My buddy Dave ran into the same thing at a Chicago meetup back in March. He said he passed on this one insurance ad 6 times because the first 4 seconds were just a guy staring at a cracked windshield, no talking, nothing. Turns out the whole thing flips at second 10 when the guy's kid walks out and the voiceover says the dad missed the kid's whole first year because he was on hold with claims. Dave felt like a jerk for skipping it so many times. He watches to the logo now too, or at least 15 seconds if the ad feels slow.

Did he ever admit the baseline error or just keep going?

Used to quit too, starting tiny fixed it.