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

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  • crkeehncrkeehn Member Posts: 513
    Nope the best commercial ever was the herding cats commercial. Had nothing to do with cars.
  • urnewsurnews Member Posts: 668
    The pregnant VW commercials are the pits. Just plain dumb.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Awful. Hurts my ears.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Nice to see I am not alone in my annoyance.'

    I wonder if we'll see those bastardly pretentious Lexus ads this Christmas season,. now that much of the McMansion set isn't so cash flush.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I think the newer luxury brands may take the biggest hit. I'm talking about Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura.

    Those are the folks that will realize they no longer have the home equity they thought they did and bring their purchases back down to earth.
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    The way things are, it might be "The December You'd Rather Forget" sponsored by Jack Daniels in conjunction with Smith & Wesson.

    You'd see a suicidal bankrupt yuppie with a five day beard wearing a rumpled Armani suit in a trashed empty house with all the copper wiring and plumbing pulled out, "The LS460 I bought last year was repossessed, my trophy wife left me in the EX330 on which I still owe 49 months of payments, and my house is in foreclosure! At least I still got my fifth of Jack and my .357 Magnum! It'll be a December THEY'LL remember!" as he gestures to his once-privileged children and the police and fire personnel outside the shell of his McMansion.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    That might make for an onslaught of even more annoying ads as sales plunge and manufacturers/dealers become even more desperate. Especially now that the volumes of sweetheart leases aren't really going to exist to move more volume. Maybe MB and BMW can compete with Lexus in a materialistic ad campaign...vehicles with red ribbons and smiling trophy wives in front of and inside pretentious faux tuscan villas and ridiculous fake craftsman abodes.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Now that's the lemko wit :P

    I wonder how the repo game is going right now, especially on the east coast with the banks and shady finance companies going belly up.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Don't hold back for our sake. :D
  • fezofezo Member Posts: 10,386
    I have to say that the saved by zero ads may have gotten as anoying as the annual Toyotathons used to be.
    2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 266,614
    I'd get pregnant and buy a Routan, just to get the Toyota ads to go away... :surprise:

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  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Speaking of the Routan...I went to test drive a Miata and they had a VW dealer next door. I saw a Routan outside.

    The Monroney listed alloy wheels as an option - yet it had steel wheels with wheel covers.

    Strangest mistake I've ever seen. It clearly had cheap plastic wheels covers - on all 4 corners. Bizarre.
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    I wonder if we'll see those bastardly pretentious Lexus ads this Christmas season,. now that much of the McMansion set isn't so cash flush.

    What? Those are great ads. Kind of touching, especially if sipping eggnog while watching. Bet you can hum or whistle the ad melody. Those ads are now part of Christmas tradition just like Santa Claus.

    Cadillac and Infiniti had good Christmas ads also.

    People that buy Lexi still have the cash to buy for their wives (or husbands) as a gift.

    Will GM have the ad money to do Christmas Cadillac ads?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Touching? Hollow materialism and a little ostentatiousness...touching? Madison Avenue worked you over! ;)

    Lexi customers no doubt are feeling some financial pains right now too...investments depreciated, upside-down in McMansion financing, maybe shaky job security for an empty suit, and so on...

    GM seems to have plenty of ad money, at least right now.
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    Touching? Hollow materialism and a little ostentatiousness...touching? Madison Avenue worked you over!

    Where's your spirit? And patriotism....to spend. Probably also called Heartbeat of America; Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet hollow.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Making patriotism dependent upon consumerism is a very dangerous ideal.

    Yes, those ad slogans are pretty hollow, meant to entice people to buy things they might not really need. They have no link to patriotism. They are a part of fond memories and pop culture, but I don't know if I can stretch them further.

    And there is certainly nothing patriotic about a stereotypical emptyheaded suit buying his trophy wife a new RX and wrapping it up in front of their McMansion at what passes for "Christmas" today...
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    And there is certainly nothing patriotic about a stereotypical emptyheaded suit buying his trophy wife a new RX and wrapping it up in front of their McMansion at what passes for "Christmas" today...

