Automotive Blogger

As a member of Gen X, I am part of the television generation, which means that as much as I want to associate cars with engine type and how much cargo space or towing capacity they might have, sometimes I’m distracted by something completely irrelevant: the ad slogans.

And yet, how irrelevant are they? Does BMW have the same cachet to the casual observer, since dropping the phrase “The Ultimate Driving Machine” in favor of “A Company of Ideas” a year ago? And would Mazda be as kicky without the words “Zoom, zoom?” Advertising slogans are as much a part of a cars image as the color of the paint, or the shape of the hood. So for this week’s Friday Five, I’m sharing my five favorite auto ad slogans of all time.

• Bold moves…they happen every day. Ford, 2006.
• Drivers wanted. Volkswagen, 1995.
• The more you look, the more you like. Mazda, 1980s
• Why live in one dimension? Lexus, 2006.
• You asked for it. You got it. Toyota. Toyota, 1970s.

Your turn: What are your favorite slogans? Which ones do you completely hate?

As a car guy, car commercials tend to catch my eye. Well, sometimes they do. Sometimes a commercial is made and released into the wild that makes everyone notice, not just car guys. The following commercials are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.

After the Dude, you bought a girl car? post last week, I got a few comments from people who were surprised that the Chevy HHR didn’t make the list. Do you think automakers design a car and instantly know what kind of person is most likely going to buy it? Makes you wonder when you see this commercial, which always makes me laugh. When you see the tagline at the end, are they saying that girls should get one because guys can’t keep their hands off it? That’s like saying the HHR is like the roofies of current production automobiles. Anyway, here’s the commercial:

A few years back, BMW created a site called BMW Films and had a few very well known movie directors (Guy Ritchie, Ang Lee, John Woo, etc) make eight incredibly good mini-movies that doubled as car commercials. The mini-films had recognizable actors (Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Stellan Skarsgard, Lois Smith, Madonna, etc.) and were longer than the thirty second spots that were common on television. What BMW did by putting this much time and effort into car commercials was to get consumers to actually seek out BMW commercials; as opposed to simply being exposed to them. The result was a landmark campaign that ran for four years that has been imitated with less success by competitors. The following is my favorite in the series:

I have to confess: I love lowriders. I would love to have one of these awesome hopping Impalas. This commercial is one of two I remembered from Chevrolet. The other one was for the Silverado SS, and at least I found the music for that one Return of the Tres - Delinquent Habits (if you wanna see/hear this awesome song, go to the link, click on Videos, the Return of the Tres - you won’t regret it). Unfortunately, I couldn’t find both commercials. If anyone finds the other one, I’d love to have it or a link to it. The music on this one is “I’ll be Around” by The Spinners. Good stuff.

Unfortunately, the newer Impala they’re trying to sell in this commercial looks really out of place. By showing this commercial and the culture that sprung up around the older Chevrolets, it makes everyone very much aware of the gap between those much revered older Chevys and the newer ones.

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