Is this ad for the Honda Civic hybrid pretentious?
Webster's dictionary defines pretentious as "expressive of affected, unwarranted, or exaggerated importance, worth, or stature." Which brings us to the video above, an ad for the Honda Civic hybrid. The ad features two drivers: one driver is balding and litters, the second driver is full-haired and picks up after the first. I found the ending to the ad to be quite funny. To further, ahem, drive home the point, the music for the ad is from the TV show the Odd Couple.
So, does this ad over-exaggerate the differences between hybrid and non-hybrid drivers or are all hybrid drivers full-haired Felix Ungers?
[Source: Adrants]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Snowdog 9:18AM (9/25/2007)
Mostly nonsensical and lame.
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Scott 9:22AM (9/25/2007)
I think the ad is funny and not in bad taste. Whether it is pretentious probably depends on whether the beholder identifies with the "bad guy".
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Yggdrasilly 10:08AM (9/25/2007)
I think it plays to the current hybrid demographic, which is all the ad needs to do.
Making people feel that they'll be better or more virtuous than others if they just buy your product, is a technique that's been used ever since the dawn of advertising. And self-styled "progressives," for all their self-professed enlightenment, are no less susceptible to it than are the rest of us.
So let them enjoy their consumption-based validation. The extra ten thousand or so dollars they spend buying and financing a hybrid can't be donated to political causes, but instead goes to industries, investors and banks. It's enough to gladden the heart of the most acquisitive capitalist.
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BoomBoom 11:38AM (9/25/2007)
The advertisement is no more pretentious than all of the other ads which show one vehicle that is faster or hauls more or looks more stylish than the competition. The ad appeals to the people who buy the cars and appeals to the reason they buy the cars.
I think it is kind of amusing how some folks (i.e. Mr. Ygg..silly) feel the need to constantly point out hybrid’s holier-than-thou attitude in ways that are holier than even the smuggest Prius.
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sammo 5:27PM (9/25/2007)
At least nobody thinks it's racist.
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mike 11:00PM (9/25/2007)
Ygg,
Looking at Civic Sedans vs. Hybrid I see a 3 to 4000 dollar difference.
I'm too tired to to an option by option breakdown right now.
But, you're grossly Overestimating the cost differential of the hybrid.
Secondly, it should be easy to make that up in the fuel savings.
But, even better, if you give up a 20mpg car to go with this hybrid you could very well save 15,000 in 10 years.
There's more then one GREEN reason to go hybrid.
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John 8:14AM (9/26/2007)
Meh, it plays to the people that will buy the car so it can't be faulted. Still though, I can't help but hate the current crop of Hybrids. When a 6 year old Jetta TDI returns better mpg numbers than most hybrids EVER will I have a hard time seeing the point. Oh yeah, its so you can get that fat tax break from the Government and be able to brag that you're saving the environment while driving a car that feels like a cheap child's toy with none of the fun. (That last bit is mostly aimed at the Prius by the way.)
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Ralph Allover 8:23AM (9/26/2007)
The commercial is cute but there is just one problem. It's not a Prius. Honda screwed UP BIG time by not making the car distinguishable from the normal non hybrid civic. People want the prius just becuase it makes a STATEMENT. The Civic Hybrid does not enjoy this distinction.
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Nellydesign 8:37AM (9/26/2007)
The difference between this and other advertising is that other advertising (for the most part)tries to show the PRODUCT being better than something else. This one seems to say that the PEOPLE WHO BUY the product are BETTER than people who don't. Which I think is ridiculous.
And I'm sorry, but it's been proven that it would take upwards of 200,000 miles driven to recoup the extra expense of a hybrid from gas savings.
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Yggdrasilly 10:18AM (9/26/2007)
Hmm..."squealing" and "stuck pigs"...the connection escapes me at the momement, but I suspect it's pertinent to the replies my post has gotten.
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Jon 11:47AM (9/26/2007)
Ralph: actually, there are a lot of people who want a hybrid but can't stand the way Prius looks, and they buy the Civic. A lot of people buy the Prius despite, not because, of the way it looks, because it's considerably better than the Civic hybrid.
Nellydesign, it actually has been proven (by Consumer Reports) that Civic and Prius save money over five years of ownership (60,000 miles). Several other analyses concur. In fact, as the residual value of these cars is turning out to be much higher than what was used in their calculations, these estimates probably understate the payback period for these cars, since depreciation is a major element in total cost of ownership.
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psarhjinian 1:24PM (9/26/2007)
How much more pretentious is it than GM's whoring of American nationalism to push product, or Volkswagen's "German Engineering" push from a while back?
At least Honda is selling based on product virtues rather than wrapping themselves in a flag.
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Dustin 3:34PM (9/26/2007)
In the most basic view, littering is bad for the environment and (car-wise) Civic Hybrids are better for the environment. The commercial suggests that the Hybrids' owners are more concerned for the environment than the average non-Hybrid owner, hence the reason for their purchase. Exaggerated importance? I don't see it.
If this was a look-at-me-I'm-driving-a-Prius commercial, I might call it pretentious.
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Henry 10:06PM (9/26/2007)
Nelly,
The 200000 mile to cover costs is for gas priced at spproximately 2.50/gallon not 4$ which we should be at by next year.
The worst commercials is that of the Hummer
http://www.fatmixx.com/2006/07/17/does-this-ad-campaign-actually-sell-cars/
Buy a Hummer to "Restore your manhood" or
Buy a Hummer to "Get your girl on"
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