Subaru is hoping to give us all a little culture via its new Impreza ads. To show off the new 2008 Impreza and WRX, the company is using an ad campaign that portrays "the history, heritage and popular culture of its home country, Japan." Think everything from Japanese pop culture, from anime films and manga comics, to "The Fast and the Furious," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and even "Blade Runner." The commercials will be debuting online today.
Visitors to the Subaru site will find three commercials that show a man from the future visiting "a land of forbidden secrets." While navigating this jungle, he discovers that "the legend is reborn," and eventually takes control of a "powerful jungle creature," the new WRX. The print ad at right shows the look and feel of the campaign, complete with hilltop dragon. Other print ads will follow the theme and present comic-book panel stories complete with dialogue balloons. Seems like a great fit for the 20 to 34-year-old men that the car is aimed at.
[Source: NY Times]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Ceity @ Jul 10th 2007 8:21PM
i thought crouching tiger was chinese...
AZ @ Jul 10th 2007 8:26PM
That's true. They have to get the facts right......
Still not feeling this new style of Subaru
DreamTheater @ Jul 10th 2007 8:34PM
you're right... crouching tiger is chinese... how stupid do they think the Americans are? passing this off as Japanese heritage... don't think dragons feature much in japanese heritage at all... be interesting to see if they try that over here in Europe as well.... need to check that out...
rv @ Jul 11th 2007 11:35AM
Yes, dragons do figure in Japanese heritage. Quite a bit, actually. But hey - facts are overrated - keep posting...
Brian Dreggors @ Jul 10th 2007 8:22PM
Well, they already tried promoting their phony "aviation heritage" to deaf ears. This is actually logical.
Castle @ Jul 10th 2007 8:41PM
Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru Parent), previously Nakajima Aircraft company, has a much more storied legacy then most other car companies that play on their aviation history.
They actually still are a major player in the aviation industry and are participating in the building the Airbus A380, Boing 777, 787, etc and are also involved in still build aircraft and helicopter development.
http://www.fhi.co.jp/english/outline/section/aero.html
Brian Dreggors @ Jul 10th 2007 8:57PM
IMO its still a pretty loose connection to Subaru, especially since the automobile division hasn't had anything to with aviation period. Fuji may indeed OWN both, but I doubt there is any crossover from their aerospace work into the automobiles
SAAB cars, on the other hand, were created by SAAB aerospace engineers - a very direct offshoot. They were also owned and controlled by SAAB AB until ~1990 and completely divested SAAB Automobile in 2000. There is also a certain level of trickle-down technology incorporated into SAAB cars over the past 60 or so years.
SAAB AB is also very active in airframe development. By contrast, Fuji has fielded (to the best of my knowledge) two aircraft of their own in the past 60 years - an F-86 Sabre knockoff and less than 300 units of a small piston GA monoplane.
But to be honest, presently, neither SAAB nor Subaru cars have anything to do with their distant winged relations. I also wouldn't advertise the Nakajima aircraft too heavily if I were Subaru. ;)
Castle @ Jul 10th 2007 11:13PM
Same company, Subaru is a sub-brand of Fuji Heavy Industries. Subaru itself is the name of a constellation of stars, a nudge to their aeronautical past (and the five companies that make FHI)
Fuji was (and still is) a major supplier of aeronautical parts for Boeing and Airbus, and still produce planes and helicopters. Their history as Nakajima is huge (the Smithsonian has their planes in the Udvar-Hazy Museum in the DC metro area)
The argument with Saab is plain ignorant. GM owns the automotive division of Saab, and is completely separate from their aviation department at this point. Fuji Heavy Industry still owns the major part of Subaru.
Temple @ Jul 10th 2007 11:21PM
>>I also wouldn't advertise the Nakajima aircraft too heavily if I were Subaru.
So BMW shouldn't advertise their aeronautical history due to their heavy connection with their Nazi past and their use of Jewish slave labor?
http://discardedlies.com/entry/?8644
Brian Dreggors @ Jul 11th 2007 12:24AM
That Nakajima comment was a joke, hence the ;)
ssgtakeo @ Jul 11th 2007 1:11PM
Uhh Brian, you do know that one of the original engineers that worked on the Subaru 360, designed landing gears for Nakajima aircraft right? That's how torsion bar suspensions made it into cars from airplanes in Japan.
strangway @ Jul 10th 2007 8:39PM
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is no more Japanese than Tom Cruise is Mexican, or Cheech Marin is Canadian. Stupid NY Times.
It's like saying, "We have a great menu of Italian foods, Spaghetti, Rigatoni, and Enchiladas."
But this is a car blog. But it's just so wrong!!!
Richard @ Jul 10th 2007 9:55PM
Yeah. But the beauty of the NYT is that you KNOW - up front - that you are reading fiction. Generally totally unsubstantiated, totally non-fact-checked - total fiction.
Blue State!
Edmond Hirota @ Jul 10th 2007 8:43PM
Subaru's "home country" is not China!
Ughhhhh, okay I'm done.
Andrew @ Jul 10th 2007 9:08PM
"The Legend is Reborn"
Send it back!
Nastinupe @ Jul 10th 2007 9:12PM
The new STI sucks.... make it a normal car instead of a friggin hatch back please.
Drewboy @ Jul 10th 2007 10:43PM
I love hatchbacks, but this is one fugly hatchback!
AndyH @ Jul 11th 2007 8:45AM
Ummm, why don't you wait until the STI is actually released before you go and trash it.
Frank Filipponio @ Jul 10th 2007 9:12PM
Are "The Fast and the Furious" or "Blade Runner" Japanese either? But seeing them as pop culture favorites of the target audience makes some sense out of their use in the ad campaign.
Andy @ Jul 10th 2007 10:15PM
Yes, there are references to Japanese culture in Blade Runner.. Fast & Furious uses Japanese cars (also, Tokyo Drift).. Heroes has a Japanese character. But Crouching Tiger has zilch, zero, nothing to do with Japanese culture whatsoever. But it's probably too much to ask the NY Times to make a little effort to distinguish between the Asian cultures..