ABOUT ADS OF THE WEIRD

With Ads of the Weird, MSNBC.com takes a look at some of the oddest, most eye-catching, controversial and just plain interesting advertising out there today. Primary writer Allison Linn covers the retail and advertising industries for MSNBC.com. The Ads of the Weird team is always interested in hearing what ads have caught your attention, whether it's online, on television or in print.


Chevy shows some skin

Posted: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 12:01 AM by Allison Linn
Filed Under:

We’re guessing a new commercial for Chevrolet’s Traverse crossover vehicle is meant to appeal to a woman who fantasizes about having the "perfect guy" – he’s hot, he’s romantic and he does the housework!

Frankly, that kind of reverse gender stereotyping is offensive enough to both men and women, not to mention outdated. But alas, if only the ad were just that tacky.

Instead, it’s tacky, nonsensical and weirdly evocative of pornography. It’s the type of ad that viewers have noticed, but often only to ask, "What the heck was that about?"

Chevrolet

In the ad, a guy -- who at first appears to be naked but later is revealed to be dressed only in jeans --is seen making dinner reservations, ironing a dress and, in the final shot, on his knees cleaning the toilet.

The tagline reads: "It’s everything you’ve ever wished for … and then some."

That’s followed by the usual car ad fodder: gleaming pictures of the vehicle in question.

With every car company in America trotting out commercials focused on fuel efficiency, we’re guessing Chevrolet felt it had to do something totally different to shock people into paying attention to its Traverse. After all, this is the type of big vehicle that has fallen far out of favor among many consumers.

But instead, they’ve confused viewers, who either don’t get what the guy is doing or don’t understand the connection between the guy and the vehicle.

We’ll concede that the commercial is memorable, but not in a way that makes us want to buy a Chevy.

Click here to watch the ad.

 

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Comments

This commercial blows.
Chevy couldn't make a decent ironing board!
He's hot...hope they have more.
I ask everyone in the office if they saw this strange commercial. No one had, I still after showing it to a co-worker agree. if the dress was a normal womens size and the toilet a normal size, I would say they are trying to say tall dark and handsome. but the size difference looks more like kids clothes and that is freekie.
This add not only appeals to the ladies, but I can tell you right now gay men will LOVE it!  Besides... is it possible the guy is celebrating his anniversay with his boyfriend?  I like how GM leaves that open for suggestion.  Kudos GM.  
Great ad!  Makes you THINK! Is it gay?  Is it straight?  A little of both -- CREATIVE!  An Non in Toronto has it right!
Amen to most of the above PLUS.... and I can't believe I'm the only one.... The first time I saw the ad I thought, "Why is that naked man ironing his private area? Is this another weird viagra ad?"  I'm not kidding, I really did think that.  It is an odd ad, especially for a vehicle.... now, if it had turned out to be for the new KY products, it would have made perfect sense!
OMG I never even noticed the words on the screen - I actually had to watch the ad again to look for them.

Interesting that the dress is so small that many mistook it for a child's. Even without an actual woman in the ad they still manage to tell us that women need to be a size 0 to get a handsome man that does stuff around the house (even if he is gay).
Maybe this guy is a crossover himself at night.  That's his dress he's ironing and the six month anniversary is to Bob here in Boston, Massachusetts.
So tired of the prudish, uptight folks that complain every time a little skin is shown. You can kill 100 people with plenty of blood and gore, but if you show a sex scene or even imply it, the world comes to an end (the Janet Jackson nipple scandal was the most overblown media story in recent years). It's no wonder so many people in the U.S. have sexual hangups. Stop it already!
Anyone trying to find fault with this commercial: a) knows nothing about marketing or advertising, and b) has never been to the beach. A man with no shirt is not offensive -- been swimming lately? Is this ad directed toward women and gay men? Yes, until you notice the guy is ironing a dress, not a dress shirt. Is this ad offensive to gender stereotypes? No, not any more than women in their bikini's, breasts hanging out as sex-objects dancing on a table in a bar. Geese, Ganders, whatever -- this is a great example of target marketing and frankly, its about time we see a man as the object of attention (women, gays, whatever) instead of the stereotypical bimbo that is so degrading to women everywhere!
No wonder the United States is becoming a laughing stock to the rest of the world, it appears to full of idiots.  With the first idiots being MSNBC for hiring and paying the second idiot Allison Linn for writing such a stupid article in the first place.  
for YEARS ads have had scantily clad women in ads that had nothing to do whatsoever with the product .... now why, all of a sudden, is this ad "Instead, it’s tacky, nonsensical and weirdly evocative of pornography. It’s the type of ad that viewers have noticed, but often only to ask, "What the heck was that about?""  ..... hypocritical on the critics part at best!
I agree so much with these comments. Women have been used for this now I say it the womens turn to see the men in this way even if it does not make sense.
Ok, still wanting to know who the actor is...
the guy is eye candy, get over it
Just a random thing to toss out there... from the brief appearance of it in the ad, that dress seems like it could easily be top for an adult female.  I work at Macy's, and it actually looks a bit like something we'd sell in adult juniors (marketed toward the 18-25 crowd)

