And I Still Wear Doc Martens, Too.
I'm certainly no expert in the arena of television marketing, but it seems to me that while it might be a swell idea to pump lots of advertising onto the TV during shows and events that lots of people watch (like football, for instance, which I enjoy), it might occur to someone sitting in a boardroom somewhere that it perhaps falls within the realm of "best practices" to avoid annoying the shit out of consumers.
This is all just to say that I am being made physically uncomfortable by the frequency with which Chevrolet is playing its newest pickup truck ad. If you've not seen this commercial, you either do not own a television or live in a country that is not the United States of America. It features the music of John "What's-His-Nuts" MellenCougarCamp singing a tremendously insipid ditty that goes like this:
"From the east cost!
To the west coast!
From the dirty something something something
To the blardee blardee land ...
This is ourrrr Cunnnn-traayyyy
This is ourrrr Cunnnn-traayyyy
This is ourrrr Cunnnn-traayyyy."
I seriously doubt that anyone is shocked that Mr. MellenDoodle would pen a tune saturated with nationalistic cliches, but when that the commercial is played during every single commercial break, on every major television network, every day between the hours of 4 and 10 p.m., it seems to me a bit ... I don't know ... excessive? Add to this the imagery chosen for the commercial -- it's Americana! it's trucks! and people laughing around a lawn sprinkler! and more trucks! that make dust when the tires spin! and some kids! and, oh good holy jesus on a fuckstick, no, they did not just show us a truck bed filled with Golden Retriever puppies -- and I want nothing more than to retreat to my living room to watch independent documentaries while rocking back and forth, muttering, "I am not in the Chevy truck demographic, I am not in the Chevy truck demographic ..."
Nope, not me. Look at me, sitting here subverting the dominant paradigm, typing away on my Mac with its hard-drive all ready to program moody singer-songwriter music into my iPod so that every afternoon, when I leave the house dressed in an outfit invariably involving an ironic t-shirt and knee socks, I can toggle between NPR and Elliott Smith on my way to work, where I go to make money so I can buy things at Target and IKEA.
Nope. No demographics here.
posted by Kate at 9:03 PM link/comments
