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Have you guys seen these? The gist of the campaign is, this little blond, curly-headed boy is talking about how parents don't always have to embarrass their kids by driving cars that are less than the Toyotas he's hawking. One spot shows a kid being picked up from school in a station wagon only slightly removed from Clark Griswold's Family Truckster. The station wagon kid mouths "help me" as the far-superior curly headed boy looks on from his Toyota.
The kicker is at the end where he says "You're parents don't always have to be lame".
Those commercials set off my curmudgeon alarm. It's bad enough that every parent on every TV show is an ineffectual boob nowadays, but now ad agencies are trying to sell us $20,000+ vehicles by making us feel like morons, who aren't as smart as 10 year old?
As someone who works in marketing, I think this is a BAD campaign. Sure it's memorable, but it does not inspire good will on the part of the merchandise, or the company. And Toyota needs all the good will it can get after the recall fiasco they are still dealing with. There is a Toyota plant 20 miles away in nearby Georgetown, and I have many relatives and friends who work there. So there troubles aren't lost on me. This is a wrong-headed campaign for ANY company, and in particular one who needs some really good PR right now.
Sorry, had to vent!
Chris
The kicker is at the end where he says "You're parents don't always have to be lame".
Those commercials set off my curmudgeon alarm. It's bad enough that every parent on every TV show is an ineffectual boob nowadays, but now ad agencies are trying to sell us $20,000+ vehicles by making us feel like morons, who aren't as smart as 10 year old?
As someone who works in marketing, I think this is a BAD campaign. Sure it's memorable, but it does not inspire good will on the part of the merchandise, or the company. And Toyota needs all the good will it can get after the recall fiasco they are still dealing with. There is a Toyota plant 20 miles away in nearby Georgetown, and I have many relatives and friends who work there. So there troubles aren't lost on me. This is a wrong-headed campaign for ANY company, and in particular one who needs some really good PR right now.
Sorry, had to vent!
Chris
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