While I was thumbing through People magazine like I normally never do (I wasn't looking to advertisements to blog about, no way), I came across this Toyota ad. (Sorry about the blurry picture, by the way. I had to scan it in.) In this ad, Toyota's new SUV the RAV4 -- which I suppose is an attempted l33tspeak way of saying rave -- is placed right before a huge, foreboding maze of city buildings. The caption is impossible to read in the photo, but this is what it says:
No matter how lost the city makes you feel, it's comforting to know the RAV4 is engineered to handle it all. With Vehicle Stability Control, 166 hp and an EPA 27 MPG hwy rating*, solving the city has never been easier. Learn more at toyota.com/rav4.
Vehicle shown with optional equipment. *2008 EPA-estimated 27 highway MPG for RAV4 4-cylinder 2WD models. Actual mileage will vary. c2007 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.S., Inc.
The tone of the advertisement is dark, with plenty of shadowy buildings in the labyrinth. The maze paths themselves are lit in order to create contrast against the walls and the dark sky. The SUV itself is given prominent space right in the lower middle of the page; Your eyes are first drawn to the maze, then to the convenient solution sitting on the road right below it. The context and purpose of the ad is simple -- cities are large, complex challenges, so why don't you take them with a powerful, safe, and environmentally friendly car? Heck, even David Bowie would flee in terror from this thing!
Actually, I'm suprised that they didn't mention possible GPS/map finding equipment in this ad, because thats what I would actually want if I'm going to take on Chicago or New York. Why would you need all that horsepower in the city, for instance? Why would you care that the thing has a 27 MPG hwy rating if you will most likely never go faster than 27 MPH in the maze? The ad itself is most likely targeted at younger, suburb grown people (or those who never had to take on city driving), since those who have lived in NYC all their lives probably can deal with the urban jungle. In all actually, it doesn't really matter what specific car you would drive in a metro area, anyway. A small sedan can navigate the streets as easily (actually, probably easier) than a huge honking truck.
Uselessly big cars are overrated anyway, in my opinion. I will probably be in the target zone for this ad in a few years, but as long as there is something cheaper available, I don't really care. Let the stockbrokers have their gas guzzlers, and let me have a simple car with a nice speaker system that can get me from A to B easily. That is all that I need, at least for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment