Car Commercials, the good, the bad, and the annoying!

fintail

Yay, I will be in Europe for the next 2+ weeks, and won't have to see a predator mouth car in front of an architectural abomination with a thrilled Stepford beside it.

In fact, I will barely see any Lexus at all.

Lexus rentals are extremely rare, don't exist in present day as far as I know, but it could be a fun trick with another car. Or a really horribly mean trick.

fushigi

I was in Europe (Italy/Switzerland/France/England) in September and agree that there are few Lexii to be seen. I did see a Tesla taxi and more 'city cars' than I could possibly count. Surprisingly the most popular American brand I noticed was Jeep.

fintail

In Prague now, still no Lexus.

I saw a commercial for the MB "X-Class" pickup in Germany, a little odd as pickups are not so common there, and I have to imagine the locals would be very leery of such a cynical marketing exercise.

fintail

X-Class now in billboard form:

ab348

Noticed a 2018 Honda Accord Christmas ad (it may be a Canada-only thing) - they either painted or used video FX to make the lower air intake all black so the aluminum condenser did not show as obtrusively as it actually is.

fintail

Nissan sure is getting mileage out of the Star Wars link.

And today I heard the RAV4 is "adventurous".

andres3

Anyone see the ad where two Audi owner's/driver's race each other for the last spot in a large multi level parking garage.

berri

And today I heard the RAV4 is "adventurous".

...and cramped if you are tall

ab348

fintail said:

Nissan sure is getting mileage out of the Star Wars link.

Nissan's TV ads are usually so bad these fit right in. I'm not sure what they think they will gain from the affiliation. But it seems a lot of companies have bought in to it. Up here Bell (our AT&T) has a series of Star Wars ads, and even some retailers also have bought in to the hype. I honestly don't get it from a marketing POV.

fintail

Definitely, Nissan ads have been irritating for some time, like commercials made by a college marketing class populated by semi-sober fratboys. For Star Wars, a movie had "Rogue" in its title, and Nissan has a Rogue, I think that was a genius match to a no doubt very well-paid marketing type. Nothing says being a rogue like yet another smaller middle sized mallcruising CUV.

ab348 said:

Nissan's TV ads are usually so bad these fit right in. I'm not sure what they think they will gain from the affiliation. But it seems a lot of companies have bought in to it. Up here Bell (our AT&T) has a series of Star Wars ads, and even some retailers also have bought in to the hype. I honestly don't get it from a marketing POV.

fintail

Saw a good one today - typical actor looking guy (that marketers know is how the typical Walter Mitty consumer sees himself) is apparently being put in a witness protection program, is shown his future house and car, and is told he will be "completely invisible". The car? A Lexus RX. The commercial? For the Audi Q5. Well played, even if the RX with the cowcatcher/Predator front end and played out faux floating C-pillar is far from invisible with all of the overstyling.

fushigi

Nissan played up the Rogue Star Wars naming at the Chicago Auto Show this past Feb. They had storm troopers on hand posing for pics.

PF_Flyer

Do you currently own a Mitsubishi vehicle? If so, a reporter would love to ask you a few questions. Please send a note to PR@edmunds.com by end of day Thursday, November 30 if you'd be willing to chat. Thanks!

fintail

Today while overhearing commercials, I learned a Prius is stylish, and a Camry XSE is sporty and aggressive.

ab348

But is it still grounded to the ground? This is vital stuff.

fintail

It's still online:

https://youtu.be/AKRiCsZfx4k

andres3

fintail said:

Today while overhearing commercials, I learned a Prius is stylish, and a Camry XSE is sporty and aggressive.

Well, to be fair to Toyota, do you really expect them to say our cars are plain vanilla boring but very reliable transportation appliances?

qbrozen

andres3 said:

Today while overhearing commercials, I learned a Prius is stylish, and a Camry XSE is sporty and aggressive.

Well, to be fair to Toyota, do you really expect them to say our cars are plain vanilla boring but very reliable transportation appliances?

Yes. "Their boxy, but good"
Anything is better than saying they have a hard time outbraking an RV.

kyfdx

qbrozen said:

andres3 said:

fintail said:

Today while overhearing commercials, I learned a Prius is stylish, and a Camry XSE is sporty and aggressive.

Well, to be fair to Toyota, do you really expect them to say our cars are plain vanilla boring but very reliable transportation appliances?

Yes. "Their boxy, but good"
Anything is better than saying they have a hard time outbraking an RV.

The new Camry certainly looks sporty and aggressive.

fintail

Definitely aggressive anyway.