    Buying spree of American brands today might be patriotic in the sense of postponing the inevitable reckoning of years of bad management and capitulation to unions. If, buyers can even get financing.

    The emptyheaded suits in McMansions buying Lexus may be MBAs and/or owners of small businesses. Their wives are likely professionals, not so-called trophies.

    Haven't noticed as many annoying "manly" pickup truck commercials on tv football games as in past years. Where did all those unshaven actors go to? Seemed like there might have been a shift in emphasis when woman was driving a Mercury "sedan" with her male co-worker to a meeting somewhere in a tv commercial earlier this year.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    "Buying spree of American brands today might be patriotic "

    Indeed, if delaying the ineditable collapse is really worth anything. Supporting something so broken might be a bad case of enabling more than anything else.

    "The emptyheaded suits in McMansions buying Lexus may be MBAs"

    And I may be Bill Gates...not to mention the typical cookie-cutter MBA is perhaps the most overrated piece of paper on this planet.

    "Their wives are likely professionals, not so-called trophies."

    You base this on? The suburban IL McMansion orchards?

    Oh yeah, my bad, I have sinned...I insulted the dopey middle American pseudo-bourgeoise.

    "Seemed like there might have been a shift in emphasis when woman was driving a Mercury "sedan"

    Yeah, Mercury sure is doing well, great ads and a great target demographic...Fords with a little extra chrome, for women. The sky is the limit for that brainchild...

    The truck market crapped out from the high gas prices...a couple months of ca. $2 gas might bring it back. I have seen ads for the new F-series lately, but not much about GM trucks or Dodge trucks.
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    And I may be Bill Gates...not to mention the typical cookie-cutter MBA is perhaps the most overrated piece of paper on this planet.

    Would guess that the bios of top management of failed or failing companies in U.S. has more MBAs then Masters in Engineering, Info Sys, Chemistry, Physics, etc. Would be interesting to compare amount of MBAs in high management of Japanese owned companeis vs American brands. If Japanese have MBAs on boards, are they also Masters in Engineering, Physics, etc.

    Always thought that tv commercials showing a car sliding sideways stupid and immature. Who does that appeal to beside teen-age boys who cannot afford these cars anyway. Many brands have done this, but most recent I saw was Mercedes.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Corporate blind deference to the MBA is certainly behind the shortsighted nightmare of today.

    I have noticed the widely lamented Toyota "Saved by Zero" ads showing (cgi versions of) the cars aggressively pulling up for a short view. The only current MB ads I recall are lameo SUVs and a common E-class ad...but I don't watch much TV, and I keep an eye on ads when I do watch.

    For a laugh, the next time you see a sideways sliding ad, look for the legal disclaimer on the screen.
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    Masters in Engineering, Info Sys, Chemistry, Physics, etc

    All those guys are either H1B immigrants, working in Bangladore, or 58 year-old guys who've been downsized out of a job and are now selling tickets at the local Cineplex for minimum wage.
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    New commercial for Infiniti Christmas ad seen yesterday. OK, but still not up to gold standard of Lexus ad.

    Will Lexus even run ads of guy buying his wife/girlfriend an RX given economy? Will viewers in financial straits be very offended? What if commercials are for the most expensive 460 being given by a lawyer lookalike actor to his professional wife?

    How would a commercial by Cadillac similar to Lexus of gifting a CTS go over. Would that be a positive in regards to Americans pitching in to support GM?
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    What if the commercials show some souless upper management automaton giving his botox-injected trophy wife that new 460 poserhybrid? :P

    I think if Caddy did a spot like that, they would have to be very careful or be seen as a copycat.

    Materialism = love, consumerism = patriotism, what a gold standard indeed...it's what has created this whole mess.
  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    Give it a rest Toyota
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    It must be working - everyone is talking about it. Not in a good way, but they are talking. Even Peter King commented on it in one of his recent Sports Illustrated online columns.

