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I was so dissapointed with that commercial I now have a new found disgust for Jetta. As if all the windows rolling down when you unlock the door is a good thing what if it's windy outside then you gotta waste your time and roll em all up again.
I was hoping for something cool like maybe the car greets you or something or the radio turns on to your favorite station or the seats adjust them selves to the way you like it.
Really stupid! And people think Infiniti bragging about a rear sunshade is stupid. If I was that girl wouldn't let him back in.
selves to the way you like it."
The Bonneville does the last two for you!
Personally, I view those types of commercials as highlighting mediocre (sunshade, window rolldown, full-size spare) features that makes no real difference about the car. Soon you'll see an ad about hoods that not only open upwards, but stay open on their own!
Has anyone seen the new Solara convertible commercial? Pretty weak if you ask me. So you can't drive naked in a Sebring?
Just kidding but it's a very sporty sedan though I kind of like it's aggressive stance. I gotta a liking for cars that do what they do very well. If sporty it looks really sporty, if it's rugged it's rugged as can be.
All ads, cars especially, are targeted to specific audiences. The VW ad with the "window freak" is most likely targeted at the yuppie technowizard who has digital surround sound in his living room and a Sony Playstation. I'm being a little presumtuous, but you get the picture. Most of VW's ads fit this profile because this is where they're having the most success! It's called fishing where the fish are. This is usually a reliable way to continue and increase a strong consumer segment for your product. Generating new consumer base is another thing.
Remember the tag line, "This is not your father's Oldmobile?" That campaign tried to create an entirely new universe of consumers who would never think of buying an Olds. It was a miserable failure because the public saw through it: "If you have to TELL me this isn't my father's Oldsmobile, then I know damn well it IS STILL my father's Oldsmobile - no sale!"
As stupid as you may think VW ads are, bottom line is that they are selling a hell of a lot of cars. I personally identify with a lot of the VW ads (and yes, I bought one). The guy who crashes the shopping cart; the guy who parks at the back of a huge lot away from any other car, even the guy who washes some stranger's Passat in his driveway then runs away. All these ads point to the fact that VW owners are a little different - they identify with their cars. VW's aren't mere conveyances like Corrolas and Accords, they're...well, like family pets!
The problem with most critics is that they think too literally. No, it's not realistic that you can park right next to a grocery store, or play polo with your Pathfinder. Who cares!! The point of the message is in the absurd.
Back to the geek with the window thing. If you get out of your VW and forget to roll up the windows or something, you don't have to get back in, turn the key, etc... You can lock/unlock the doors, open/close the windows and moonroof from outside with your key in the door - I think that's awesome! So the point of these ads is that VW owner's are freaky over their cars to the point of obsession. Wouldn't you want to drive something that makes you feel that way? Maybe not, but there are many who do. For some, a reliable, uninspiring, same-as-yours Toyota or Honda is the right ticket. But for me, and many others, I want to have fun when I drive, to be inspired, to operate all the cool doo-dads that Germans love to overengineer... The Accord I owned did none of that - my Jetta does, everyday!
So, advertising has nothing to do with JD Power, Consumer Reports, whatever. It's all about getting people to check out your product so you can turn a profit!
Has nothing to do with the car of course, but has the same irreverence as the old Joe Isuzu ads.
What can you say about the Maxima and Xterra ads, basically all Nissan ads.
Vqzhqr, I like the Nissan ads - especially the Maxima doing 120 sideways on a dry lake bed to the Who song. But I don't want to buy a Maxima...or any other Nissan. I really loved the old 300ZX ad where the action figure steals Barbie from Ken with Van Halen in the background! I'll tell you what I hate - the Ford Focus ads. But that's because I don't have 12 tatoos and 10 piercings, I guess.
Don't get me started on those Ford "I want to CELEBRATE" ads, grrrrr!
Speaking of Ford, maybe they should run some ads for a “Ranger/Explorer Blowout” sale...
Nationally, the most memorable 4Runner ad I've seen recently depicts a traffic-clogged street below an overbearing concrete canyon with several humdrum gunmetal-grey cars surrounding a bold 4Runner Ltd with a roofrack loaded with outdoor sporting gear (a kayak or surfboard?). A businessman hauling a briefcase back to his office sees the 4Runner outfitted for a weekend of fun and wonders, "It's Tuesday ... people have to go to work on Tuesday!?!?!"
