Let's Talk About a Terrible GMC Ad

We here at TTAC love it when there’s a bad car ad — because we get to rip it apart.

And now we have one from GMC — and no, it’s not the annoyingly Yuppie “I love it” people.

This centers around the AT4 off-road trim that’s available across the lineup. In order to show how capable the AT4-equipped SUVs and trucks are, we get shown a Lamborghini, Bentley, and Genesis sedan, all stuck in off-road situations that they’re not built to handle, all spinning their wheels uselessly.

The voiceover then says “think premium can’t be capable? Think again.”

The point of the ad is obviously to say that upscale trucks and SUVs are just as good off-road as cheaper ones. Which is a fine argument to make, especially if you sell luxury trucks and SUVs. And surely the GMC AT4 stuff is capable off-road.

That said, the Lambo is capable of driving fast on-road and the Bentley is capable of going fast and offering comfort and the Genesis is also capable of being comfortable. Those cars just aren’t capable off-road, and that’s obvious to anyone with eyes and common sense.

Who in their right mind is going to try to boulder bash in a Lambo? Rock-crawl the forest in a Bentley? Slide across a sand dune in a Genesis?

The ad does show the AT4s acting capably in off-road situations, to be fair. But why not compare it to actual competing vehicles? GMC isn’t the only one building upscale trucks and SUVs. Or why not spend more time hyping the abilities of your vehicles instead of pointing out the obvious?

Indeed, if one really wanted to overthink it, the ad could almost imply that the AT4 can’t keep up with the competition, so it has to show that it would be better than cars that aren’t made to go off-road. As if the bar is that low.

Obviously, that’s not GMC’s intent. The intent is to show that the AT4s can be excellent off-road without sacrificing luxury. But the execution is poor.

Swing and a miss, guys.

[Image: GMC]