June 8, 2012
The Imponderable is taking a time out from the news to take a look at a popular commercial. check this out:
This is how Cars.com describes that ad:
Cars.com takes you inside the showroom of a dealership where a knowledgeable car shopper is talking to a friendly dealer. Thanks to Cars.com and a thorough side-by-side comparison, this is no ordinary visit. As they’re chatting, the car shopper’s inner confidence is unleashed from his neck and shoulder in the form of smooth Disco-singing head. “Baby, I want that car!”
That’s not how I’d describe it.
A man with a worm-like parasite coming out of his back (or perhaps somewhere lower) tries to buy a car while the parasite, which is strangely wearing a tube-like version of he man’s outfit, clearly demonstrates its control over the man’s every move. The brain-controlling creature forces the man to buy a car from a visibly repulsed dealer.
Seriously, cars.com, the man’s confidence manifests itself as some creature out of Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters? What happened to old standby of a little miniature guy sitting on his shoulder? This is just gross, odd, and creepy. And no way is that coming out of that guy’s neck. It is at least two feet lower, and I’d bet below the waist.
Why would cars.com think a strange worm-like parasite is the way to sell their service?
The question is Imponderable.
And why that commercial is so popular is also Imponderable. I find it a total turn-off.
Buy that car!
Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride 
Gross, odd and creepy and freaking stupid, too! I thought Superbowl ads were supposed to be sophisticated and state of the art. How could this one have ever been approved by anyone?
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I can’t find it online (honestly I didn’t try too hard) but there is a second version with a woman. I’ll look again.
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Found it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xm3jQuS_Jo
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And this one I never saw before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZHMOnhXYTw&feature=related
The whole campaign is creepy.
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OUCH! They made more than one?
Doesn’t this whole idea violate every concept of good negotiating, anyway?
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As far as I can tell negotiating is a lost art. But when I bought a car I had a corporate discount (2% below dealer cost! YES!) and there was no room to negotiate.
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Haha. It’s so stupid it’s funny.
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I wrote that at about 10:30 tonight. (Yeah, I am lousy with deadlines lately. The days of my being a week and a half ahead are long gone…) That commercial happened to come on as I was finsishing up and my family all started laughing. I thought it was so odd..
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Yeah, that’s how I felt the first time I saw it. I believe they were trying to grab our attention.
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Have to admit it worked!
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Yup.
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Obviously the people who came up with these commercials watched MIB II & Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy a bit too much.
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Yes, and of course both franchises are so identified with cars….smh
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