It might be related to the old adage that you can't sell a young man an old man's car, but you can do vice versa (although plenty of non-old men drive old man cars, myself included). Boring advertising won't help sales. Even if the claims are hyperbolic platitudes, they might.

ab348

Kia's Christmas commercial this year is running in heavy rotation and I hate it. Partly it is the music, partly it is the fact that whomever wired up the vehicle lights cheaped out and didn't include the driving lights in the mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvWsg8T07a8

kyfdx

I've been trying to figure out if they actually did the light show, or if most of it is CGI. Particularly, the car lights. Seems like a formidable task to wire them up to do opposite sides, etc.

I'm betting on CGI for 95% of it.

fintail

I could see the cars being CGI. The building reminds me of the trendy computer-controlled choreographed light shows that became trendy in mcmansion orchards about 10 years ago.

qbrozen

there is really not reason for it to not all be CGI these days. take a pic of the building and cars and do the rest on the computer in your mom's basement. easy peasy

ab348

Yeah, maybe the kids doing the CGI had no clue those black holes in the bumper were actually driving lights. Probably all drove Civics...

fushigi

I figure they set the stage & shot 1 frame with the lights on & another with the lights off. Then repeat/alternate to match the music. (The stage may have not been on that lot, of course.)

kyfdx

fushigi said:

I figure they set the stage & shot 1 frame with the lights on & another with the lights off. Then repeat/alternate to match the music. (The stage may have not been on that lot, of course.)

Yeah.. but, they have left and right headlights coming on alternately. Can't realistically do that, I don't think.

fushigi

I should elaborate. The repeat/alternate happens in a computer, not on the vehicles. As such, splitting left/right is pretty easy.

kyfdx

fushigi said:

I should elaborate. The repeat/alternate happens in a computer, not on the vehicles. As such, splitting left/right is pretty easy.

Ahh.. yeah

fintail

Line I heard today: "Camry's jaw-dropping design" - finally, honesty!

berri

...bet your jaw really did drop when you heard that

fintail

Honesty is amazing.

Camry looks better in dark colors I think, as it hides the overstyling. Less jaw-dropping that way, though.

stickguy

funny think about when I looked at the Camry at the dealer. The exterior did not bother me. I just had problems with the interior, mostly the giant protruding dashboard on the passenger side.

Mr_Shiftright

ab348

Y'know, that doesn't look too bad to me.

Mr_Shiftright

Yeah, I posted it for that reason--it's.......unusual....but I don't know if it would annoy me. I guess I"d have to see how a long-legged passenger reacts.

stickguy

I just found it to be intrusive, almost enveloping. Plus not attractive! Bigger issue was, my wife did not care for it. And she is the one that sits over there.

berri

If you are tall you may find it cramped, particularly in headroom. They did the same thing to interior dimensions a few years ago on the latest gen Avalon. Gotta recline the seat like a gangbanger to avoid bumping your head!

tjc78

ab348 said:

Y'know, that doesn't look too bad to me.

I could live with it.  There are certainly worse.  In some ways it’s similar to my Mother’s RAV dash.  

stickguy

I don't recall any headroom issues, but I just took a quick sit in at the dealer. Getting it out on the road and seeing how it works would be the acid test.

fintail

I was watching German TV morning (yay Fire Stick) and I saw an A8 commercial. That made me think, you almost never see ads for cars that high up the food chain on TV here.

fintail

The Honda "Holiday Road" theme can't go away soon enough. Some local stations seem to play it 5x per hour - even if running in the background, irritating.

stickguy

you getting the smarmy guy sitting by his Christmas tree, talking about Buicks?

qbrozen

fintail said:

The Honda "Holiday Road" theme can't go away soon enough. Some local stations seem to play it 5x per hour - even if running in the background, irritating.

What makes that one truly horrible is that they can't sing AND the words don't fit the proper cadence. Awful all around.

kyfdx

Ditto on Honda commercials.

fintail

Haven't noticed the Buick one yet, maybe I will get lucky and miss it.

The "music" in the Honda spot is the worst, makes Mr. Opportunity look like a classic.

fintail

Heard a terrible loathsome Toyota Christmas-themed spot this morning.

fintail

The recent Camry "Wonderful World" spot with the exaggerated exhaust noise and the implication that the Toyota might be out-braked by a 35 year old motorhome is really something.

roadburner

The idiot Chevrolet hipster discussing reliability with "Real morons, not actors" on an empty interstate. I keep hoping an oncoming gasoline tanker jackknifes and lands on the whole wretched bunch.

fintail

You must know about the numerous Zebra Corner Chevy commercial parodies by now - such a lame campaign is just asking for it.

Real people - Not! Actors.