Why are car commercials so dumb?

Max wrote:

> Because the USA is so horribly conserverative they can't stand any
> titties or f-words in television advertisments.

Oh, yeah, "titties" and the f-word raise the level of discourse in this
country immeasurably.



John

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Anthony Giorgianni wrote:
> 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.

Again, if your memory goes back far enough, Subaru in the early 90s
tried an experiment with "anti-car" commercials, done by the agency
Weiden-Kennedy. They began with phrase like "A car is just a car...it's
glass, rubber, plastic and steel. A machine. It won't make you younger
or sexier and if it improves your standard with the neighbors you live
among snobs with distorted values." Witty, counter-intuitive, it
whispered when everyone else shouted, it zigged when everyone else
zagged. It also bombed horribly, Subaru sales plunged even lower than
they had already been, and they were yanked within a year and
Weiden-Kennedy lost the account.



John

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Anthony Giorgianni wrote:
> We;re not talking about power in the sense of the engine's power, but power
> in the sense of the car making the driver feel powerful, having the ability
> to place himself ahead of the herd and to get a thrill at the same time.
> This is what I object to. I do not mind a commercial that shows a car's
> handling as it's used to avoid an accident for example. But some guy
> giggling like a moron and jeering at someone in the right lane in a ...
> minivan is it? ... is sending a bad message to some young kid who is likely
> going to buy a Volkswagen.
>
> About a commercial that says::
>
> "At Volkswagen, we provide you with the handling necessary to drive safely.
> Now please, provide the rest. Drive responsibly."

Cars, like alcohol, tobacco, blue jeans, and Carribean cruises, are
selling fantasy, image. Ads don't say things like "Don't spend your
money on this cruise if you can't afford it" or "Stick some comdoms in
those tight-assed jeans, girl!" either, and the alcohol and Philip
Morris ones only urge people to behave responsibly now because the
government makes them say it.



John

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Daniel J. Stern wrote:

> 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

Yes, indeed European and Australian audiences are generally more
sophisticated and more receptive to irony and humor, and companies are
braver and not as much in the grip of lawyers and marketers overseas.
I've seen terrific ad campaigns killed because the client (the
advertiser) received *one* angry letter. One!

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

Seconded!



John

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Dave Stone wrote:
> 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?
>
>
> I think these dumb ads are just a result of LCD marketing people. The
> Dodge truck ads are by far the worst. We all know a car/truck/wagon with
> a Hemi will be quick. I would like to see some practical features of the
> vehicle advertised instead of the usual 'this car likes winding roads'
> bull****. Maybe the auto makers are hoping the majority will find all
> the info they need online? I noticed a lot of ads of average looking
> cars with great interiors rarely show the inside, which I think is an
> overlooked sales edge they are missing out on.
>
> Does anyone remember one of the first Infiniti ads? It was just some
> dude walking thru a forest.

The infamous "rocks and trees" campaign. Yep, they tried to do
something different, lost their shirt, and gave Lexus an out-front
advantage they've never gained back. Lexus has had one voiceover actor
the whole run of its campaign. Infiniti goes through them like butter:
Michael Douglas, David Strathairn, Jonathan Pryce, Liev Schreiber... In
all fairness, the team that did the first Infiniti campaign has done
some other terrific work. They just reached a little too far on that
one. But I think Lexus would have dominated anyway. It was just a
better car.



John

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"The Lindbergh Baby" > wrote in
message ...

> VW is actually a good client. Your memory may be short, but back in the
> 1990s it did some absolutely terrific work, "Mr. Roboto" being one of the
> funniest and smartest commercials I've ever seen.

There's an old VW commercial, for the Golf, that had "Da da da" by Trio as
the music. They drove around, stopped when they found a chair in the
garbage, loaded it in the car, started driving again, then noticed how bad
the chair smelled, and dumped it back out... trust me, it was much better
than I'm describing.

Thanks for the response Scott. Very interesting.

As I said, I think it is true that lots of people drive fast out of a
testosterone-induced sense of machismo (notice you don't have a lot of women
here clamoring for the 85th percentile) some drive fast for the thrills and
some drive fast to get somewhere fast.

I'm not sure why you need to drive a high-performance vehicle to escape a
sloth. But okay.

As far as personal responsibility, we agree there. However, some people are
not personally responsible and they are very impressionable, especially kids
who haven't experienced the unpredictable dangers you can encounter while
driving. I really don't want some inexperienced young driver deciding it's
okay to test the cornering limits of his VW while he's driving next to me
because a commercial gives him the idea this is permissible and a cool and
fun thing to do.

Similarly, I don't want drivers speeding pass me in snow with their SUVs
because the commercial makes SUVs look invincible and creates the impression
that it should be driven fast and wildly in snow. There's a lot to be said
for the personal responsibility of the automakers, too. And if they are
going to depict the SUV as invincible when it isn't, they should bear some
of the responsibility when someone with bad judgment takes their commercial
literally and crashes into me, despite the tiny type that says: Don't drive
in the stupid way we're driving.

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Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

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to the newsgroup.

Greet reference John. I'm saving that.

I don't remember those Subaru ads, and I certainly wouldn't have known the
name of the advertising agency. Safety sells much more today than it did in
those days ... but perhaps better with certain makes than others. It is
unfortunate if automakers cannot sell cars without appealing to that fast,
powerful and exciting image.

I just saw an ad for some automaker (Ford maybe), I think, depicting a
motorcycle gang being afraid to stop at a diner because of all the
automakers' trucks lined up outside. The announcer says: We don't only make
our trucks powerful, we make you powerful...or something like that. I find
that kind of advertising ludicrous and insulting, though I guess people are
dumb enough to buy it. Next time I run into a Hells Angels member, I'll have
to ask him how intimidated he is by Ford pickup truck owners. :O)


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Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

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to the newsgroup.



"The Lindbergh Baby" > wrote in
message ...
> Anthony Giorgianni wrote:
> > 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.
> >

Jim Yanik wrote:

> A car that goes fast only in a straight line is not much good.

Tell that to John Force ...
--
C.R. Krieger
(Been there; done that)

Anthony Giorgianni wrote:
> Thanks for the response Scott. Very interesting.
>
> I'm not sure why you need to drive a high-performance vehicle to
escape a
> sloth. But okay.
>
> Similarly, I don't want drivers speeding pass me in snow with their
SUVs
> because the commercial makes SUVs look invincible and creates the
impression
> that it should be driven fast and wildly in snow.

So it's OK for Scott to drive fast when it's warm and dry but not for a
similar driver (like me) to do the same when it's snowy? Heck, I have
always *loved* driving in snow in just about anything, and commercials
have nothing to do with it. I *teach* high performance track driving,
I've rallied in all-night blizzards, and I've taught ice driving on a
frozen lake. Do you think I can't handle snow *in a Jeep*? As with my
3-season BMW, I'm not doing this to show off. I enjoy slinging my
Grand Cherokee into a 4-wheel 4WD drift in six inches of snow as much
as I enjoy slinging my 535is through Turn Six at Road America. In
fact, I have more fun when there aren't any frightened 'citizens'
around to see me. The only gratification I get from guys like you is
knowing that you're thinking how you'll see me upside down or offroad a
few miles down the road - and you never do.
--
C.R. Krieger
(Been there; done that - last month)