Girls and tofu fans, get your Hummer on. New ads rated
The Hummer series of vehicles have always been more about attitude than transportation. From the original five-ton $140,000 beast to the smaller-but-still domineering H2, you can't ignore the way the Hummer has been sold as the SUV that is "Like Nothing Else". The most recent Hummer model, the H3, is smaller than the previous two, but the marketing tactics are the same. Slate.com take a gander at the television spots, in which people who feel inadequate – one man is ridiculed for buying tofu – make up for it by buying an H3. So that's the answer. The commercials were originally tagged with "Restore your manhood", but that has been changed to the slightly less ridiculous "Restore the balance". Which part of a Hummer is in balance, anyway?
The ad targeted towards women ends with "Get your girl on". Slate rates the ads a C-, which must mean they're grading on a curve.
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[Source: Slate]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
prattacus 3:34PM (8/15/2006)
This post was supported by advertising for Hummer aftermarket parts. I clicked through to indulge in the irony.
Didn't someone once say there's no such thing as integrity in the media? They should expand it to new media as well.
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Alternative Energy Blog 9:50PM (8/15/2006)
The most appropriate ad is "Disappear". Except instead of the Hummer disappearing behind the trees, the trees should be disappearing behind the Hummer.
The "Get Your Girl On" ad reminds me of the June 2004 issue of National Geographic (The End of Cheap Oil) which has a photo of a Hummer with the quote a female owner: "I love knowing that anything I bump into, I win".
Except the bit where the slighted mother runs the other mother off the road is implied, rather than shown (for obvious reasons).
The sheer number of spots produced for the H3 implies, while GM are selling, the public aren't buying.
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Hugh 2:29AM (8/16/2006)
That's funny because whenever I see a SUV pulled up at the lights in city I make a gesture towards them indicating their lack of manhood. Its fun!
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cheezedog420 2:47AM (8/16/2006)
Actually they seem to be preatty popular, I seen quite a few H3's in liberal Madison WI. I get the feeling that most people like the Hummer styaling, but don't care about leather trim, or V8 power. I personaly hope that GM makes a Jump to Diesel for the Hummer brand as it will greatly improve the gas mileage, and allow for biodiesel/frier oil convertion. (Which is anouther thing thats gaining popularity in Liberal Madison WI.)
Cheezedog
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lwstudent 12:06PM (8/18/2006)
What is ridiculous is that they are bragging about 20 mpg for a Hummer. 20 mpg for any *new* car is stone aged.
Cut the fat from the beast and put a smaller engine or clean diesel in it.
Most importantly add the gas guzzler tax to these SUV's and lets really have some conservation, which the tax was meant for. Automakers were good to themselves when they got SUV's and pickups exempt. If commercial interests need to use gas guzzlers then they should use diesels.
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Kelly And Scott 10:00PM (10/13/2007)
It seems to me that people are more jealous than having the world in mind. Come on...how about the terrorists blowing our people up in the USA? You people who go drive smaller cars because they get 40 MPG, but run on 4 cylinders are just living in a fairy tale world. There are much worse things than having a Hummer. How about our kids getting their heads blown off at SCHOOL!!! If you truely do your research up until the 2008 model Hummer H3 was a 5 cylinder.
Also, GM is not going to jump to Diesel for a Hummer. GM (and I should know, I work for GM) is appealing to the low cost of fuel...hence being able to put Unleaded in the Hummer...Diesel is higher in cost than unleaded...so it would be a ridiculous move, as it would lower their sales. Diesel is not where it's at anymore...unless it is in a full size truck.
In ending, lets not dwell over a person's choice of vehicle. Keep in mind, these people who are jumping our cases over driving Hummers usually live in big mansions (How much fuel are they using to heat that mansion? How many trees do they cut down to get their fancy house built?)...Such as Larry Flint...he hates Hummer, but he pays people to do nasty crap on video, magazines, etc...Come on, dosen't he have bigger fish to fry...He's got more problems going on in his head than needing to worry about a Hummer. For God sake...it's a CAR! We want to do away with Hummers, but we want to "save our strippers" here in Ohio because they now have to put their bikinis back on at midnight. Anyone see a problem here?
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