Hummer cars are probably the most irresponsible ones on the roads today. Their ads on TV are just as irresponsible. The first one I remember was the family at a desert campfire releasing lit candles in paper bags to float away into the tender dry countryside. Beatific smiles followed the fire starters into the night sky.
Now we follow a man in a grocery check out line who is buying veggies. He watches a guy in an adjacent line checking out with ribs, steaks, sausages, then he pathetically heads for a Hummer dealer and drives happily away, his manhood restored.
Then we see a mother and young daughter at a playground. A pushy mom shoves her daughter ahead of the line with a smart aleck remark. The slighted mom goes to a Hummer dealer, to get her dignity back.
Does that say it all there is to say about Hummer drivers? Is there any other reason to drive one?
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Comments: 19
These are obviously aimed at the wimps, er, people who would really like to drive a gas hog but are feeling too guilty or are afraid of what the neighbors would think. As little as I think of people who are happy to consume as much as they can of our limited resources, I think less of the person who hasn't the guts to do it on his own.
I'll stick to new hair or shoes next time my "girl" goes off. My daughter's puppy has proven the biodegradable capabilities of the footware and I the hair chemicals aren't adding to global warming, last I heard.
The later models are just a Hummer shaped body on a Yukon frame or something.
All of them are just way too expensive.
Sometimes I think that we deserve our fate. The American people are going to be a LOT poorer in a few years when the triple-whammy of inflation, crashing dollar value and collapsing economy hits us.
Can't have? Anybody with a good income and no brains can have one. You got yours, dude?
I drive a fairly-fuel efficient little car (and get some ten miles per gallon MORE from it than it's rated!), yet I'm getting screwed because some people have a need for conspicuous consumption. Gas prices are supply and demand-- people keep driving Hummers and other gas hogs, the prices go up, and the people who work lower-paying jobs (like new teachers or retail clerks) are the ones who get squeezed, even if they are fiscally responsible!
You're among the few people I've heard say that the price of gasoline is subject to supply and demand. So many conspiracy theories abound..."it's anybody's fault but mine".
Thanks for the reference to the website. It's good!
Got me to smile. Y'know, one time when I was renting a car for a sales trip, all they had was a Nissan Armada. I complained about the size, so they said I wouldn't have to refill the gas tank. :) But driving a few hours in that thing made me understand some of the appeal of SUVs. I had this big superiority complex when I could look down on all the little paeans(sp?) in their cars. I definitely believe that the popularity of SUVs has to do with the sense of powerlessness many middle-class people in America feel.
Interestingly, as an off-road vehicle, the Hummer never caught on in Africa, because it's too wide for a lot of bush trails. Is that a Land Rover Defender I see in the picture behind you?
Yeah, that's a Land Rover. Riding in one on the Caribbean-side roads in Costa Rica is like being put in a big martini shaker and shaken, not stirred. I prefer the Toyota Land Cruiser, which I used for 3 years in Borneo. Their irresponsible ads notwithstanding, the H2 wouldn't have lasted long in either place.
Sandy:
The manhood (or "get your girl on") thing is simply pitiful. It's that one showing the family sending off paper bag wildfire starters that really pissed me off. Made me want to set their hair on fire.
But car manufacturers have avoided the issues for years, haven't they? They are usually pictures of high speed races or something equally dangerous. (I've often wondered why someone whose teen died in a high speed accident didn't sue auto advertisers. They have the tobacco industry suits as precedents and the auto industry SHOULD be held accountable for the way they've encouraged speeding for years!)
I'm afraid that what those ads REALLY mean is that we are a shallow people, incapable of responding to intelligent advertising.
What a great comment, and a good idea. I hadn't thought of the legal angle analagous to the tobacco inductry, but you're right about it.
They also forgot to register their slogan, Restore Your Manhood
You'd all be welcome to contribute...
Exactly right. The good folks who manufacture and advertise erectile dysfunction products do the same thing with about the same level of subtlety.
Yes, it is big, it is diesel, it is 4WD, has gnarly studded tires in the winter time...but it is for go, not for show. I did not buy it for 'manly image', I could care less about that (I lie just a little there), but I am so old that my garden hose is often limp, and I do not go out to get a pill for that either. Besides, both are kept in the 'garage' most of the time.