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

swschrad

for you, I have a fine selection of Miatas, A6s, and BMW roadsters. courtesy of the US auto market. zoom zoom.

something for everybody here.

gambit293

Shows the typical suburb, and every family is literally driving a box-- a cardboard box with wheels.

Everyone is astounded when the new Saturn L300 rolls into the neighborhood.

I think it's a clever, amusing commercial, but the LS300 is woefully miscast. It hardly stands out of the crowd, and it's certainly not very stylish.

carguy58

Anybody see the new Kia Optima commercial? I just think its kinda weird.

speterson1

Chevy commercial: four black guys sitting in their convertible at a stoplight, up pulls an Impala next to them thumpin' phat grooves, with the 30-something white female in it, then she pulls away to leave the guys listening to what sounds to me like a weather report. I saw this ad the first time and I was like ?????

What in the world is this ad trying to convey? What does it have to do with Chevy Impalas? Bizarre.

gambit293

Speaking of Kia, have you all seen that Kia Sedona commercial? The one where the kid gets "attacked" by an orangutan, and the commercial ends with something about "protecting them when you can..."

To me this is a very odd commercial. Is it supposed to be funny or serious? Cuz it's not really THAT funny if it's supposed to be, but at the same time, the situation is way too absurd to be serious as well.

Pontiac commercials always annoy me. Now they have those ones where they start off with some memorable sporting event (ie NCAA final four games) that's usually totally unrelated to Pontiac, and then switch over to the Pontiac logo while the sport audio continues in the background.

So what exactly are they trying to do here? Get people excited over the sports, and then switch to the Pontiac symbol in the hopes that we might get confused and think we were actually excited about Pontiac instead?? Gimme a break...

carguy58

As far as the weather report is concerned before the weather report there was rap music in the commercial. Their trying to express the Impala to younger buyers by using hip-hop music. The commercial is weird though. I'll take the female and leave the Impala though.

As for the Pontiac commercials the NCAA ones are kinda wakward. I like when Pontiac does actual "car commercials" with the "Fuel For Soul" theme.

scooter71

1. the impala commercial mentioned by carguy above.
2. the bye bye ms american pie commercial. not sure the car. hmmm, gen-y and crusty american folk? perhaps the contrarian approach.
3. the (name here) commercial with the old guys in the black car, listening to hip hop, abruptly accelerating and braking. the worst.
4. any chevy truck commercial, due to the awful music and tough guy-texan themes.
5. the new saturn commercial, promoting the (name hear- ugly new sedan). a lame attempt to match vw's marketing slickness.

i like the dryness and wit of some honda commercials. mitsubishi has some good ones too.

suvshopper4

I saw that Impala commercial.

I think it is supposed to show that the hip music was playing on the radio of the new Impala, the car driven by the woman, not the guys in the older Impala (1964?). That's why we hear the weather report after she drives off - it is what's playing on the guys' radio. Which is the opposite of expectations, and the first impression.

The message: She's the cool one - new Impalas are cool.

swschrad

slightly raked, with Cragars, a little bolt-on work around the V8. upgrade from the Mad Man Muntz 4-track tape player, however.

speterson1

Sorry if my first post was unclear, but I got the fact of how the lady was the one listening to the rap, and the dudes in the convertible weren't, and it seemed like they were listening to a weather report. That's what confused me so much.

Something I *didn't* pick up on though, was that the dudes' convertible was an older Impala (thanks suvshopper). I guess the commercial makes a little bit more sense now, although if their point is that the new Impalas are cool, I respectfully disagree. Gimme that convertible any day!

totalnet

Everyone is literally driving in boxes. Then a Saturn L serie is shown. Come on now, the L serie is one of the boxiest cars around.

eaton53

I had a mint condition '66 coupe in the mid-late '80's.

It was very cool.

tk865

to sign a petition to forbid the following in car commercials this summer:

1. Any use of the song that goes "Feelin' HOT HOT HOT"
2. The word "sizzling"
3. Any comparison of pricing to the weather
4. Smashmouth
5. Use of the phrase "Your Local XYZ Dealer is turning up the heat!"

carguy58

Yeah they have that Nelly song in the Black Monte Carlo commercial. Gm doesn't have clever marketing like Nissan and Mitsubishi do. Honda had that perfect commercial with the street racing Civics. I thought that was a good commercial because its directed right towards their target audience for the Civic.

codylabrador

Note that Chevy is now using 62-64 Chevy trucks and "Like A Rock" music to push their present lineup.

I think they are grasping at anything that will remind 40-50 year old potential buyers of the great lineup Chevy had in the past.