I know that many companies want us to think that all kinds of great things will happen when we buy their products ... usually, the ads try to send us this message that if we wore this pair of jeans or dyed our facial hair with this special formula for covering grey, we can get all these beautiful women like the ones that appear in these ads; but what is this ad trying to tell us? So, if we buy a 4Runner, our bosses will give us more time off from work?
Well, if that's true, my only concern is how am I going to pay for this rig if I'm not busy making more money at work? Those Limited models cost about as much as a decked-out Tahoe or an Audi A6.
4Runner has to be the most costly and ugly piece of crap I've seen yet. Why would you someone pay close to $40,000 dollars for a Tacoma with 4 doors it's crazy as hell, not to mention it's not as refined as Pathfinder and doesn't even touch QX4. Pathfinder is the best All around SUV. It's the most refined, a bargin for what you get(unlike 4runner) goodoffroad capabilities, and even has one of the best cargo space. It really has the best of both worlds. Toyota is just riding that image to the max with 4Runner it really isn't worth it for that high price. Why don't they just discontinue it cause no one really wants one.
Back to the Topic I happen to think that those New Lexus IS commercials SUCK. They have nothing to do with the car and then those new ones talking about being Better then a BMW not on this planet. Then camry thinking it's sexy, so pathetic. I have to give it to Toyota though for brainwashing a lot of fools. People who buy a Sienna instead of an Oddessey(even Quest is bigger) a Camry instead of a Maxima or Accord. It's a damn shame, it really is. What a waste of money too!
post #126
Have you ever looked at a Camry and then an Accord? Except for a few minor differnces in trim, they look exactly alike. The current Camry came out as a 1997 model (been #1 seller since then, BTW) and the current Accord came out for 1998. What does that tell you? Camry came out for '97, the Accord for '98, and look VERY similar. Why? If you guessed Honda copying Toyota, you're right! Copying the best is the only way to COMPETE with the best! I could say this though, Honda builds good lawnmowers!
Back to the topic. Like I said before, Infiniti QX4 ads blow chunks! They even show this ultimate POSEUR (excluding the BMW X5) going off road!!! Ha ha, how false can advertising get?
Every Ford Focus commercial sucks as well, and the one with the firemen in the F150 Stupid, uh, I mean Super Crew ads are horrid, gave me nightmares for weeks! Stupid commercials for stupid vehicles with exploding tires, I guess...
It could mean:
The Honda Odyssey, a good vehicle to transport your family....of dogs.
The Honda Odyssey, so easy to drive, a dog can drive it.
The Honda Odyssey, it's a dog (looks, performance, both. Take your pick.)!
-OR-
The Honda Odyssey, it's one big crappy minivan!
Anyway, what in THE HELL was Honda thinking (smoking, drinking, etc.) when these ads made it into circulation on TV as well as magazines?
Camry and Accord still set the standard for reliability and dependability, and that is evidenced in the Mitsubishi ads which name both vehicles as their benchmark before alleging that the Galant is better (whatever).
Camry alone sets the standard for sales volume, but it is not a standard that every car tries to achieve, and certainly not the Accord. If Honda really wanted to try to keep up with the Camry, they should just offer rebates. But you know what would happen if they did that ... resale value plummets.
Further proof that Honda isn't copying Toyota ... their cars don't ride and drive like hyperbaric chambers on wheels. You can feel the bumps in the road, but you can just as easily and safely swerve around them ... don't try that in a Toyota, just as you wouldn't wanna try it in a Buick.
Speaking of copycats, head on over to the "Who's Copying Who" forum and see what people are saying about Toyota's Tundra.
Oh and about that "ride and drive like hyperbaric
chambers on wheels" comment about Toyotas, sounds like something a German car owner would say. You wouldn't by chance drive one, do you Rick? Sounds like a stereotypical comment a German, especially a VW, owner would say about Japanese cars.
;-)
lighten up man
Not all Toyota commercials are bad. I like the one's for their Tacoma's ('adrenaline donor program' one is good IMO).