    I've even heard about it and I don't watch TV.
  • jipsterjipster Member Posts: 6,299
    Horrible commercial. Big 300 pound tuba carrying bavarian alpine dude, riding in a bus to the nearest pancake house..."STREUSEL?" :sick:
    2021 Honda Passport EX-L, 2020 Honda Accord EX-L, 2011 Hyundai Veracruz, 2010 Mercury Milan Premiere.
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    Haven't yet seen any of those obnoxious Lexus "December to Remember" type commercials, but a Hyundai Holiday sale one instead:

    Whipped Yuppie Hubbie, "Honey, I couldn't afford to buy you that RX330 for Xmas, but I got you a Santa Fe instead!"

    Domineering Spoiled Trophy Wife, "Cheapskate! I'm spending the holiday with Armando!"

    Whipped Yuppie Hubbie, "Boo-hoo! Sob!"
  • michaellnomichaellno Member Posts: 4,120
    I've seen them .. and, the first time, thought it was the Lexus "December to Remember" ads.

    Oh, the current RX is the RX350 .. the 330 is a year or two old, so it may make for a better alternative, price wise, to a new Santa Fe.

    And, I'm thinking that if the trophy wife ran off with Armando, the whipped yuppie hubby would then spend his holidays with Tiffani (or is that Brittani - something that ends in "i").
  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    It must be working - everyone is talking about it. Not in a good way, but they are talking.

    That can be said about every obnoxious advertising campaign ever created.

    20+ years later people still know about

    Wheres the beef?

    I've fallen and can't get up
  • tmarttmart Member Posts: 2,401
    What is everyone, except me, finding so obnoxious about this commercial? It doesn't make me want to buy, but I'm not in the market for any new car. :confuse:
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Buying spree of American brands today might be patriotic in the sense of postponing the inevitable reckoning of years of bad management and capitulation to unions. If, buyers can even get financing

    That about sums it up. :D
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    Saw a Lexus commercial over the weekend of a lady getting a new Lexus and then a flashback of her getting a pony when she was a young girl. Poignant!

    Wonder if they will do one updated from the past, where a late teens girl gets a new Lexus for Christmas from her mother and father.

    Lexus sure has a way with its Christmas commercials. Excellence in everything they do.
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    Sheesh! She was a spoiled little princess then and she's a spoiled trophy wife now!

    I think it's in extremely poor taste to air such commercials due to the rotten economy. However, it should help the television manufacturers. There will be a serious need to replace thousands of TVs destroyed by fists, shoes, bats, and bullets after the many who are suffering view these arrogant ads.
  • xrunner2xrunner2 Member Posts: 3,062
    i>Sheesh! She was a spoiled little princess then and she's a spoiled trophy wife now!

    I think it's in extremely poor taste to air such commercials due to the rotten economy.

    Spoiled? You don't realize what they go through. Many young girls start out desiring a pony and then get a horse and then have to take dressage lessons. They learn discipline and responsibility during the lessons, doing many grueling hours of practice, competing in events and taking care of their horses by brushing them, cleaning their hooves, etc. This develops character and humility.

    If their horse is not on the parent's property, then the mother usually drives them to the barn/horse farm. Mother has responsibility to always seek out the best trainer for her daughter(s) as well as proper bridle, saddle, helmet and riding clothes. And, that is not all. It is likely that the daughter(s) are also learning tennis, golf, soccer and competing in same. It is a very trying schedule for mother and daughter(s). Tough on the mother also if 2 or more daughters have horses.

    People that can afford Lexus, Mercedes, Infiniti, even Cadillac, need to see TV commercials to stimulate them into buying. Look at all the jobs created whether in the U.S. or elsewhere for global economy.

    Have not seen the Cadillac Christmas commercial yet. They have not recently run the commercial with the young woman in a CTS kind of racing two guys in another car. That's neat, showing up the guys.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Poignant? The brainwashed materialistic sheeple might think so, but then again, lots of lemmings honestly equate consumerism with patriotism. Lexus (and Toyota) ads are dumbed down ploys for people who don't like cars. From spoiled little princess to spoiled trophy wife...such as good representation of what the US should strive for.