I could care less about the ad itself, but it seems pretty apparent to me that this is not aimed at gays.  This looks to be targeting traditional married women, as a matter of fact; though I wouldn't hesitate to agree that it comes across as a bit wierd from a guy's perspective.
I had to explain the ad to my wife.  Either the ad is too abstruse or my wife is both frigid and dimwitted.  I consider these equally plausible explanations.
It's not that memorable. Now that you remind me, I remember seeing that weird ad (guy scrubbing toilet? what psychotic female fantasizes about that? A sadist? -- and can you imagine the husband who would buy such a car for his wife? who would advertise his total immasculation at the car dealership?) -- but it was SO weird that I never noticed what the product was for and hastened to forget the regrettable ad immediately.
Mike M -- you're missing something. We gals like looking at the hunky shirtless guy. But I can think of a lot of better things for my manny to do than be on his knees, scrubbing a toilet. For starters, I'd have taught him that we don't grovel on the floor when toilet cleaning, we bend over the porcelain pot. The guys who made this ad obviously don't know anything.
But -- the offensive part is what it says about what the frat boys think of women -- not just that they don't know how to clean a toilet, having never done it themselves (hired a maid in college? a topless one?), but that they think we gals are that perverted. Talk about advertising "We don't understand our audience and don't care enough to find out, but we think you're all sadistic bitches."  That's the offensive part.
The guy's not ironing her dress --- it's his own dress --- that's why the ads for a crossover.
Whoever wrote this bad review needs to lighten up and join the rest of us in the 2000's.
Have any of you ever looked at a car or motorcycle magazine? What does Turtle wax and that beautiful girl have in common? Last time I looked, nothing.
Chevy made an ad that was different than the norm.So what. Lighten up.
The ad (and the Traverse) is now memorable...thanks to your article and your hypocritical comments. Hahahaha
Thanks MSNBC and your crafty writer.
And for a change I am glad to finally see a guy and his pecks instead of a woman and her breasts! Go chevy!
This hottie's male lover is a small framed guy w/a tight little body and even tighter little booty and it all fits so well in that little flimsy dress being pressed. Hmmm...I think they're staying in for dinner!
GET OVER IT!  Geez!  There is absolutly nothing offensive or demeaning about that commercial!  What I find offensive is that the people get all offended by this.  There are many more things you could be writing about, going on in our government, that are FAR more offensive and demeaning to the people of this country and around the world.  
I want to know who really gets paid to write about stuff like this Chevy ad?
I actually thought the dress was for HIM...and that was the link to the 'cross over'. Crazy ad--but it got us all talking!
So it's a commercial that doesn't make sense. It is Chevy's choice to decide what to do with their advertising dollars. Wouldn't you rather watch this than that snobby b#%!h in the Hughesnet commercial or another ad with Billy Mays screaming at the camera to buy chia pets?
For what it's worth, he's not wearing a wedding ring.

