About
DirecTV “Don’t” Commercials are a series of advertisements and parodies portraying outlandish hypothetical scenarios that occur if a person’s Cable TV goes out.
Origin
The meme originates from a series of commercials launched in 2012 by the Satellite TV provider DirecTV. The original commercials depicted a what happens when something’s wrong with the cable TV in your house. TThese scenarios typically end in absurd tragedy or misfortune, ending on the note that if the character had simply switched to DirecTV, none of the events would have occurred. The voiceover then says “Don’t let (x happen) – switch to DirecTV.”
Spread
After some time, numerous YouTube videos paying homage to (or outright parodying) the ad campaign sprung up. In addition, Image Macros featuring fictional characters appearing in situations similar to those found in the ad campaign were created, many of which could be found on the Cheezburger Network and Tumblr.