This Is What We're Waiting For β€” The Hamstars Return

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

Your humble author was charmed by the facelifted Kia Soul when I drove it last year. It’s a solid product, but its runaway popularity in the segment is at least partially due to a group of hamsters who rapped along to an old Black Sheep song.

After confronting robots with an LMFAO tune, the hamsters took a sabbatical — but they are back.

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • Redav Redav on Aug 31, 2012

    That ad does nothing for me. At least the original was entertaining. And if the original was called CGI blackface, that implies there's something wrong with it. Putting it on display is no worse an insult than the fact it exists in the first place.

  • LeeK LeeK on Aug 31, 2012

    As an owner of not one but TWO Honda Elements, I was mightily amused with the original Kia Soul hamster ad that made playful jabs at driving a toaster. Heck, we Element wackos even refer to our cars as toasters. Last month, I rented a Soul for a few days and drove it on the Turquoise Trail from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and on the high road to Taos. I loved it! It's a great little vehicle and if one of the Elements got hit by a meteorite, I wouldn't even hesitate to drive to my nearest Kia dealer for a Soul. Hamsters rock, even to this Baby Boomer. Why, I just might wear my ballcap backwards when I go out grocery shopping this afternoon.

    • See 1 previous
    • Strafer Strafer on Aug 31, 2012

      Good to know that another Element owner is impressed with Soul. It's on the short list when I need to replace the E.

  • Dejal1 Dejal1 on Aug 31, 2012

    Not the "Hamsters" best work, but "Hamsters" none the less. Maybe because they are a couple of years older and are trying to grow as artists. Or their record label is pushing them into another direction. I watch the 1st 2 ads at least once a week. It did take awhile for the 2nd ad to grow on me. They always put a smile on my face, but I'm a simpleton. What's the big deal? If the Drive By Truckers can do a STP commercial, the Hamsters can certainly do a Kia commercial.

    • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Aug 31, 2012

      I'm sure the DBT are thrilled to have their music as the soundtrack to a Richard Petty commercial. BTW, the voiceovers on the ads that don't feature Petty were done by DBT member Mike Cooley. Someone at the ad agency liked their music and I guess since a couple of DBT songs feature Cooley more or less talking, someone liked his voice. Probably works cheaper than Peter Coyote. The Truckers are deeply steeped in car culture. How many other bands today even mention cars? "... it ain't revved till the rods are thrown". I put the STP ads up on Cars In Depth and I get folks visiting the site everyday after searching for the Truckers and STP.

  • Dejal1 Dejal1 on Aug 31, 2012

    I've always been fond of Zip City where it ends with: Zip City it's a good thing that they built a wall around you Zip up to Tennessee then zip back down to Alabama I got 350 heads on a 305 engine I get ten miles to the gallon I ain't got no good intentions It is true that cars are a central fixture in their music. But, the music also give you a good idea on how poor whites live in a single wide on the wrong side of the tracks. I don't see the Richard Petty version too much anymore. But when I think of DBT I think gray, overcast skys and those commercials certainly are.

    • Ronnie Schreiber Ronnie Schreiber on Sep 01, 2012

      Zip City is a great song, but I don't think any 17 year old boy had this kind of perspective. Maybe it's the twenty-six mile drive from Zip City to Colbert Heights Keeps my mind clean Gets me through the night Maybe you're just a destination, a place for me to go A way to keep from having to deal with my seventeen-year-old mind all alone Keep your drawers on, girl, it ain't worth the fight By the time you drop them I'll be gone And you'll be right where they fall the rest of your life I think that Decoration Day is as good as Faulkner.

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