I am glad someone has 'decode' this commercial for
me. I have looked at my wife each and every time
this commercial has aired and for the first time
ever I asked 'what was that about?'. I understood
the selling car part but why everything else? Too
strange to be positive.
I have no feeling either way but I about died laughing at Greg's comment about selling ironing boards.  Made my day!
huh? people, it's a hot guy doing housework without a shirt. the ad says it's useful, beautiful, it's everything you've ever wanted and more." what's confusing about that? who even cares what the ad is about when you're watching that guy? the idea was that the same can be said about both the guy and the vehicle. i can't help but add that if you think the word "ad" as used in this comment topic is really spelled "add" as in the posts above, I'm not surprised that you're confused by the ad.
For the longest time I thought the guy was in love with his vehicle and taking IT out for dinner!  The toilet part just seemed too weird and didn't seem to make any sense.  
I love this ad and because of it, I just might buy the crossover. LOL. Please, women have been paraded around for YEARS as objects to buy some (you know, if you drink Bud, women will love you, have sex with you, yada yada. Uh, yeah..) Maybe it's supposed to be an older woman with a younger man, which is another stereotype (young men MUST be with young women where as you can see really old men with young women). Statistically speaking, "more mature" women drive SUVs, have kids, etc. I totally got the ad, I totally understood it was for an SUV and I think its fun.  Maybe it's because I'm an "older" woman with a younger man and kids. LOL  
I thought it was awesome.  Now only if they come in rich...
OK, folks, so the ad is quirky and different.  At
least it got your attention and generated comments
(even mine). No, this is hardly pornography or anything close to it. I, personally, don't think the image of the man and, suddenly the car, is believable or to be explained. Strange things happen in strange (advertisers') minds. T.
Six month anniversary of what?

if it's six months married -- where did a child old enough to wear the dress come from?

if it's six months of being a parent -- where did a child old enough to wear the dress come from?

there has to be a backstory -- I guess that what we read into it reflects our own lives and/or biases.  

I just thought it was weird because if the child in question is his, he is either (1) a single father who married six months ago, (2) a step-father who married her mother six months ago (and ironing her dress gives me a pedophile vibe), or (3) a gay father and he and his partner adopted her six months ago (then why be so coy about it?).

The other possibility is that he is entirely unrelated to the child by blood, adoption, or marriage -- but that's just totally creepy.

Besides, I only by Volvos anyway.
Get a life.....
this ad slew my wife and daughter. They thought it about the funniest they have seen in a while. I missed it until they pointed it out. The difficult part, like everyone here has commented, is no one remembers it is a car ad.
All that was missing was the creepy buger king, king...
This is the first ad that really DUG under my skin- I was annoyed that it played and played and I did not understand it.

When I did FINALLY get it ( after my husband explained)  I was even more outraged. I was annoyed and outraged.

PUHHLEEZE folks, as an educated woman, business owner, and a person who makes six figures this type of "selling" went off the books TWENTY YEARS AGO.

Even PlayGirl went out of business.

I do not know a single person in MY demographic that found this ad to be even tolerable. Whoever collectively let this message go to press needs some diversity training and a spanking from Gloria Steinem and the Mattachine Society -all at the same time.

Point is, gay, straight, male, female, rich, poor- they were all stupified at the loss of class.

i want to do work from home
Not a bad ad.  I'm looking to trade my wifes problematic Honda Pilot for a new car.  The Chevy is high on the list.  Hondas don't even make the list anymore
the suv is a crossover and they r showing the so called guy sterotype being "crossed over". 4 yrs it has been the "typical" man type that didnt do those things especially the cleaning tilet part. duh get smart ppl u r not that dense plz.
I am already one of those types< meaning I help out that way but women eally dont want that otherwise I would be married.
I dunno, I'm thinking I would buy whatever car they want me to if it really came with a hot lover who does housework too.
When I saw this ad, my mind went to a surreal place.  I thought he was taking his car out for a 6 mo. anniversary dinner, because he loved it so much.
I'm so glad my husband and I aren't the only ones who saw this commercial and said, "Huh?".  We both thought the guy was gay when we first saw it, so the ironing of the dress just confused us more.  It was only after seeing the commerical several times that we figured out what it was supposed to be saying.  One might say that the ad is good, because we pointedly watched it several times.  I would disagree, because neither of us could tell you what product the ad was for.
He's a trannie. Don't you people get it?? GM is going after the transgender population now... They love Chevy products.
I loved this commercial and I thought it was terrifically subtle and great.  Savvy women would get it.  I had to explain to my husband why it was so funny.  I mean come on no guy celebrates his 6 month anniversary!  Fantastic!
I personally think it is a cute ad. The guy is ironing his girlfriends daughters dress and getting the house clean for when she gets home. Then if one uses their imagination, you know that he is going to take her to dinner in his Chevy Traverse. Very simple.


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