As Detroit heads for its inevitable meltdown, The End of Days keeps throwing-up a whole bunch of weird shit. For example, I was watching one of those creepy Chevy ads where an African American spokesmodel tries to convince a bunch of severely underage car buyers that Chevy is gas-friendly (which cracks me up, 'cause Chevy SUVs just LOVE gas) to gas-free (which also cracks me up, 'cause even the theoretical plug-in Volt will use gas). In this one, the actor asks the kids if they like riddles (which cracks me up, 'cause it reminds me of Peter Grave's immortal line "Do you like Gladiator movies Johnny?). So… "when is a car not a car?" "When you can't sell it for love nor money?" a pixie-faced child replies. (Just kidding.) "When it's an SUV!" the unsupervised adult informs. "What the fuck are you talking about?" a child chosen for reasons of ethic diversity demands. (Just kidding.) The spokesmodel tells his charges that the conundrum involves a GM hybrid SUV chosen as "Green Car of the Year." "But it's an SUV!" an indignant rug rat bleats. (For real.) The spokesmodel provides the logical explanation: "I guess it's smart." Why would GM draw its customers' attention to the fact that it doesn't deserve an award? I guess they're dumb.
15 Comments on “Daily Podcast: Huh?...”
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I can’t help but think GM’s precious little advertising dollars would be better spent on promoting vehicles that are actually for sale now. Like the Saturn Aura and little Astra, the Cobalt (as bad as it is) or even the upcoming Vibe (which looks good). All of them are fairly miserly, affordable and the first three you can actually buy now.
Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison? You ever seen a grown man naked?
Gotta love The Graves.
I think the GM hybrid SUVs need more badges declaring that it is, in fact, a hybrid. The current 8 just doesn’t get the message across well enough.
God only knows I go out of my way to promote GM products to anybody Yeah I know TTAC readers are shocked at this revelation.
But I have to say this: GM HAS THE WORST TV, RADIO,AND PRINT ADDS BAR NONE!
Are GM Add exects blind deaf,stupid?Wake up look at the competion.GMs best adds are hokey compared to the other companys worst.
End of rant.
If you say something enough times, some people will believe it is true. Political and commercial marketing both work on this principal.
I miss the Joe Isuzu commercials. At least with those you could laugh at the marketing claims and nobody (I hope!) was fooled.
I’m not going to argue that GM’s ads aren’t bad but Hyundai and Kia’s advertising is insulting to my intelligence, not to mention annoying.
In a marketing class, we recently talked about GM’s commitment to producing poorly-targeted advertising. In Miami, for example (a largely Cuban area where GM has meager and declining market share), GM ran a Saturn ad that was set at the Alamo (to appeal to Mexicans?). They also run the same ads in the South as they do in the North. That means that, in the wintertime, ads in the Northeast focus on GM vehicles in the snow. And so do the ads in South Florida. Where they don’t have snow or, presumably, GM customers.
Mr. Farago,
Is there a reason you try and stick to 10 minute podcasts? I love listening to you guys and am hoping you make them longer.
crc:
Is there a reason you try and stick to 10 minute podcasts? I love listening to you guys and am hoping you make them longer.
Thanks for the compliment.
As for the duration, it’s like term limits: you gotta draw the line somewhere. I reckon it’s better to leave ‘em (that’s you and five others) wanting more, rather than rabbiting-on like some automotive podcasts we could name.
Agreed with Robert on this one. You guys are very concise, which tends to keep my attention throughout the podcast.
less is more.
thetopdog :
February 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I’m not going to argue that GM’s ads aren’t bad but Hyundai and Kia’s advertising is insulting to my intelligence, not to mention annoying.
I agree with you on the “Think about it…” ads from Hyundai, but I’ve gotta say the Kia “Unheard Of President’s Day Sale” ad (which, inexplicably, got several executives fired earlier this week!) is one of my absolute favorites in a long time. I crack up. It’s almost too clever.
The Tide Pen “Talking Stain” commercial also gets me everytime. In my humble opinion, those two are the best running right now.
That little
boogerhybrid badge in the picture looks a lot like something in a mailing I just got from Mambo Sprouts*. Compare the badge to the trademark of Equal Exchange Coffee and judge for yourselves:Was this by design or did they not do a proper trademark search?
*I think the Mambo Sprouts mailing is a result of my Car and Driver subscription.
L47_V8:
Yes, the Kia “Millard Filmore” ads this time of year are clever and funny; much more so than the Chevy mangled “Hail to the Chief” theme song (replayed ad nauseum).
Chevy got on my nerves a few years ago by running a localized ad for a summer sale, looping “Walking On The Sun” (A song that I initially liked, but grew to loathe). I e-mailed a complaint to them, and they actually replied — to wit: “We regret your displeasure with our television advertising, but…”
Maybe their ad agency is just as out-of-control as the rest.
shaker :
February 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am
L47_V8:
Yes, the Kia “Millard Filmore” ads this time of year are clever and funny; much more so than the Chevy mangled “Hail to the Chief” theme song (replayed ad nauseum).
Chevy got on my nerves a few years ago by running a localized ad for a summer sale, looping “Walking On The Sun” (A song that I initially liked, but grew to loathe). I e-mailed a complaint to them, and they actually replied — to wit: “We regret your displeasure with our television advertising, but…”
Maybe their ad agency is just as out-of-control as the rest.
Kia also had a “Flashdance”-themed ad a few months back that was very clever. I enjoyed it the first few times I saw it, but the song got a bit old.
I’m not at all a fan of the GM President’s Day ads, either. During one commercial break last night I caught a Chevrolet one and a Pontiac one back to back, and one commercial later, a GMC one. I’m already tired of them, despite those three being the first (and second and third) time I’d seen them.
Yeah, its pretty dumb to point out the fact that the Tahoe really doesnt deserve a “Green” car award.
On the other hand, using children in advertising is often effective, so it isn’t completely “dumb” approach.
BTW, the Chevys “gas free” car is the Equinox which is a test pilot program right now in Cali and maybe somewehre else. Yeah, I know, they dont actually sell anoy of them yet. Maybe they should advertise what they have on the dealers lots?