...has to be one of the most effective ones in history, in terms of watchability and effectiveness in selling the product. At least if you're a (heterosexual) male.

There are a lot of ads that are interesting, entertaining, but ineffective in terms of making the viewer (or listener--there are many that have only music as the audio, which provides no cue or clue as to what the product is to those who only listen to the television while doing other things, and aren't watching it) aware of the product and interested in purchasing it. But this one compels healthy males to watch, and hammers the product into their reptilian brains.

[Wednesday update]

I'm curious to know how effective this ad is for women. I suspect that it might be, though not for the same reasons. I'd be interested in the opinion of any female readers who've seen it.

I think I remember seeing an overstock.com commercial a long time ago but forgot what it was about.

I have had only one business transaction with Overstock.com and found it very frustrating. I ordered a DVD, which apparently shipped but never arrived. (I suspect they shipped it to the wrong address and it was returned and they lost it in their system.)

My efforts to get a replacement, and finally a refund to my credit card, were a major hassle. Their e-mail "help" address is a joke. Calling on the phone was no better. It took about six weeks and 7-8 attempts by me before they finally refunded my measly $23.

I don't know if this is typical for them or not. I suspect that losing my order was an aberration, but their lousy complaint service is typical. I've never had that kind of problem with other DVD merchants.

So maybe they have a good-looking babe pitching their products, but I suspect that she's a strumpet.

Now I'm thorougly curious. How is this remarkable feat obtained? I mean, I assume young ladies, from context, but...

Sorry, I guess it's a little cryptic for non-US types. It's just an attractive woman pitching the various kinds of things that are offered, in a different outfit every few seconds, ending up with a bust shot in which one can imagine that she's wearing nothing except a gold necklace.

Oh that commercial!!! I remember now just needed a refresher.

I remember thinking when I saw that, "Oh yea, I've got some overstock she can consume!!"

Ah. So merely a particularly effective example of the First Method Of Advertising rather than a new one

Yes, exactly, Andrew. Except it's not explicitly selling sex, in the same way as Swedish bikini models. It's much more sophisticated.

..As much as I hate to admit this...I'm sure the young lady in the commercial is a very nice and decent person, but she looked a whole lot better in the first commercial than she does in this one - and this one is in such heavy rotation on DirecTV that if I see her one more time, it'll be all about a boot in the backside.
And FWIW - I bought a laptop from them back in February and it was the best experience I've had yet in buying a computer. I'd recommend them to anyone.

Mike

This is the first ad I've seen for the company. Now I'd like to see the one you're talking about.

I suspect the add is as effective, if not moreso, with women, because despite the occasional feminist protesting too much, women want to extract the response from men that she does. More to the point, women want to be the woman in the ad as much as the men want to be with the woman in the add. Don't believe me? what appears on the cover of men's magazines? Beautiful women, what appears on the cover of women's magazines? Beautiful women. Maybe the only thing men and women agree on is that we'd rather look at women than men.

Mr. Simberg -
There was another ad with the same young lady - and if anything, more innuendo - about 6 months ago, when I bought my laptop. She was wearing a black pantsuit...not that I noticed, of course.

Mike

Yes, to expound on Mike Kozlowski's post, said lady in pantsuit (very well fitted on her, I might add), was talking about when she first found "the Big O", and all of her great experiences with "the Big O". And, of course, she added a very nice, soothing voice along with her testimonial. Now I'm curious to see the new ad...

You asked for a female opinion on this ad so here's my two cents. When I first read this post, and the subsequent comments, I was aware of overstock.com but assumed I had heard about it through other means since the specifics of this commercial weren't seared into my memory (as appears with others here). I have since seen the commercial again and realized I had seen it afterall. I agree the ad is effective (I did check out the website) but what captured my attention wasn't the woman and what she was or wasn't wearing (I didn't even remember her), but the name of the website itself, which brought to mind the possibility of reasonably priced merchandise. So I guess the ad has a little something for everybody.

Does anyone know the name of that gorgeous woman??

Yes, it's Sabine Ehrenfeld.

This woman is an annoying whore.

I love that TV ad! Sabine Ehrenfeld is gorgeous! She needs to move toward TV and movies (and not just bit parts on sit-coms).

Found this place while browsing. Lots of pictures and most thorough info about her I have seen yet.

Check out the new Sabine Ehrenfeld Internet Fan Page at: http://sabineehrenfeld"dot""tripod""dot"com

Ugh. Those commercials make my skin crawl. She's going after "sexy and alluring", but just manages "smarmy and pathetic".

Sabine makes me wanna go lesbian!

this woman is fierce, love her or hate her.

what a marketing strategem.

(if you haven't yet noticed, we're all here talking about overstock.com...)

I think that the commercial is awful, mostly because the way the actress reads her script is so stilted and poor. The ad just annoys me and frankly made me not want to buy from the company becasue of them. I actually think I decreased my internet looks at the site. I felt the ad was either just stupid with the use of that "O" thing or just stupid. I know that the measure of a good ad can be this annoyance factor - causes you to remember it and all - but for me the memories are merely of a really bad ad campaign.

The Overstock.Com Television Ad

Rand, Its all about the OOOHHHHH!

OK here's my lesbian 2 cents worth:

I hardly EVER watch commercials which is probably why I was one of the LAST people to see her (i.e. Sabine Ehrenfeld's) ad's for overstock.com.

Well she was VERY HARD to ignore during Xmas (she was in a Lexus ad as well). NOW I know EVERYTHING about this woman; I am crazy for her!!!!

At first I couldn't pinpoint WTF it was about the overstock.com Xmas commercial that was so MESMORISING??? I was so confused - then I put "overstock dot com girl" into google and found out that me and 9 zillion guys LOOOOVE her!!!

So I post an ad about her on craigslist women 4 women and YEP she's a hit in Lesbo land as well.

So all the snotty posts are probably from het women or uppity gay guys.

I can't WAIT to see more of her. AAARGG ...the big "OOOOhhOOOhHH!!!"