Why are car commercials so dumb?
 

Why do car commercials appeal to the most primitive and nonsensical
human desires? Case in point is the VW commercial with the idiot
getting excited about overtaking a car on a curve. I would think only a
mentally challenged person would derive any pleasure from such a
commercial. So what's going on here?

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Why do car commercials appeal to the most primitive and nonsensical
> human desires? Case in point is the VW commercial with the idiot
> getting excited about overtaking a car on a curve. I would think only
a
> mentally challenged person would derive any pleasure from such a
> commercial. So what's going on here?

Those who can do, those who can't go to work in marketing and/or
advertising. Since they assume that the average person is as
dumb/lame/has no life like them, they write the commercials
accordingly...

All you have to do is look at most Budweiser/Bud Light ads to see this
principle in action....

On 5 Feb 2005 21:50:52 -0800, wrote:

>Why do car commercials appeal to the most primitive and nonsensical
>human desires? Case in point is the VW commercial with the idiot
>getting excited about overtaking a car on a curve. I would think only a
>mentally challenged person would derive any pleasure from such a
>commercial. So what's going on here?

While I'm no particular fan of VW, some people derive pleasure from
(or at least prefer) cars with good performance. What do you buy cars
based on? How many cupholders it has? How many memory positions the
seats have? How "high up" it is so you can "feel safe"? How well a
car does in carefully constructed crash tests that are often
irrelevant to real-world collisions? How much money you will spend on
gas? How many grams of CO2 it emits per mile? How much crap you can
load in the trunk/wagon/hatchback?

Personally, I buy cars according to a combination of the following
factors: How much it costs; how much horsepower and torque does it
have; can I fit inside. If I made car commercials, they would be
filled with roaring engines, smoking tires, and outrageously dangerous
stunts. And if the budget allowed, fleeing pedestrians.

The question of automobile advertising is a very interesting one.

I think manufacturers simply are appealing to this strange idea that fast,
powerful cars equal fast, powerful person. Yet, as I've said here before,
when someone drives a car, it is the car doing the work - creating the
horsepower. The person is sitting there on foam rubber, behind
plastic-coated safety glass, pushing their big toe down on the pedal. Even
an 85-year-old woman can cruise around at 80 mph. It's not big deal. But for
some reason that I don't understand, people transfer this sense of power to
themselves, as though it comes from themselves and proves something about
themselves. This I think is especially true with males, who want to
demonstrate their top place in the pecking order. Of course it is a
different thing with a NASCAR driver on a track, who can push his skills as
much as much as the vehicle.

I also think that for some people it has to do with the thrill of feeling
the various forces - like a roller coaster. I think this is especially the
case for kids, who don't yet understand the dangers of pushing vehicles to
their limits on public roads. Volkswagen of course targets the younger
market. I think Volkswagen's commercials are among the worst.

I really would like to see a car company run an ad that mocks some of these
absurd ads by competitors. Especially absurd are the ones that show an SUV
that apparently has scaled a mountain range. I am very concerned about ads
depicting SUV's being driven at high speed on fields of snow or even on
snowy roads. Thinking it would be a trilling experience, I tried to do this
one time on a field and ended up driving my Explorer into the edge of a
hidden pond. Thankfully I was able to stop in time. There can be so many
things buried under snow in a field. The top speed should be 15 mph, not 40.
These commercials are really irresponsible. This is exactly where plaintiff
attorneys should get involved.

So the answer I think is that automakers are appealing to this sense of
power and excitement and, at the same time, perpetuating it. It is sort of
irresponsible showing someone driving a vehicle like a fool and then
printing a disclaimer saying: Don't drive like this this. Then what are you
showing it for? Is the manufacturer saying "You see? You can drive this
vehicle like a jerk if you want to?"

--
Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

The return address for this post is fictitious. Please reply by posting back
to the newsgroup.








> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Why do car commercials appeal to the most primitive and nonsensical
> human desires? Case in point is the VW commercial with the idiot
> getting excited about overtaking a car on a curve. I would think only a
> mentally challenged person would derive any pleasure from such a
> commercial. So what's going on here?
>

On Sun, 5 Feb 2005 wrote:

> Why do car commercials appeal to the most primitive and nonsensical
> human desires?

For the same reason all the rest of the crap on TV does the same thing.
Turn the ****in' thing off, problem solved.

Commercials outside the North American market are more often funny and
clever 'cause it's safe to assume the audience has a sense of humour and
that some idiot won't sue for hurt feelings after seeing the ad.

DS

zmike6 > wrote in
:



>
> Personally, I buy cars according to a combination of the following
> factors: How much it costs; how much horsepower and torque does it
> have;

Nothing about HANDLING? Or braking? Those are very important to me.
A car that goes fast only in a straight line is not much good.

> can I fit inside. If I made car commercials, they would be
> filled with roaring engines, smoking tires, and outrageously dangerous
> stunts. And if the budget allowed, fleeing pedestrians.
>



--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Why do car commercials appeal to the most primitive and nonsensical
> human desires? Case in point is the VW commercial with the idiot
> getting excited about overtaking a car on a curve. I would think only a
> mentally challenged person would derive any pleasure from such a
> commercial. So what's going on here?

Maybe they enjoy buying new tires more often by grinding the old ones off
around curves?

The curve in the commercial doesn't even look that great. All these other
vehicles are braking, yet the guy in the VW still ends up right beside the
minivan screaming. And the VW is on the inside of the turn.

Daniel J. Stern wrote:
> For the same reason all the rest of the crap on TV does the same
thing.
> Turn the ****in' thing off, problem solved.

you are right. I cancelled my cable subscription last year and just got
an antenna. Now I am thinking of entirely getting rid of this "non
value-added" idiot box!

You have some good points. But aren't there more logical and convincing
ways to demonstrate a var (i.e the VW) has more power than others? Do
they really need a moron to be their spokesperson for their cars plus
point?

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> You have some good points. But aren't there more logical and convincing
> ways to demonstrate a var (i.e the VW) has more power than others? Do
> they really need a moron to be their spokesperson for their cars plus
> point?

It wasn't about the var's power but about the var's handling.