"And she'll have fun fun fun
'Til her daddy takes the T-bird away."
The Beach Boys, 1964
I have been complaining about truck ads on TV for years.
Truck ads have an implied political message that it is OK -- fun, thrilling, and manly -- to treat nature roughly.
Truck manufacturers know better than to sell the practical drudgery of a work vehicle. They are selling empowerment and fun. The ads are short action-movies, with trucks driven by an adult male, who are empowered by the truck to drive like a hormone-driven teenager, barreling through obstacles, blasting around corners, through mud, over rocks. There is a lot of skidding around corners.
The ads casually make the wide-open spaces the victim. Most of the environmental challenges facing us involve shifting the burden of externalities. The cheapest, easiest thing to do is enjoy a benefit and put the cost or burden onto someone else. Forty years ago, when I held local office, lumber mills fought the expense of putting air filters on their emission stacks. The local air was their dumping ground. It was good business, but bad for the environment. The issues today fit the same theme, whether it is fossil fuel emissions, railroad and airplane safety, chemical spills, or timber harvest practices. Banks want to enjoy the upside of risky profits, then give the downside of bailouts to the taxpayer. It is externality shifting. I want the public to notice when it is happening and to protest it -- not to be blind to it. The driver is having fun. The land is getting abused.
When the commercials come on, I talk to the TV. "Slow down! Take it easy!"
Here is the strangest ad, the Toyota Super Bowl ad. It is selling excitement. You don't get that by driving the speed limit in city traffic.
The Chevrolet Silverado ad is a mini-drama of a good father taking his sleeping family out into open country, beginning in the dim light of dawn.
By 11 seconds the truck is roaring through a creek, water splashing up behind it.
Here the truck is in cattle country. A good neighbor would not want to disturb the livestock. Here the truck is barreling past cattle at the 17-second mark.
The family had trail bikes to speed along trails and then go through water at second 35.
Making ruts in soft ground.
The truck skids around a corner, making a 90-degree turn at 48 seconds.
At twilight, the good father, looks back at his sleeping family, having taught his family a love for the outdoors at second 55.
Here is a retro ad by Ford that was never aired on TV, for reasons that will be obvious if you click. The spokesman scoffs at Chevrolet Silverado ads. "If you want f----- stunts, see a f------n movie." Click. Funny.
I wish truck ads had a prominent disclaimer, like something required in ads for new drugs, saying something like this:
The landowners gave permission to film these ads. A remediation crew repaired the damage caused in filming this ad, at our expense. This ad was just pretend. Don't drive like this. Slow down. Be safe. Respect the land you are driving on.
I don't expect to get my wish.
I share your sentiments, in Spades.
There is a very nice insurance ad featuring an idiot doing tire-burning donuts in a parking lot, followed by a very sedate, courteous careful driver on city streets. I love it. And there's a reasonable selection process here; an insurance company would want to appeal to safe, courteous drivers. There's not the same incentive for car companies; if customers destroy the vehicles, tires, and nature, no problem. It's a feature.
Certainly agree. A continuation of the cigarette adds from the 60's