General Motors vs Ford

[woody2846]

The GM advert, that for some strange reason hasn't gone down very well in France.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGJSI48gkFc

Fords reply.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAN61QK0aUI

[Mercury00]

They're both st. The Cadillac one is the usual patriotic American bullst with a car that looks like a Hot Wheels model. The Ford one is patronising crap featuring the sixth member of The Jackson Five.

[NPI]

I like the American attitude and like the GM ad. American cars look good in America - the look doesn't work over here.

The Ford attack on GM is too subtle and doesn't make much of a point.

[XJ Flyer]

Yet more proof the Americans are losing the plot.The way I see the GM advert is that it's saying that 1950's terms and conditions are good.While being that all the jobs left in America will be paying low wages you're only going to be paid enough to drive a st electric Cadillac not a CTSV during the small amount of time off that you'll get.As for the Europeans in general they're bright enough to use late June and/or most if not all of July for their Summer break and leave the darker colder months of August and September to the Brits.As for the Ford ad yet more politically driven bullst.

[Gixer]

They're just adverts...

99.9% of all the ads on our TV are ste too.

[Matt Harper]

Yes, but Mr XJ Flyer is so rabidly anti-American that crap car ads are a reflection on the overall culture of a society he patently knows very little about, presumably.

[XJ Flyer]

Matt Harper said:

Yes, but Mr XJ Flyer is so rabidly anti-American that crap car ads are a reflection on the overall culture of a society he patently knows very little about, presumably.

I'm actually pro American enough to know that most working class Americans are probably fed up with being told how good it is to have 2 weeks paid holiday per year.Or that the expectation of an electric Cadillac is far better to keep working class wages 'competitive' than to allow them to raise their expectations to something like the CTSV and then have the time off in the Summer to use it.

[kambites]

I think Americans, certainly well educated middle-class Americans, are actually starting to develop a healthy cynicism to some of the rubbish that sells over there purely on the basis of its country of origin.

[Matt Harper]

XJ Flyer said:

I'm actually pro American enough to know that most working class Americans are probably fed up with being told how good it is to have 2 weeks paid holiday per year.Or that the expectation of an electric Cadillac is far better to keep working class wages 'competitive' than to allow them to raise their expectations to something like the CTSV and then have the time off in the Summer to use it.

Working class Americans don't drive around in $80k CTS-V's.
Ave paid vacation is now 20 days - maybe I'm super-lucky - I get 40
Your assumption that this society is so dumb that it is influenced by drivel in a car commercial is arrogant at best.

[XJ Flyer]

Matt Harper said:

XJ Flyer said:

I'm actually pro American enough to know that most working class Americans are probably fed up with being told how good it is to have 2 weeks paid holiday per year.Or that the expectation of an electric Cadillac is far better to keep working class wages 'competitive' than to allow them to raise their expectations to something like the CTSV and then have the time off in the Summer to use it.

Working class Americans don't drive around in $80k CTS-V's.
Ave paid vacation is now 20 days - maybe I'm super-lucky - I get 40
Your assumption that this society is so dumb that it is influenced by drivel in a car commercial is arrogant at best.

That's the point in my previous reply.IE it's clear that my comments weren't directed at US society at all they were actually directed at the makers and motivation behind the ads in question.Which at least in the case of the GM ad seems to be all about trying to justify an outdated idea,in regards to expectations,regarding working terms and conditions,and a regime which puts the modern day example of the US muscle car out of reach of working class buyers and which obviously also wants to go backwards in regards to terms and conditions.IE as I said politicised bullst which is obviously at least how those who made and commissioned the ad see those issues.

[Matt Harper]

But the commercial isn't aimed at working class Americans - it's directed very tacitly at middle/upper income business owner operators - the young(er) professional white-collar cohort.
The blue collar guys by pick-up trucks, Camrys and Mustangs.

[NPI]

Matt Harper said:

But the commercial isn't aimed at working class Americans - it's directed very tacitly at middle/upper income business owner operators - the young(er) professional white-collar cohort.

..and I would imagine huge numbers of them drive European cars.

Going back a bit, I knew a fairly senior high tech guy who drove a Rover SD1 and he the audacity to call the Buick LeSabre hire car I had a boat!

[Monty Zoomer]

Matt Harper said:

The blue collar guys by pick-up trucks, Camrys and Mustangs.

buy

[Matt Harper]

Monty Zoomer said:

buy

Good catch, how lax of me. Come to think of it, I think XJ Flyer may have a point. I'm not at all sure how many Americans, regardless of the color of their collar, would know what 'n'est pas?' means

[Matt Harper]

NPI said:

..and I would imagine huge numbers of them drive European cars.

Quite right - hence the ad...