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Wed 22 Oct, 2003 03:30 pm
A MUST SEE BY DODGE _ TURN ON YOUR SPEAKERS!
Executive Explains Double-Entendre African-American Spot
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A Dodge executive this morning explained the company's new African-American commercial for the Durango SUV that takes place in a men's bathroom and features two men in a double-entendre joke about penis size.
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Hmm, the only reason I see this ad as notable is not because of it's shock-jock elements but because it takes on, by the horns so to speak, the stereotype about peni and automobiles.
I think it's a risky gamble, this could backfire.
psst, sorry to make a marketing dicussion about a joke Husker, but I have an interest in marketing.
I stopped watching NYPD Blue because just too many of their scenes were shot in urinals. I found that it made me very uncomfortable. Everyone has to go to the bathroom, but do we really have to see it in living color?
I think that Craven is right. There may be a small niche audience that will relate to the ad, but I think that the average person will not have a positive reaction to it!
In another interesting aside regarding Quebec, you cannot buy Dr. Pepper there, because 'Pepper' is a derogatory term for the Quebecois. Quite frankly, there is only so much homework you can do, and Quebec slang is not exactly well-known around the globe.
As for the Dodge ad, time will tell if this approach will sell more Durangos.
Given that the Dr. Pepper one buys in Canada contains anti-freeze, that's no great loss. I was stuck in a line at immigration in Detroit one day, drinking a DP i had bought in London before coming down to the border. Idly, i was perusing the label, when i saw "polyethylene glycol." Polyethylene glycol ? ! ? ! ? My God ! ! ! That's anti-freeze ! ! !
I'm philosophical though, we are poisoned in so many ways as it is. And i'm too damned cheap to throw out a litre of soda that cost me damn near three dollars Canajun. I've checked the label on the U.S. product--no anti-freeze.
I'm reminded of that Simpson's episode where Bart gets kidnapped in France by creepy, shifty wine merchants. He finally escapes, and finds a cop, and tells his kidnapping story, which the cop brushes off. Then he says: "They put anti-freeze in their wine!" Response: "That is very serious!" So off they go.
As I said on the other thread - I think that ad is hilarious - because, as Craven says, it plays off the stereotype. It has to be way tongue in cheek!
Er - as it were.
Important women's stuff happens in the loo too, Phoenix....LOL
Oooooooh - I am a niche - LOL.
One suspects the niche concerned may not buy Durangos...
Yeah, to hell with those overbuilt gas-guzzlers. I don't know what i'll do when Ol' Bessie dies--i don't know if you can get a five-speed, two-wheel drive jeep with a four-cylinder engine any longer. She's a peach, gets great mileage, offers a very good view of the road, and weighs less than most standard passenger cars.
These days, "Sports Utility Vehicles" have become almost as large and unweildy as Humvees. Those who buy them don't use them for sport, seem unaware of the utility of such a vehicle type, and treat them the way people once did their mid-size passenger cars. They are washed and waxed and vacuumed, and shiny clean. Heaven forbid they would get any mud on them!
All I know is that I've seen way funnier ads that are way more risque. In some ways, I don't know if this one goes far enough. Playing off a stereotype does indeed make it clever, but whether or not the idea works in terms of sales remains to be seen. Now, there is an ad for Subway where a middle-aged dude is washing his SUV in a schoolgirl dress and belly shirt, dancing to Tony Basil's 'Ricky' while the neighbours look on in shock and horror. His wife comes out in shock and just says "Frank?" He says "It's okay honey, I had Subway!" Segueway into Subway's low-fat sandwiches plug. Now that's funny...
Hey! We got that one - a world with but one culture...
Oh, as a amarketing afficionado I have seen much better risqué ads. This one strikes me as not too clever at all.
But what it does make me wonder about is if they are inviting a backlash in public opinion.
By associating the Durango with peni I wonder if their customers will be faced with more of the ole "Ohh, you bought that big car cause of a penile deficiency didn'tcha?"
hmmmm
I was thinking it was a fishing tale - the big one that got away or err it was this many inches as a man holds his hand up displaying a 3 foot catch.
err well ask any man how much 6" is??? LOL
well err Dodge added an inch to the story plus a little racial diversity, the big one got away!
Yeah, I tend to agree that inviting the "ya got something to compensate for, eh?" comments is not that wise.
I thought it was fairly funny.
The "Herbal Essence" commercials are weirder. At first it was funny, but it's pretty one-note.
There was a parody on I think Mad TV of a guy doing an Herbal Essences-type shampoo commercial that was HILARIOUS.
I generally don't watch the teevees, Boss, what's up with the herbal essence commercials?
"Totally organic experience", gal in shower saying, "Yes... yes... YES!!" and emerging looking... refreshed.
Ah well, probably not a bad idea--i'm reminded of Bernadette Peters on Saturday Night Live, in a low cut evening dress, singing When You're Making Love Alone . . .
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