Other than the Corvette - there is nothing among today's offerings I would even take the time to stop at a dealership to look at - so are they succeeding with their commercials? - perhaps the collector truck market is appreciating somewhat.

ab348

One more thing to put a moratorium on: the use of dry lake beds with cars screaming around sideways. Can you hear me Mazda 6?

odie6l

But I do have to admit, I liked the look of the classic Trans Am in the Mountain Dew commercial. I just wish they would bring that body style back to revive the Trans Am. (forget the Camaro) I've already heard that GM is bring back the Grand National w/3.8ltr Turbo for 2005 model year, and we all know about the GTO for the 2004.

Odie

wale_bate1

"Classic Trans Am" is an oxymoron...;)

Collectible Trans Am is kind of a stretch, unless it belonged to Burt, I think.

swschrad

I will confess that my view has shifted from, "we'll take The General," to, "Hey, that thing got a hemi...?"

caramo

<<<(forget the Camaro) >>>

I resemble that remark.

i_luv_toyota

I'll gladly sign that petition!

I'm so sick of Smashmouth it's not even funny.

andys120

it shows these two guys driving a Honda Pilot on a Mountain road. They get to a tunnel and have to stop because the mountain bikes on top of the car won't clear the tunnel.

They back up and are then seen leaving the road nearby and heading down a rock-strewn ravine. The final frame shows the Pilot pulling back onto the road on the far side of the tunnel as if it
had traversed the ravine (which would have been tough going for a Wrangler or CJ).

Yeah right!

swschrad

in your typical Jeep ad, they would have gone OVER the mountain, not down the valley. wimps.

logic1

why are the bikes on top of the Pilot anyway? Don't Pilot owners care about their bikes?

At the very least they could have put them on the back. More than likely there are less chances of rocks and road debris hitting bikes mounted on the back than on the top.

pjyoung

in the Pontiac ads?

speterson1

doing her best Mazda 6 impersonation...

pjyoung

Not a real commercial either...but anyone remember the Saturday Night Live spoof ad on the Canon cameras---using Stevie Wonder.

swschrad

if you remember that one from the first season of SNL. the miracle pain reliever that instantly banishes the pain of arthritis, blessed relief for hours, no worries about side effects.

and of course, it's in a tiny little bottle with a kid-proof cap. last picture was a broken bottle and a hammer

i_luv_toyota

I have seen two ads for this car, and both are really stupid. One involves equating a fish swimming in it's tank with driving a TSX, and the other does the same, but with flying a kite. There is no connection between those two things and driving.

And even more annoying is the way the voice-over at the end says car's name, "The new Acura...(what seems like an eternity)...TSX." Why the long delay in saying the car's name? So we have to look at that car's ugliness even longer?

swschrad

let the....... words....... sink........ in. signifying that TSX is all you need to know for any test question, I guess. I'll be sure to use it if I get audited

I guess the third ad, when released, will be a fish riding a bicycle.

carguy58

Its an alright commercial. I don't like those long pauses when they have to say the brand name though(its kind of corny.)

svevar

This morning in the newspaper, I found Ann M. Job's syndicated car "review," and it was on the TSX. Now, I think Ms. Job is probably one of the worst automotive writers. Ever. Here's how she opened the article:

"Don't rush through the pronunciation of Acura's newest sedan too quickly. Someone overhearing me talk about the TSX thought I was talking about sex with someone named Tia."

That's so bad I had to laugh...

andre1969

it started off as one of those generic car-doing-tricks-in-the-dusty-desert, far off enough that you really couldn't see the car. Then suddenly, topping a hill, you see a trusty brown '80 Malibu station wagon! Then they had (I think) a Subaru Justy with a chair tied to the roof going through the slalom, and they sent a Ford Aerostall over a minor jump. They also ran an old FWD C-body (Electra or 98) through a slick, wetted-down course.

What were they pushing? It was for some kind of oil for older, high-mileage cars. Castrol, I think. I just thought it was amusing how they were taking these old clunkers and mocking just about every Zoom-Zoom and similar commercial out ther!

swschrad

and hopefully will spell an end to the overused bootleggers' turn in every ad, from minivans to nissans.

18fan

I like the new Passat ad, where the guy gets a call on his cell phone from himself in the future. Says things like "Don't take the job in Boston" and "buy the Passat".... then says "oh and one more thing.... when you meet Becky....... RUN" LOL!

Wish someone had told me that before I met my ex-wife!! LOL

;-)

i_luv_toyota

"I guess the third ad, when released, will be a fish riding a bicycle"

LOL!

You know what? I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest!

i_luv_toyota

More unbelievably unwatchable Toyota ads. These all involve somebody (supposedly the new "owner") sitting in front of/next to a TV (both facing camera), talking about the car he/she just bought, and (get this) the daily cost of ownership (like with a Camry, the "owner" states it costs $3/day to operate). The car referenced in the ad is shown on the TV in the background.

