Super Bowl Car Commercials
Like everyone else, we spent most of our night yesterday watching Super Bowl XLI, and like most people we watched the commercials with almost as much interest as the game. Usually, automakers spend just as much time and money on the Super Bowl as do beer and soda manufacturers. That didn’t seem to be the case this year.
Toyota and GM seemed to spend the most getting their new commercials out there. Toyota’s new Tundra got two new commercials showing off the vehicle’s capabilities. One had the truck speeding through a closing steel door — kind of like in “Independence Day,” except without aliens and spaceships — then coming to a full stop before the road ran off a cliff. Neat. Totally fake, but neat.
The other Tundra commercial showed the truck towing 10,000 pounds on a trailer up an inclined seesaw of scaffolding, which then flipped downward so the Tundra could once again show off its brakes. Neat, but would the trailer brake that easily?
Speaking of questionable tactics: Honda keeps referring to itself as the most fuel-efficient car company, as it did in its kind of boring ad last night. However, that stat refers to the 2005 model year lineup, which includes the now-discontinued Insight hybrid and lacks the new Ridgeline pickup truck. We’re not sure if the 2007 MY lineup is the most fuel-efficient, but our guess is no based on them still using the 2005 figure.
GM’s singing celebrities and normal-owners commercial wasn’t any better. It didn’t endear us to the brand as it was intended to, and was completely forgettable. And don’t get us started on the men-stripping commercial, which was a contest winner’s idea. It made no sense.
GM’s most interesting commercial showed an assembly line robot committing suicide in a dream sequence. It too made little sense and didn’t bring home the quality attribute it was aiming for, plus it was over the top.
Perhaps the least bad best car commercial was Ford’s, showing off its new Super Duty trucks with a manly guy explaining just how great they are. There wasn’t anything fancy involved besides a big, big truck.
What was your favorite car commercial from last night?
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Commercials havent been anything since Chevy Trucks 70s ads showing a pickup towing a freighter ship,6 logging trailers,and a house;the 1980s K Car ads showing a wrecker hooking to the rear end and the car driving the wrecker off instead;and the late 80s/early 90s Ford Truck commercial with an F pickup climbing a mountain of boulders while towing a Dodge and carrying a Chevy.
In terms of memorability, GM's suicidal robot commercial succeeded in getting my attention. As far as persuading me to buy, and feel warm and fuzzy about GM's commitment to quality... well, not so much. Why? Because it's more disturbing than amusing to watch a robot do itself in. I know they were probably going for original and heart-tugging here, but there's got to be a better way to get that across. Dark humor doesn't fit my idea of the GM brand.
Totally agree Kate.
Overall Bud Light did the best but I don't think any automaker delivered. I think the Tundra ads for folks that weren't thinking "man that trailer would just flip right over" were probably good.
I also think the Ford truck commercials were the best car commercials. The exploded truck is an impressive visual that must have taken an insane amount of time to put together. It had a hypnotic quality and it was believable yet persuasive. All the Tundra commercials appear too over the top to me. They even made showing the size of the brake rotors a little cheesy.
Why is GM saying they suck to the point where they have to lay off their own robots? Was it suppose to be disturbing? Was it really a good idea to show that commercial while in the process of slashing 30000 jobs?
I liked the Toyota through the sliding gate commercial. Like Kate, I was disturbed by the suicidal thoughts of the GM robot. I appreciate quality is important and all, but man! Even though it was a dream sequence, I thought it was a little too much.
I agree that the Ford Super Duty ads were the best of the super bowl. Not only do they take Toyota's tactic of showing the actual hardware of the truck, but they apply the mesmerizing CG animation (used also by Lexus in their hybrid RX commercials). They also highlight the turbo of the new diesel engine option -- something that Toyota won't have for some years yet.
The first time I saw the Tundra commercial blowing through the gate and then stopping before the cliff, it reminded me of the car commercial that speeds under the car that is dropped from a helicopter. The disclaimer said something about a simulation, and so I thought what's the point?
The second time I saw the Tundra commercial, I noticed "Actual Demonstration" at the beginning, and paid more attention to the voiceover. While I'm not in the target demographic for a truck, I was impressed Toyota actually decided to show something for real.
http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite/commercial/tundra_tv.html
Carlos,
Thanks for the tip! we contacted Toyota and got the skinny here:
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2007/02/how_they_made_t.html
During the second quarter of the Super Bowl, I was watching this commercial just like the others, and I suddenly became attentive to it. I felt sad for the robot that was fired, then had to find other jobs. At the time I watched it, I intuitively and immediately felt something as I was watching it. Yes, the end comes and it was a bad dream. But the effect the commercial had on me resonated until the end of the game. All the other commercials I saw had all been forgotten by the final score. I did a lot of reading on this subject and so many people had so much to say about this and other commercials.
I agree with everything people have mentioned, and they have discussed some major points and issues, up to and including the quality of the actual GM advertising. Suicide, employment, economics, bad taste, personifying objects, and God knows what else people have mentioned.
All I can say is that I was moved by the commercial; I do care for this unemployed robot, and I must care for it so that I can appreciate other people's points of view. I have read all people's opinions, and I still think THIS IS THE BEST COMMERCIAL FROM THE SUPER BOWL BROADCAST OVER ALL THE OTHERS. If it wasn’t for this robot, we wouldn’t be expressing anything at all. Henry J. Klepczynski, Chicago.
Well Henry, I'm sure your not the only one from Chicago to sympathize with the robot.
I HATED the GM robot commercial! I personally have gone through several layoffs from manufacturing jobs over the years. I've gone through bankruptcy after not being able to find a job for months on end. I've known the despair, hopelessness, and deep depression, I've teetered on the brink of suicide several times. This commercial made me feel all that pain all over again, and made me sympathize with the thousands of laid off auto workers. I know what they're going through. I thought it was in extremely poor taste for GM to trivialize that kind of agony that is so real for so many people. Just what kind of messages were they trying to convey about their company and their products, much less their employees???
I purchased a new 2002 Tundra with all the bells and whistles and ended up trading it because I valued my life more than my truck. The brakes were awful. I had it in for brake work about every 6000 miles due to violent vibration when braking normally. I was never confident that the truck would stop when needed. Kept writing to Toyota and never got anything in return. I got tired of paying to repair what should have been classified a LEMON and sad to say but most owners of the 2002 Tundra suffered the same problems and some ended up in injuries. Toyota has and always will be my favorite Auto-Maker but I am not sure that the new commercials stressing the braking ability of the ALL NEW Tundra will be enough to to make up for the financial losses many of us 2002 Tundra Buyers have suffered for Safty Sake. They would have to do more than put over-sized braking systems in with the larger engines....hmmm....more speed.....bigger brakes...not sure that was the solution. Keep trying Toyota...you still have time to get it right because you your braking system hasn't caused any deaths YET!! Just thousands of dollars lost due to buyers dumping the trucks for peanuts or paying thousands for brake repairs.