Stuff I Don't Get...

In my first entry titled Stuff I Don't Get... I explained that I had trouble understanding the logic behind Coors Light's advertising techniques. I'm detecting a pattern, because this post is also about advertising.

My first rant is in regards to the recent advertising campaign by Chrysler for the 2009 Dodge Ram. If you watch any sports at all, you've most likely seen commercials that show a sort of competition for people Driving Dodge Ram trucks. In order to see the content of the whole commercial, one must go to the website. This isn't the first time I've seen a commercial that tries to entice viewers to visit the website for a particular company. However, I don't think I've ever actually visited a site just to see the continuation of the commercial. This particular commercial effort however, seemed over-the-top so I decided to visit the site to see if the rest of it was just as stupid as I thought the teaser was. The teaser had these guys driving through an obstacle course that included trucks swinging like a pendulum and exploding buildings. (You can find these commercials at http://www.ramchallenge.com/.) I find these adds useless for many different reasons, but all of my pet-peeves for TV commercials boil down to this: I want you to show my why your product is of use to me. If it doesn't then you're not doing your job as an advertiser. Or you're simply clueless.

If you follow the above link, you'll note that the very first screen you come to is a large disclaimer which reads:

The following competition features actual contestants under the supervision of professional stunt drivers. Chrysler LLC, Dodge and its Agencies insist no one attempt to replicate the activity shown on this site.

I'm having a hard time understanding how that begins to make the case that I will find their trucks useful, but whatever. To summarize, there are these 8 guys broken up into teams of 2 according to their profession- 2 firefighters, 2 military men, 2 cowboys, and 2 contractors. Obviously, they are the manliest of men. The only manlier person is the host of the competition. I can't find any good way to describe him except that he looks like John Kruk's ugly brother- and even John Kruk would tell you that's not a compliment. He begins each stage of the 4-day competition by firing a sawed-off shotgun in the air. And he says "Never back down from a challenge" a lot. That's the catch-phrase for this ad campaign. The website is pretty impressive actually, and you need to watch a couple segments of video to see what I'm talking about. In short, it's a testosterone-laden 40 minutes of action movie/reality TV directed by Hollywood director/producer Tony Scott. During the race, the drivers take the trucks up and down steep inclines/declines, through a "wall of fire", avoid old cars and trucks swinging from cranes, over a bridge the drivers have to build themselves, and through an obstacle course while towing a good sized trailer among other things. In the grand finale, they drive their trucks through what appears to be an old ghost-town. As they drive by, or in some cases through these buildings they explode. I guess it's all in a days work. Or not.

Here's what I don't get...

1) Exactly who are they marketing these trucks to? Obviously they think cowboys, firefighters, military men, and contractors would find this stuff to be impressive. In fact, I think driving a truck through a course they had set up would be a lot of fun. But it's not likely to be something that will happen to me...or MOST OF THE WORLD. If they're trying to sell a lot of trucks, why don't they try to have a larger target audience?

2) How many millions of dollars did it take to produce this online commercial that most people won't ever see? I'm sure Tony Scott didn't do it for free. As far as quality goes, it's first-rate. It reminded me a lot of "24," right down to the letters that flashed across the screen. I'd like to see a Congressman ask the guys at Chrysler who gave the OK for this commercial if they really think it was the best use of their advertising budget.

Here's the weird thing- I just bought a new truck. I've taken some ribbing for it as it's kind of large and rather redneckish. (It even has a NASCAR sticker on the back window. I'll be removing that the first time I have a chance!) I'll be sure NOT to lend it to people who teased me when they need a truck. Especially those who returned my last truck with a large dent in it! I used the "truck" part of my old truck all the time. It wasn't just a vehicle to get me around. I used it for landscaping, picking up stuff at Home Depot for home projects, towing the occasional trailer, helping friends move, etc... If I didn't have a truck, I'd have to get used to it. I like owning a truck. I got a new truck because my family has outgrown my old truck and I'd like to be able to take them all with me. The new truck is a 1994 with 56,500 miles on it, reasonably priced, and in almost mint condition. It's the only truck I've ever seen with an automatic sliding rear window. I like this truck. But when looking for a new truck I never asked myself, "Can it go through a wall of fire? Will I be able to successfully navigate a gauntlet of swinging cars? Will I be able to jump through an old building just before it explodes? I hope so. I might need to some day." Because that happens to a lot of people, right?

I've rambled on this long enough... I just don't see why anyone would buy a truck due to this expensive add.

My second "I don't get it" isn't as big of a deal. It's about the Snuggie. This is just plain silly. Some will find a use for this, but please, I'm begging you, do NOT take it to any sporting event. You'll need to pause the video when the family is at the sporting event to see how silly they look. I can't imagine bringing one of these things to a curling event let alone a Patriots game.

Well, that's it for this rant. Sometimes I'm just a goof.