Thursday, March 15, 2007

Celebrity Voice Impersonated

This car is a wicked pissah!One of the groups most known for having zero creativity in their ads are car dealers. And if they are doing something "creative," it's generally highly embarrassing and carries a Cringe Factor of 12*.

On a break for some provisions of the lunch variety, I heard a radio spot for a local Dodge dealer. It had to have been a :60, or it was the longest thirty seconds of my life. During this ad, various jokes were attempted using voice over "talent" who impersonated George Bush, Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eddie Murphy. Way to keep it current, local yokels. If you have to go that route, at least do someone timeless like Christopher Walken. If there was a "deal" in that ad, I never heard it for all the idiocy of the execution.

It doesn't matter what medium, car dealers scrape the barrel for loud colors, ugly fonts and bad ideas. Since they're getting co-op dollars from the manufacturers, maybe the manufacturers can start helping them. Yeah, the rolling stock B-roll you supply your dealerships is pretty, with the leaves kicking up after the fast passing car races by, but when the dealers throw on cheesy spokeshacks (and...WALK as you talk - EXCELLENT!) carrying placards with phone numbers, you've just lowered the bar once again.

If you've got to go supercheese, take a lesson from the master, Cal Worthington.

*Cringometer readings may vary. Consult owner's manual for your particular model.

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3 Comments:

  • The only good stuff I’ve ever heard for car dealers were the Trunk Monkey spots. Even the dealerships couldn't fuck those up when they threw their logo in.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 15, 2007 at 4:18 PM  

  • What do car dealerships have to say, really, other than to tout the lowest price and to claim not to be like other dealerships? The less there is to say, the louder you say it, I guess.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 16, 2007 at 11:54 AM  

  • The only memorable local dealership commercials I can think of are:

    1) Eastern Motors. They are some of the most absurd, and most frequently repeated local ads in the greater DC area. Watch this and you too will know why:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD8o9bt-eWg Go hard or go home!

    2) This one never ran, but remember when that Ohio Mitsubishi dealer was going to run some faux automotive jihad spot with fatwah Friday, etc. etc.? Obviously the ad never ran, but here I am still talking about some local car dealer spot in a state I have only driven through, so ....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at March 18, 2007 at 9:29 AM  

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