That's kind of a valid complaint in my opinion. I thought the same thing when I saw the commercials. Nintendo doesn't do a very good job explaining the Wii U in commercials for consumers to grasp why it is not the same as a Wii. I think that's one reason its sales hurt.

EDIT: I just watched this particular commercial a second ago. Even though it went by fast the TV did say "switched to Gamepad" indicating that the game was still inside the Wii U console, but the game just switched screens. It's still probably misleading to someone who hasn't touched a Wii U before.