd always relied on Harry's policy. Unfortunately she had a preexisting condition that prevented her from obtaining new coverage. Now its true she could have gone to the hospital earlier but she didn't want to eat into their savings! Eventually, she and Harry gave up their country club memberships and sold their foreign car, but by then it was too late!' (he then pats on the grave and says that Harry got a job making commercials in another state with crummy insurance).
    They appeared in two ads promoting human cloning for therapeutic purposes on behalf of CuresNow.org (2002).
    The ads were the subject of a lawsuit by the HIAA who claimed that they owned the characters; a court ruled that the rights to the characters were held by Goddard Claussen, and they aired primetime on NBC.

Why they might not be annoying:

    They came off as friendly and relatable.
    They advanced the discussion about healthcare in living rooms across the US.
    The ads were credited with helping to defeat the 1993 Clinton health care plan.
    They appeared again in 2008 with an ad that premiered during the Democratic National Convention (it would re-air during the Republican National Convention weeks later).
    They appeared in an advertisement in support of the health-care plan promoted by President Barack Obama (July 2009).
    They were the subject of a hilarious parody during the 2006 Academy Awards, which showed an older couple sitting at the kitchen table bemoaning the 'foreign-sounding names' of the Best Actress nominees, before praising Reese Witherspoon for having an all-American name.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 34 Votes: 50.0% Annoying