Back in the pre-internet days, when television and print ads were king, car manufacturers (or more accurately, their ad agencies) worked tirelessly to develop campaigns that would stick with potential customers by relentlessly pummeling them with relevant slogans, jingles, and tag lines. It worked: Many of us find ourselves recalling long-defunct commercial themes without even trying, and surely we’ve all dropped car-ad catchphrases as pop-culture references a time or two. Oh what a feeling, Toyota, anyone? Or maybe it was a high-concept presentation that did the trick. Ford really went in for this type of thing, with insane truck demonstrations and stunts like the Tempo loop.
Coordinated marketing is still very much a thing, of course, but the brain-searing effect is blunted by the mind-boggling number of platforms and channels and personalities we consume media from – not to mention the ability to skip ads entirely when we do encounter them. So we expect you’ll respond with oldies for this edition of Autopian Asks, wherein we query you thusly:
What car advertising campaigns have stuck with you (for better or worse)?
Also, have any commercials and/or ads ever influenced your buying decision? Consciously, that is– who knows what kind of subliminal hijinks are going on!
To the comments!
[Editor’s Note: For me, it’s gotta be the Ford Commercials showing F-Series machines carrying and towing the competition up a boulder-hill (Peter alluded to these in his lede):
I just haven’t been able to get that image out of my head for over a decade! -DT].
Yesterday we asked for your feedback on car-feature subscriptions, and lot of you are not fans. Surprise level: zero. However, mature adults that you are, concessions were readily made for the idea that some updatable features do require time and expense to be updated by the manufacturer, and thus a subscription plan for a reasonable fee makes sense. But paying to turn on physical components already in the car? Do Not Want.
ExParrot nails it quite succinctly:
Hardware should never be a subscription, unless it too is regularly changed out.
In short, if I’m going to continually pay a subscription, the manufacturer should be continually incurring cost for the service that is provided.
Or, if you prefer a little more color, Granulated MC is less restrained. GTFO indeed!
Software is expensive to write. Paying something after I bought the car for a new application running on the same hardware is fair … [but] paying to activate equipment that’s already in the car and completely disabled until I subscribe? GTFOtta here. That’s 100% profiteering. The hardware is there. You paid for it. Charging me extra for something you disabled because you can is a protection racket.
Ruivo will not haul your junk, you hear that manufacturers?!
Don’t paywall stuff that I can’t remove, change, or use an alternative. Want to charge me for the equivalent of an ECU remap? Open that platform to competitors, so I can have a choice. Charge me for heated seats? Allow me to remove your hardware – or, better yet, allow me to operate the thing myself. If I have the hardware on my car, that I paid for, but I’m not allowed to use it, it isn’t really mine, it is the manufacturer’s – so please collect your junk, I don’t want to haul it around.
All you responses were and are great, of course. Keep ’em coming! And special extra thanks to Members! If you haven’t joined yet, please consider becoming an official Autopian Member today.
I have this ad stuck in my head, so now I’m forcing it on all of you:
GET ON YOUR PONTIAC AND RIIIIIIIIIIDE!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h__l_HLlN5g
They should be ashamed of themselves for putting that generation LeMans in that ad. The only excitement that car would generate would be when you floored it at the start of the on ramp, and you studied the traffic you were about to merge into, then just started praying.
Love it! That’s awesome…I miss Pontiac!!!
I remember this ad from back in the day. Brings back memories of my ’89 Firebird Formula. Red, 5 speed manual, T-Tops and 305 screaming cubic inches of throttle body fuel injected mayhem. With the exception of the Mustang GT (and the Camaro version), it really was the only mainstream “performance” car you could buy, back then. I mean it made, like 140 hp, and would actually smoke a tire. That was pretty bad ass, for a new car in the mid 80s….I had no idea that there was an actual 3 minute long song.
Pontiac had some real bangers. I grew up in the “wider is better” era, haha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWYpv4jDSjk
I spent ~40 years searching for this tv advert.
Couldn’t remember if it was for Shell or Esso – I did have the Porsche, the music and the basic plot stuck in my head, but I was starting to disbelieve the ad ever existed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INS6R-tcICw
Hi. I’m Joe Isuzu. (he’s lying)
Here in my factory, we’re equipping Isuzu I-Marks with millions of standard features, like a breakfast nook.
Oh man, I’d forgotten about Joe Isuzu, those were great commercials!
Not a car, but features a motorcycle, but for beer? Does that count? The Rainier beer commercial with the sounds of the motorcycle ringing out the name of the beer while going around corners. Raaaaiiinneeer beeer!
How about a 1970s Australian Holden ad that became a top 10 hit for a short while. It does not get more Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi than this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Ic3RqPIJo&list=PLDQDLE-B3nPUJOCZ65L71DLTuW9IzeyxP
I’m am kind of stunned no one has yet mentioned it, but my absolute favorite bit of automotive marketing has to be “Cog”, the two-minute mini-film from Honda. It’s about a deconstructed Honda Accord with the parts arranged in a wonderful Rube-Goldberg setup that doubles as pure asmr before that was a thing. No CGI either – it’s still a delight to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl2U1p3fVRk
Thank you for bringing this one up. It’s one of the best auto ads ever.
Anything by Fitzpatrick and Van Kaufman for Pontiac in the days where Pontiac ruled. The artwork is stunning, and there’s a terrific coffee table book about it too. (P.S. they also did mid fifties Buick and seventies Opel.)
