New Silverado ad vomits forth patriotism
Our friends over at Jalopnik have snagged the full 60-second version of Chevrolet's "Our Country, Our Truck" commercial developed by Campbell-Ewald. It's a minute full of what the Jalop folk call a real "Amerigasm", stuffed with shots of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Woodstock, Richard Nixon, Vietnam, Dale Earnhardt, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and, oh yeah, John Mellencamp, the ex-Cougar himself. While it's true that full-size, half-ton trucks are as American as apple pie and baseball, Chevy appears to be laying the patriotic mayo a little thick on this bun. But don't take our word for it, watch it for yourself.
BTW, don't mind the warnings to Steven Colbert that overlay the video. Jalopnik is a little PO'd with His Truthiness over who stole the 30-second version of the Silverado ad first. Can't we all just get along? That reminds us, anyone catch Rodney King in that commercial? Neither did we.
[Source: YouTube via Jalopnik]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
smooth sailing 8:38PM (10/03/2006)
I don't think woodstock is anything to be proud of.Maybe some good music.but aside from that,an epidemic of crime ,drugs,and std's that have claimed and ruined millions of lives.Not progress.What grief.
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Delbert 8:38PM (10/03/2006)
The real reason they are vomting is they saw the Toyota Tundra. Of course nobody dares question the lies Toyota defacate about how many American jobs they "created".
Gonna see a dirty war here about trucks, Toyota has a loser and GM has a winner. And Toyota has more than enough money to buy the lies.
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Rastus 8:45PM (10/03/2006)
Yes, when you are down and out, have only a nickel to your name, and nobody to turn to, what do you do?
You play on people's emotions.
Honestly, that's what you do. Much like the teenage junke behind bars who tells his mother he still "loves" her.
This is as base as one can get (git?). I mean, come ON...Rosa Parks is now associated with a global company called "General Motors"??? A SINGLE INDIVIDUAL who stood up for HERSELF...is NOW a spokesperson for GM's new pickup?
Pathetic. Absolutely, and without a doubt, pathetic!
The 2000+ people who died in the twin towers?...they are now spokespeople for a losing corporation...one on the verge of bankruptcy?
Sure as sh*t, you'll be the same company asking those hard-working Americans you portray in your commercial to bail you out with their tax dollars.
GM, you STINK!!!
Honest to God, how LOW can one go???
What in God's name kind of company uses death and mayhem to sell a BS gas-guzzling PICKUP??? One which only serves to heighten our dependency on "foreign" (ie, Arab) oil?
Could this be the same company who DESTROYED any notion of an Electric Vehicle????
GM, the more I see of you...the more I will go out of my way to AVOID your products.
You make me want to vomit.
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Dave 8:48PM (10/03/2006)
I own a Toyota Tundra and it will blow the doors off a chevy..... and get 17 mpg doing it! Competition is what keeps us honest!
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Kovarik 8:50PM (10/03/2006)
My thoughts exactly Delbert and smooth sailing. Overall a great ad (even though they shouldn't have shown any of the hippie nonsense) for a great truck - and thats coming from a ford guy.
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Ryan 8:51PM (10/03/2006)
Wow,
So what are the merits of the truck again?
You know what would have worked WAY BETTER?!
Bring back:
"The Heartbeat of America"
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Lithous 8:55PM (10/03/2006)
The whole thing is overblown about this being so "bad". They show Rosa Parks and the music is singing, "Ideals I think are right". Showing Muhammed Ali and singing, "Stand and fight". GM is so evil. Ohh. Whatever.
Toyota has the balls to tell us how many jobs they "create" and how many facilities when they aren't even #2 in the country for car companies creating U.S. jobs and they are not the owner of the most plants in America either. At least GM has the #1 selling truck in America (if you are going to bash them for badge engineering then they must get credit for that one iteration of the same selling the most) and has the most U.S. employees of any of the car companies when they are using a little patriotism. GM was here during all the events they showed and moving America forward to boot. I'd hate to see what would be built in America if we had to rely on nothing but small cars after WWII. GM probably built the bus Ms Parks was on, it's not a big stretch showing these things in a commercial.
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Brent 8:53PM (10/03/2006)
Dear John Neff,
You lose any credibility you might have had towards being an objective reporter with an article titled like this. If anyone's laying it on a little thick, it's you.
Regards,
Brent
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Ryan 8:57PM (10/03/2006)
The ironic irony in this specific video clip:
A pissed off AMERICAN! Whining about who stole what first!
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Ryan 8:57PM (10/03/2006)
In other news the Ford F-150 has been "America's Truck" in terms of sales for, well at least my entire 24 year life so far. Not that the Silverado is bad, but who should be saying "This is our truck"?
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dakota 9:01PM (10/03/2006)
Hey Dave,
Your puny Tundra can't blow the doors off of anything. A mid-sized Dakota can out tow your "full-sized" Tundra. Imagine what a Silverado, Ram, or F-150 will do to your so called "truck".