Pontiac commercials drive me nuts. What is up with their secret agent Bonneville commercials? Do typical Bonne owners see themselves as some kind of James Bond or what?
It's the only excitement they know. ;-)
(Was James Furber the all-in-the-mind-adventure guy?)
"You can feel the bumps in the road, but you can just as easily and safely swerve around them ... don't try that in a Toyota, just as
you wouldn't wanna try it in a Buick." Check out the stats! The Accord is no great handler either. Not to mention both are pretty equivalent in their "handling prowess".
As for Infiniti ads.
Gimme a break. They still have the worst ads in the luxury segment. The QX4 ads are a joke: "the CD-changer has its own suspension...." etc. My mountain has a suspension to, who cares?
Not to mention Infiniti dedicates a whole ad to pointing out their lame Q45 has HID lights.
yawn.....
Best ads go to mercedes in recent history. As well as BMW ads are great, and some recent ads for the Caddy STS have been good.
Infiniti ads? Pathetic. Here is what they've recently advertised:
*Rear sunshade
*HID lights
*Multiple 'suspensions'
*QX4 as the ultimate luxury vehicle (right...)
*Most powerful [horsepower] V6 in class, which is BS. Class is entry-luxury, right? Technically, the Park Avenue Ultra is entry-luxury, and it has 240-hp. This is the second misnomer that Infiniti has advertised. The first was with the QX4 being billed as the first vehicle to have a body-on-frame design. Wrong. Title goes to Chrysler in the 1950s.
Hey Infiniti, do some research before you commence production on your next ad.
*
I think Infiniti means best HP in class. That would mean V6 SUVs.
The Pathfinder/QX4 are unibody construction, not body on frame. In that case, Jeep was before them, I think as is the Lexus RX300, Toyota RAV4 and I think some other SUVs.
The ad with "most powerful V-6 in class" was for the I30, although they did do a later ad with the QX4's engine.
It starts with the image of a little old lady puttering down a highway in an old sedan with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be knitting." Then you see a Probe come up behind the sedan, flash its turn signals, and zip past.
Next the Probe catches up to a Rolls Royce cruising along with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be playing golf." And once again the Probe changes lanes and speeds by.
Finally, the Probe comes upon a slow-moving 4x4 with the bumper sticker, "I'd rather be doing NOTHING." And the Probe does a couple quick lane changes and zooms off towards the horizon.
And the tagline is, "The Ford Probe, for people who would rather be . . . driving."
Anyone else remember that commercial?
I've got a very well-kept high-miler '92 Cressida loaded to the hilt minus leather with a diamond white pearl exterior. I shopped for the right Cressida for about four months until I found this one.
Other than a replaced head and gasket (it was about time anyway), it has been very reliable, so I do know what Toyotas are made of.
I apologize for going off topic, but when it comes to Toyota or Lexus, I can't get enough!
I had thought the pompous "interview" ads with the designer touting there prowess were jokes before. They have raised (lowered?) the bar on tacky....
(This was also posted in More Ugly New Vehicles... following an earlier post with photos....)
In any event, I'm curious to know how many people cruising around in Pontiac Montana think that they have four-wheel or all-wheel-drive. I just met someone who was curious to know when Honda would begin adding AWD to the Odyssey. When I told them that AWD hadn't even appeared in the rumor mill, they said, "It's a shame that Honda wouldn't even offer all-wheel-drive when you could just buy a Pontiac Montana."
I tried to tell them that the trend among minivan manufacturers is tending away from AWD (remember that Caravan and Voyager lost this?), but they were quite sure that Pontiac was AWD.
Do you think this has anything to do with the Pontiac Montana commercials? Y'know ... the one with the red Montana rushing full-throttle alongside a speeding train? Then there's the one with the red Montana thrashing around in a corral.
Given the gullibility of certain consumers, I think that these advertisements are dangerous.
The one that really makes me laugh is the toyota p/u out towing a Ford, Chevy and even a Freightliner up the hill! Yea, right maybe in Wonderland!
On TVLand they run old commercials, the VW ad with the snowplow, good for it's time. And the GTO ads where the tiger pops out from under the hood.
Now, what 31 y/o "cool" guy drives one of these in the first place? And, who cares what people you don't even know think of what you drive?