    I'll end up getting behind that oblivious irresponsible late teens girl in her new Lexus in traffic (as she eats/yaps on the phone/etc), and wish I had a RPG launcher on the front of my car ;) :lemon:
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Why such blind deference and adulation for the inheritance elite?

    People who really buy new truly high end cars do so every year or two at the most, no matter what is on TV.
  • tmarttmart Member Posts: 2,401
    Why do you and Lemko despise Lexus so much? :confuse: I bought one, ES300, for my wife and definitely DON'T consider us elitist. I worked for 33+ years, she wanted it, and I could afford it, so I bought it. It was less than my Volvo. Don't hear y'all calling Volvo owners the privileged elite, though you may now. It's been a very good car. Have had no problems and the only time it goes to the dealership is for normal maintenance. Hell, the battery even lasted 6 years!
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    Volvo drivers are all connected to the liberal media elite ;)

    I despise Lexus ads/target markets, styling, and the way most of them are driven...but as cars, there isn't much wrong with them, save for the iso-tank ideal.
  • scscarsscscars Member Posts: 92
    I saw another version of this commercial tonight, this time featuring a young boy getting his first Atari home video game for an early 1980's Christmas calling it the best present he ever got. The commercial then cuts to the boy, now a man in his 30's standing next to a new Lexus IS 250 that he got as a Christmas present. Now you know that the economy is in trouble, because if he'd received a Lexus last year, he probably would have been standing next to a LS 460 with a big red bow on it.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    I just saw the 'Big Wheel' version of this campaign. It's a fairly amusing idea...but come on, the big wheel kid who is now maybe 40 years old should be shown with an IS-F today, not an ES which is more suited for someone 20 years or more his senior.
  • lemkolemko Member Posts: 15,261
    I saw the "Big Wheel" ad yesterday. The ES is more a car for his wife rather than himself. I've always seen the ES as solidly a woman's car. The IS-F sounds more like a car for a spoiled teenage son. Either he gets a LS460 or the massive LX470.

    Somehow, the Big Wheel ad doesn't offend me as a Big Wheel was a toy the average parents could afford whereas a pony is something only wealthy parents could buy their kids.
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 266,614
    The Big Wheel ad really ticks me off!

    Mostly, because I was too big to ride one when they came out.. :cry:

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  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I loved my Big Wheel. Rode it til the tires wore off, basically.

    Still have not seen that ad, though probably because I have TiVO.
  • loncrayloncray Member Posts: 301
    I just saw that Big Wheel commercial and had the exact same thought - I rode my Big Wheel until the tread disappeared and the wheels literally fell apart. I discovered the joys of the 'power slide' early on - what great memories. That said, it still doesn't make me want to buy a Lexus.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    I was bummed out when I went to check out the new ones sold today and they are designed to be "safe" and not spin out like that. Sort of misses the whole point.
  • loncrayloncray Member Posts: 301
    Really? That IS a bummer. There's no achievement I can point to at the age of 5 that outdoes a running 360 spin (and keeping control at the end!) in my Big Wheel. If you can't spin it, it's just a plastic trike.
  • british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    That is very disappointing. How can you get hurt riding a big wheel anyway? I mean I suppose you could hit your head pretty hard if you somehow stuffed it into a pothole or ditch but just make the kid wear a helmet if the parents are that concerned.

    I have driven plenty of IS250s and they just aren't that great. The drive shaft on the AWD models cuts into a lot of the foot and leg room for the driver too.
  • fintailfintail Member Posts: 58,456
    ES is certainly a car for middle aged women, demos on them have to be solidly female. Age the guy maybe a few more years and give him an LS.

    Regarding Big Wheels...I had a 'Dukes of Hazzard' Big Wheel, and it was pretty great. My house at the time was on a hill, and you could get a pretty good slide going.
  • explorerx4explorerx4 Member Posts: 20,766
    i am too old to have had a big wheel too, but i enjoyed pedaling my schwinn. :P
    2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
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