I didn't think it possible, but Toyota sunk to a new advertsing low, unbelievably without Smashmouth.

Kirstie_H

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carguy58

are actually pretty good. The new Camry SE commercial is pretty cool. The new Corolla commercial is good too. Toyota has gotten alot better with their marketing lately after in the 90's having those lame sales event commercials. Toyota's styling is still pretty bland with the exception of the Celica and RAV4 but their marketing has come along way.

odie6l

there was a really neat commercial on last night. It started with a volcano erupting, and you see this fireball fly across the sky. It then shows a kid watching the fireball from a car window (I'm thinking to myself HIT THE CAR), the firebar crashes right into a parking spot in front of a roadside hangout with a parking sign that reads "No Parking Anytime" the lava from the firebar then morphs into the New Vulcan Motorcycle.

It was kinda cool, diferent then any of the car commercials.

Odie

swschrad

buy two or three Vulcans, we need more jobs in Minnesota (it's a Polaris company)

loncray

They've got one now, I think for the Highlander, that's got guys singing Western style - like a cowboy song - about Eddie Blodgett taking his family out for coffee and a sticky bun. They're definitely making fun of the yuppie SUV crowd - 'cause he's adventuring off to the warehouse store.

merc1

Jaguar has a new commercial out thats really nice. It shows the X-Type, S-Type R, XK Cabriolet and the new XJ all running throught the mountains of some European country. Really nice. I'm starting to like Jaguars more and more, so I guess the ad worked huh..

M

tincup47

Victorys are made by Polaris, Vulcans are made by Kawasaki.

swschrad

sorry, don't close enough to the two-wheelers to tell 'em apart, I guess.

rolls

Nissan had some great ads around 1990. A "dream campaign" with regular folk driving the 240sx and then they would look to the passenger seat and see their dream companion, the guy saw Christy Brinkley, the girl saw Ken Wahl if I remember correctly. Remember that, when Ken Wahl was a sex symbol?
   For the 300zx turbo, they had a real adrenaline pumper, and it actually ran only very briefly before it was yanked. Apperently some safety [non-permissible content removed] thought it would encourage fast driving. I wonder what they must think of the recent Maxima stuff.
   I loved the later 300zx ad with Ken and Barbie(that's using imagination). Mad TV actually parodied it, with Ken driving off with G.I. Joe(So funny I almost had to change my pants).
   A bad one: When the Subaru Outback came out some years back, the ad called it the "world's first sport utility wagon". Well by their definition, station wagon, four wheel drive, high ground clearance, wasn't the AMC Eagle actually the first??
   The thing that irritates me most, though, is the disclaimers. I realize there are a lot of dumb people out there, but come on. The current Ford Exploder er... Explorer ad show the guy driving along a mountain, then onto a cloud. You mean water vapor won't support a two ton vehicle? Gee, good thing they told me not to attempt that.

rolls

The old oriental guy in the Nissan commercials from the early nineties was a character called "Mr. K" who was supposed to represent the founder of Nissan(Datsun back then). It's kind of like how GM is using John Deihl to portray Harley Earl now.

rolls

I know I'm wearing out my welcome, but this will be quick. Now, my manifesto:
   I loved the late eighties Porsche 944 ads, first the full on, opposite-lock, powerslide while Alice Cooper blares, and also the "if you were a sports car...." where you don't see the 944 turbo until it spins around at the end.
   I like the VW Da Da Da ad and Mr. Roboto. I like the new Jeep commercial where the guy is at a will reading and his siblings are left a penthouse and whatever money and he is left "150 acres of swamp land"
   I don't think Tiger Woods represent Buicks key demographics at all. How many 20-somethings cross shop Buick?
   Ad companies stereotype the public more than TV sitcoms ever have.
   I've been reading most of these posts and it seems to me that the winner for most annoying is(drum roll please), Toyota by a big margin. Listen up Toyota!

speterson1

I thought I saw this in this thread, where it would make sense, but I must have seen it on a different Edmunds thread...

This is a new ad from Honda. I can't think of a cooler car ad I've ever seen. It's more like a short film, and sheer artwork. I read a blurb on it and it took 607 takes and there is no CGI whatsoever, everything you see really happened mechanically.

Got your interest yet? Check it out at:
http://home.attbi.com/~bernhard36/honda-ad.html

Hope his server can take all the traffic! If at first you don't succeed, keep trying, it's worth it!

crkeehn

Tiger Woods may not represent the Buick demographics, but the sport he plays certainly does. Buick has been involved with golf and the Buick Open for years. I remember getting a computer program from Buick in the mid-80s. Along with the usual "Build Your Own Buick" the disk also included a playable golf game.