Cars and trucks
Brooke Shields has come a long way since declaring nothing comes between her and her Calvins, but the child star turned sitcom staple still has a canny eye for picking an ad that showcases her talents in the best light.
A new campaign for Volkswagen’s Routan minivan features Shields pretending to be a humanitarian worried about the plight of yuppie parents who are having children simply so they can have an excuse to buy a Routan.
"Have a baby for love, not for German engineering," Shields opines, ignoring and discounting the confused pregnant women and their husbands as they attempt to explain that, of course, they are not reproducing as an excuse to buy a new car.
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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Frankly, that kind of reverse gender stereotyping is offensive enough, to both men and women, not to mention outdated.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?"
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| Chevrolet |
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When it comes to selling cars and trucks, most people are familiar with usual bag of tricks: beautiful scenery, beautiful women and brawny vehicles. A recent commercial for Honda’s Pilot takes things in the exact opposite direction, and it’s a refreshing change.
In "Ballooning," a middle-aged man and his teenage son are driving down the road when they come across an older man peeking out of a grounded hot air balloon, apparently in need of a ride.
Only after inviting the balloonist to hop in does the driver realize that there are actually a group of men in the balloon’s basket -- and they’re all nudists. While the ad is remarkably tasteful, it’s safe to say this is a group most people aren’t interested in seeing naked.
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| Honda |
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Here’s the thing about people living in the age of the DVR, the Internet and the cell phone: They don’t have much patience.
Why take two minutes to make a phone call when you can text in about 10 seconds, and save yourself some pleasantries? A 30-second TV commercial? Sorry, many people would rather pay extra to fast-forward through it. This article? We’ll try to keep it short and snappy, because we know that, at this moment, you are being distracted by all manner of other bright and shiny technology.
The makers of BMW apparently think that we have time for them, and lots of it. A promotion for the company’s BMW 1 Series takes the form of a meandering “mockumentary” about the German town of Oberpfaffelbachen’s attempt to help promote the new car.
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Even if you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, you probably have some stereotypes about us lurking in your head. Well, here’s a dirty little secret -- for all our talk of individualism, all of your stereotypes about us are true.
We are a region of smug hybrid owners, recycling fanatics and recumbent bicycle commuters. We love to broadcast our beliefs via bumper stickers. Before we moved here we may have been more fashionable, but now we see nothing wrong with wearing socks with our sandals, preferably paired with those pants that can unzip to become a pair of shorts should the weather improve. If we want to get fancy, we might throw a fleece vest over the whole ensemble.
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| Pemco |
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If you’re a has-been celebrity looking for work - and what has-been celebrity isn’t looking for work, by definition? - the good news is that there are other job prospects out there besides lame reality television shows. There’s also Geico.
The insurance company has for some time now been employing the likes of Little Richard, Joan Rivers and even Charo to “interpret” real people’s stories of how well Geico dealt with their insurance claims.
Maybe the well of real D-list celebrities is running dry, because now the company is turning to … a syrup bottle.
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In many ways, you can’t help but feel sorry for the U.S. auto industry. For years, they thrived on making vehicles that were bigger, brawnier and boasted ever more cup holders. Then, gas prices shot past $3 a gallon, Al Gore put out a little documentary and suddenly SUVs the size of urban studio apartments didn’t seem nearly as cool as a cute little Prius.
Detroit knows it can’t sell a hybrid like it stereotypically sells its biggest vehicles – stunning images of big tires plundering over once-pristine terrain might not strike that right tone. But different isn’t always better.
General Motors’ recent ad for the new Yukon Hybrid, which the company shelled out major bucks to air during both the Super Bowl and the Oscars, features a zippy line drawing of a man pushing a boulder up a mountain, which turns out to also be made of the same boulders.
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Apparently the new line of Volkswagen cars is so cool that people don’t want to steal them.
In a recent ad for the German carmaker, a suspicious-looking guy walks down the street looking for a car to heist, finds an unlocked convertible Volkswagen -- its key conveniently stashed behind the visor -- and takes off.
Pretty soon, he finds himself stopping for pedestrians and waving at the elderly, and before you know it he’s turned around and decided to return the car to its rightful owner.
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| vw.com |
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It’s no secret that many automakers have been struggling of late. Perhaps the biggest sign of these woes was the recent split of DaimlerChrysler, the much-vaunted, but ultimately failed, marriage between the makers of Mercedes and Chrysler cars.
It’s not only problem marriage in an industry that has been rife with acquisitions -- and divorces -- in recent years. BMW has largely stayed out of that fray, which is a fact they aren’t shy of using as a selling point.
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| BMW |
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