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Ryan 9:03PM (10/03/2006)
"Toyota has the balls to tell us how many jobs they "create" and how many facilities when they aren't even #2 in the country for car companies creating U.S. jobs and they are not the owner of the most plants in America either."
-Lithous,
Show me one ad where Toyota even tries to venture this far into Americana. Not a one to be found, you are being hypersensitive to the fact that they are just wanting to let it be known that have SOMETHINGS in America.
-Lithous, do you honestly believe anyone one believes Toyota is more American than GM prior to this ad running? C'mon.
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Rastus 9:06PM (10/03/2006)
So, Lithous, Rosa Parks was riding one of GM's busses...in which she was EXPECTED to sit in the back, only to allow a white person to take her place up front?
Is that something to be proud of?
Your logic is assinine beyond reason.
Be greateful for Toyota, as they are at, I believe, 11 plants in North America? Count them...11!
...and how many plants is GM closing w/in the next few years? 13????
Damn straight you ought to be thankful...but we know better.
Only in America will the white trash, with their silly white-trash pride, condemn the hand that feeds them and offers them a better life.
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mikesright 9:05PM (10/03/2006)
Rosa Parks: sitting on a GM bus making that protest
Hurricane Katrina and 9/11: GM commercial vehicles and trucks were there to help save lives and rebuild. Moreso, they and their employees were a huge charitable contributor to the people these disasters impacted.
Martin Luther King Jr: GM has made a lot of contributions to his charitable organizations
Dale Earnhardt: Raced Chevy's and led the dominance in NASCAR that Chevy has enjoyed, which happens to be popular.
Woodstock and anti-war protests: It wasn't just VW buses hauling these people around. More often it was old Chevy pickups and GM buses getting our hippie parents from place to place.
Richard Nixon: I'm sure Cadillac was there to haul him away from his disgraced presidency.
So you see, GM is really just using the events and scenes it was a part of to show it as the fabric of America. I find the commercial a breath of fresh air, and what Chevy is all about. Chevy isn't about weird techno advertising or fuel efficiency. It's about hauling, hauling ass, towing, big V8's, and, well, America.
Personally I find the advertising a lot more easy to swallow than Toyota, with fewer than 10% of the people GM's employees and suppliers employ (while it pays them waaay less and with far fewer benefits) running advertising and commercials about them being "American."
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mikesright 9:10PM (10/03/2006)
Don't worry about it Brent. He's too busy selling his stories on FordBoldMoves.com to have any sort of objectivity. Kinda like most autobloggers here.
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dakota 9:12PM (10/03/2006)
"14. So, Lithous, Rosa Parks was riding one of GM's busses...in which she was EXPECTED to sit in the back, only to allow a white person to take her place up front?
Is that something to be proud of?
Your logic is assinine beyond reason."
And JFK was shot inside of a Lincoln.
What the hell is your logic? Sounds like you've got the assinine reasoning. Because the bus was manufactured by GM and now your pulling that card? Do the world a favor and crawl right back under a rock.
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mikesright 9:14PM (10/03/2006)
Do you have any logic whatsoever Rastus? Last time I knew, GM wasn't a government authority creating those segregationist laws!
And your comment about GM is a bit flawed, too. Maybe GM is a lot bigger in the midwest, but that doesn't mean their fan base is white trash, either. you'd be surprised how many GM fans are college educated, have incomes exceeding 100,000 dollars, and have...families! Is Toyota/Scion/Honda 100% starving college student fare? No, but while we're stereotyping...
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Saint Augustine 9:20PM (10/03/2006)
While I agree that it is low to try and sell trucks by using americas pain to do it, I also believe that to support american vehicles is in the best interest of Americans.
I own a GMC pick up that gets 18-19 mpg and that will blow the doors of the toyota mentioned above.
And by the way it is a full size with extended cab and I get well over 20mpg on the hwy. It is also beautiful inside and has a great ride!
Americans should wake up to the real enemy from outside this country and leave ourselves alone.
To GMC I say edit the ad but keep the pro American voice going.
God bless America!
The Saint
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Ryan 9:17PM (10/03/2006)
"So you see, GM is really just using the events and scenes it was a part of to show it as the fabric of America. I find the commercial a breath of fresh air, and what Chevy is all about. Chevy isn't about weird techno advertising or fuel efficiency. It's about hauling, hauling ass, towing, big V8's, and, well, America."
-Don't forget the Chevrolet Aveo
-Don't forget the Chevrolet Prism
Why do we the people need to be nationalistic when we have General Motors?
"Only in America will the white trash, with their silly white-trash pride, condemn the hand that feeds them and offers them a better life.
Posted at 9:04PM on Oct 3rd 2006 by Rastus 0 stars"
-And this is just bullshit simply in the other direction.
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JON 9:18PM (10/03/2006)
Why is the term "white trash" celebrated?Do you get the same little thrill other racists get using the "N" word or some other derogatory term used to rouse resentment to a certain ethnic group?
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