Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Commercial Headaches

There are some television ads which are so bad they make my head hurt.  I've written before about the Exxon Mobil ads which moan about our poor performance in math and science and how we can solve everything if we just gave more money to our teachers.  Beside the pretty blatant reason for the ads (buy off the teachers unions which fund the left's power base in the Democratic Party in order to take the target off the company as the poster boy of evil global warming), the ads make an argument that isn't supported by the evidence of history.  We've poured massive infusions of cash into K-12 education of the last half century without any increase in performance.  Washington DC spends 29 grand per year per student and can't seem to find a way to teach a lot of their students to read.

But there's a new ad campaign that just makes my skin crawl -- the Chevy Volt.  The Volt is so expensive that almost no one who buys one can justify the price tag on the basis of fuel savings.  Yet, we get to see a parade of happy customers gushing about saving money at the gas pump.  One even plans to pay for a vacation with the savings!  A quick google to find a video of a typical ad turned up this story in Adweek which includes a number of the ads.

The ads make as much sense as the proud homeowner who paid $50,000 to install some solar panels so that he can save $1000 a year on his electric bill.

Final note -- there's one ad featuring a Volt owner who feels so good about himself because kids give him a thumbs up when he drives by.  Really.   I have three kids.  I can actually imagine one of them giving a thumbs up to a car driving by -- to the guy who lives somewhere around here and drives a Lamborghini.  We've see him gassing it up a few times at the nearby convenience store and driving down a local road.  A thumbs up for a Volt?!  Umm, not so much.

And then you have to wonder about anyone who feels good about himself because kids give him a thumbs up for his car ....

My headache is returning.

See Also -- even at 41 grand for a car worth 17 grand plus a battery it's losing money for GM.

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