I was at the gym on Sunday when I saw the most pathetic and desperate Hummer ad I've ever seen. Here's how it went:

Some middle-aged white dude is doing a bunch of grocery shopping and wheels a cart full of groceries out to his station wagon (beige OF COURSE). He looks at his car and has an expression of deep humiliation and embarrasment. (Personally, I see driving a station wagon to go grocery shopping as "the right tool for the right job", but what do I know?)

The scene changes with the white guy pulling into a Hummer dealer and trading his utilitatian vehicle in for a gigantic Hummer H2. He then screeches out of the parking lot into traffic without first looking or signaling. The camera pans to inside the truck's cockpit and shows the middle-aged man wearing an aggressive, predatory expression on his face.

The caption underneath this last scene read: "Hummer: Restores Your Manhood"

I thought to myself, "You have GOT to be freakin' kidding me!"

Of course, I like it how it's "manly" to blow $55k or whatever on a Hummer without consulting his wife first (after all, her income doesn't count towards the family finances!) And I'd like to see the next scene where the H2 doesn't fit into the family garage, ha ha! Or the scene where the Hummer gets repossessed because the wagon had a payment of $220 and the H2 costs $700/month, ha ha. Or the scene where he has to sleep in the back seat because his wife kicks him out for being a stupid, macho, mid-life-crisis fool! Ha ha ha ha!

But seriously, ads like that just show you that the end is neigh for GM if *their* reasoning for buying their cars is that they serve as an extension of one's [male reproductive apendage]. Geeeez!

 

I suppose for people who define their 'manhood' by what kind of car they drive that's quite accurate. Makes it easy for the rest of us to spot them and ignore them

 

This review of Keith Bradshier's The High and Mighty says it very well.

His book devotes at least one chapter to how the SUV was both designed and marketed to appeal to be an intimidator and appeal to vanity. A great deal of effort was put into that.

This commercial should be no suprize - there are plenty of others that are nearly as explicit. The appeal is emotional and nothing to do with utility.

They make the commercials because they sell. If the appeal is something like an appeal to be like a 350-pound wrestler, maybe with roid rage, some of that is going to carry over to they highway. My roadside observations tend to support what Bradshier is saying.

If you don't like that image, don't get upset - just don't do it.


[quote="Article on Bradshier]According to market research conducted by the country's leading automakers, Bradsher reports, SUV buyers tend to be "insecure and vain. They are frequently nervous about their marriages and uncomfortable about parenthood. They often lack confidence in their driving skills. Above all, they are apt to be self-centered and self-absorbed, with little interest in their neighbors and communities. They are more restless, more sybaritic, and less social than most Americans are. They tend to like fine restaurants a lot more than off-road driving, seldom go to church and have limited interest in doing volunteer work to help others."


He says, too, that SUV drivers generally don't care about anyone else's kids but their own, are very concerned with how other people see them rather than with what's practical, and they tend to want to control or have control over the people around them. David Bostwick, Chrysler's market research director, tells Bradsher, "If you have a sport utility, you can have the smoked windows, put the children in the back and pretend you're still single." Armed with such research, automakers have, over the past decade, ramped up their SUV designs to appeal even more to the "reptilian" instincts of the many Americans who are attracted to SUVs not because of their perceived safety, but for their obvious aggressiveness. Automakers have intentionally designed the latest models to resemble ferocious animals. The Dodge Durango, for instance, was built to resemble a savage jungle cat, with vertical bars across the grille to represent teeth and big jaw-like fenders. Bradsher quotes a former Ford market researcher who says the SUV craze is "about not letting anything get in your way, and at the extreme about intimidating others to get out of your way."[/quote]

I know not that many in the general population drive a Hummer, but what vehicle has more visibility? It's out of proportion. It's in the toystores, TV, billboard vehicles, radio DJ vehicles, etc....

Some might not care about this, but when the rest of the world sees some [b]civilian[/b] Americans strutting around in a militaristic vehicle in the media again and again, it does not exactly send a good message about this country. Wouldn't we rather distinguish ourselves more from North Korea?



[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il"]Kim Jong-il[/url] would make a perfect fit in a Hummer (even though he has a large collection of Mercedes-Benz). Not saying anyone is like him....he is "like nobody else".

 

For me, it was almost like an anti-ad. If I was in the market for a truck, that H2 commercial so turned me off that I wouldn't consider it even if my lifestyle demanded a large, offroad vehiche.

Let's face it: GM isn't marketing this vehicle's strengths, which include: being able to tow heavy objects (like boats and trailers), being able to handle terrible terrain (like Vermont in winter), or providing lots of passenger space while traveling with family or friends.

Nooooooo.... GM is saying, "Buy this truck so you can be a macho bully!"

 

That's why I drive a MINI

 

I found the one that shows a woman at the playground wainting in line with her kid to use the slide even more pathetic. She basically gets cut in front of so she goes to by a Hummer.

Not sure I get that one.

 

I have not seen these ads, but they sound like they should be on Saturday Night Live. I love their fake commercials.

 

I guess this just goes to show anyone can get published. I will make sure to strike this book from my reading list.

 

I thought that was an interesting review after I got past the first several paragraphs. I think the paragraphs that were quoted are very harsh. I know many of you have had bad experiences with SUV drivers. I can only speak from my own experience, but I have not had any bad encounters with SUV drivers. I know lots of people that own SUVs and they do not seem to fit this profile at all.

I think it is also important to differentiate the smaller SUVs from the monster SUVs.

 

I really like the H3 add I saw the other night.....they finish off the commercial by showboating their gas mileage in bright white letters on a black background....

"20mpg"

Is that really something to be proud of?