Okay, so I went print to everyone’s television. But I also remember the extravagant 1964 Chevy TV commercial where they helicoptered an Impala convertible to the top of a butte.
Funny, I don’t remember any car ads that made an impact on me as a kid. I love car ads but I only really started getting interested in them after youtube made on-demand video streaming commonplace. One of the ads that I like the most is this 1966 Renault 4 ad for french-speaking African countries (sorry, I am physically incapabale of being unbiased when it comes to the Renault 4).
Sometimes, when I pop my Quatrelle’s hatch open, I sing “Idéale, idéale, idéale, idéale!” in my mind.
welp, fogot to link the video. here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usFqrsQmynM
Really obscure: A Subaru campaign I think in the late 70’s or maybe early 80’s. The gag was having groups of people who had a car name associated with them doing a jingle about why their group buys Subarus. All I remember is something to the effect of, ” Rain or snow, it’s go, go go – that’s why Cadillacs buy Subarus!” Cadillacs in this case was a singing group. Another group was a family with the last name Honda, I think.
The 6000 SUX: https://youtu.be/Y6v_nrf9nFQ
I don’t have to go back to olden days. Toyota Jan saying, “Imagine yourself in a Toyota” at a time when imagining is all you can do because the dealers don’t have vehicles.
This old Cadillac Escalade ad where they parked a Kleinschnittger K125 in the back is one of my all time favorites. Mostly because of the Kleinschnittger. But also because Zeppelin rules.
https://youtu.be/uijLG9ZwuxQ
Never saw that one, nice!
Radio commercial in Alabama, mid/late 90s: “Do YOU! have a job? Do YOU! have 99 dollars?”
Listening to the radio after moving to Georgia: “Do YOU! have a job? Do YOU! have 99 dollars?”
Listening to the radio after moving to freaking Arizona: “Do YOU! have a job? Do YOU! have 99 dollars?”
Those goddamn Kia commercials were inescapable.
As for a great ad for a great car, I’ve always loved “Little GTI”: https://youtu.be/3zcm4oS9IaM
Well I’m not much of a TV watcher but the Audi Quattro ad they did somewhere around 2007 which involved driving up a ski jump just like the original 80s ad did always stuck with me. The sheer ability was clear but how German of them too: let’s do something pointless with our engineering because we can.
The Crocodile Dundee Subaru Outback commercials were successful, though the Legacy wagons were/are my style (I own two).
I grew up in Volvo 145/265 wagons and remember the print ad that stacked a bunch of Volvos to show the strength of the roof. There was a TV commercial I don’t quite remember seeing:
https://youtu.be/s9NRDfDIxcc
This Volvo commercial comparing the tidy size of the 145 to large American wagons seems classic to me, though I was probably too young to see it:
https://youtu.be/FAgmQzC7rV0
My favorite are the Chevy “Like A Rock” Commercials! Classic!!! (Already know the jokes about being a rock and can’t move ha ha)
I believe the retort goes: “I’d rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford”
Zoom zoom. One of the reasons I bought my first Mazda 25 years ago.
Yep. You and me both!
Wife and I both have Miatas. License plates: HISZOOM and HERZOOM. Yeah, we’re “those people”.
Two that come to mind.
Golf GTI/Speed Racer:
https://youtu.be/j3nYUeGLLvk
Integra/Hot Wheels:
https://youtu.be/dWB5m7wOCuQ
Da Da Da.
This commercial convinced me I never wanted a VW.
The song was stupid, yes. But the commercial itself is one of the funniest ones I’ve ever seen. Watch it again with the sound turned off.
https://youtu.be/KmQvOT1Sxkg
When Honda was the first to break the news of the B2 stealth bomber, using their own full size mockup.
Two that spring to mind as car ads I genuinely respect are the Golf V GTI ad “The Original, Remastered” which was an excellent capturing of how the motoring press and VW itself viewed the mk.5 as a return to form through a remix and modern dancing of Singin’ In the Rain, and Toyota’s eventually banned ‘The Real Deal’ scene of a CGI guy breaking out of a dull artificial world in a real GT86 – again a brilliant summary of the spirit of that car.
But really, it’s the Audi R8 V10 on a rolling road with its rear bodywork removed. I saw that in a cinema a couple of times and nothing will top that.
Peter Stomare and VW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ83wUhXoL4
Wooouldn’t you really rather have a Byoooo-ick?
—Wow, you’re reading this? Thanks! If you’re into RC cars and I seem vaguely familiar, it’s because I spent over 25 years writing and editing RC car news, reviews, and tech articles in print and online–
Any chance on a 40 year retropective on the Associated RC-10, as that anniversary is coming up?
I’ve been outta the hobby 15 years but I remember those things. The local indoor track was pretty much filled with them.
Guess what, the vintage RC scene has gone bonkers, like everything else to do with Gen X (are we the new Boomers?).
A lot of people are paying a lot of money to have original cars sitting doing nothing on the shelf, or unbuilt in boxes. Madness.
We’re not the new boomers yet, but we will be, if anyone remembers we exist. But being Gen X, we won’t care either way.
I’m writing about full-size cars and trucks full time, so I’m afraid that one won’t be coming from me! A worthy topic to be sure, though. Certainly someone will do it, if not Team Associated themselves.
Unpimp Ze Auto!! as a good thing, December to remember as something that makes me want to throw things
I came here for this one. I randomly think about that campaign once a week.
“Ve just dropped eet like eet’s hot!”
Zoom, zoom, zoom!