Does this make anyone want to run out and buy a Chevy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vsyb...eature=related

How many insults are embedded in this 'campaign'? My first guess was at least 10 but I suspect I've missed a few more. For example, college kids are dumb enough to be taken in by this jerk. This is just one of a series of 'ads' that according to You Tube were put on MTV.

My first thought, "Thank goodness I don't watch MTV." My second thought, "Is MTV that desperate?" Third thought, "Thanks for the warning about MTV."

GM, the sponsor of these ads, was out begging for tax payer bailout funds about the same time. Maybe it was this commercial ... "If you don't loan us the money, we'll run these ads on all Sunday morning TV shows." They must have approved this campaign about the time they were planning the jet ride to Washington.

Bob Wilson

 

OMG what a waste, but it does appear GM has been on this road for some time. H

 

I'm hoping you meant to say that one of the insults embedded in the Chevy ad was that college kids are dumb, not that you think that college kids are dumb enough to be taken in by it... right?

There are plenty of college kids smart enough to figure out what the ad is trying to do. Most of them can't afford to buy a car because they have such large tuition bills to pay. So they will see the silly Chevy logo, answer "Chevy" to the questions posed in the ad, laugh outwardly or inwardly at the guy holding the microphone, and take the free gas card so they can go buy some gas for whatever car they might already own. (Probably not a new Chevy.)

Anyway, lame ad campaign.

 

While I must admit that the Chevy Gas Fairy is fairly creepy, the Burger King "King" is much more creepy.

Would avoiding products from companies that run creepy adds help to keep the creepy adds off the air?

 

First of all, you should get your facts straight before going on a rant. By the way, that is called research. It's part of Advertising, which clearly you know nothing about. That commercial was created in partnership with an ad campaign by MTSU students with a budget of $2,500 to create ads (video, print, etc) and place them. I am proud to have been a part of this project. Sorry we didn't get Fox to sponsor us and make us some cool effects. Or maybe we could have gotten George Lucas to throw in a Wookie or two. $2500 doesn't go far. This is not some campaign that went nation wide. It was a local campaign. By the way, we did beat UAB, located in your state. Go Chevy, Go Green and HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

I have to admit...
the Gas Fairy is more likable than the "Burger King" King.

 

I don't hate Chevy enough to consider that ad to be a fair representation of their products. I had occasion to test drive a Saturn VUE two-mode last week and it is a serious hybrid. But that commercial evokes more sympathy than anything else. Treat this as one data point in your ad effectiveness review.

Poor taste, poor product presence, and generally offensive ... wait, wait, perhaps it appeals to those whose credit scores represent that point of view.

Bob Wilson

 

A few things to clear up. The commercial was not aired on MTV, but MTTV, the student-run campus television station for Middle Tennessee State University. The title of the video even says such. Neither was this the bright idea of General Motors. Instead, the campaign was created entirely from advertising students at MTSU, with the goal to create awareness within the college for some of Chevy's latest Green vehicles.

Creepy? Poor Taste? Generally Offensive? Doesn't matter. The fact is that within a month of his debut, the Gas Fairy had over 1,000 friends on Facebook, and the local Chevy dealership was up in sales by 20%. That's effective advertising.

For one who points out things that "generally offend" you sure have a way of doing so yourself. Insinuating that people with low credit scores have poor taste and are generally offensive...also, If there are any short, balding men out there with dreams of being a fairy.....well, I'm sure you have dashed them!

 

Too bad not one of the GM products was mentioned. In fact, it was taken from the latest GM "talking points", which seeks to ignore how many cars getting better than 40 MPG are on the market. The "more models getting over 30 MPG highway" simply ignores how many of those models are duplicates and this represents the current top of the line. It also seems to ignore how many of those models have to be "manual transmission" vehicles.

GM's two-mode looks promising but still very pricey, today closer to $55-65,000. Even the Volt is projected to be at least $40,000. The affordable, low price model, the Aveo, is in the bottom 10 list of Consumer Reports owner approved. So here is the deal:

• Young buyer gets the affordable Aveo - high mileage
• Buyer gets soured - only 30% of the Aveo buyers would get another
• Lessons learned buyer - becomes a new non-GM buyer

I know because we had a brand new, 1981 Chevette until 1987. It was replaced by a used, $800 Datsun that ran for years and years before we replaced it with a new, 1991 Camry. My wife won't have another GM product thanks to that Chevette. I'm not so hard on GM but I do go by Consumer Reports.
It succeeded in those areas.
The real question is over what interval, the actual numbers (aka., going from 5 to 6 vehicles is "20%") and comparison to other GM dealers. Since September 2008, there has been this economic melt-down of credit and all it takes is setting a different credit threshold to change numbers as well as other price discounts. In short, you stated one unsubstantiated claim with inadequate empirical data to back it up and failure to account for other GM sales initiatives. For example, the closing of all Bill Heard dealerships occurred at the same time forcing GM buyers to other dealerships.
We've had to deal with so many false claims before this just falls in the same category of unsubstantiated nonsense.
Actually it was just a list of 10 offensive elements of these "ads." Perhaps this ad will be picked up and replicated, no problem. Those whom the Gods would destroy, first they make insane.

Bob Wilson