The Ninth Focus Group Of Hell

Yes, I know, I just wrote about a car ad; but car ads are like buses, there's always another along soon.

I often wonder if companies consider the implications of their ad campaigns. Take Hyundai's ads with the incompetent competitors breaking in to look incredulously at how good Hyundai's cars are. The lesson is supposed to be that Hyundais are far superior to their competitors, but the message I get is that Hyundai has really poor security. I mean, these execs who can't build a decent car never have any trouble sneaking in.

Then there are the Chevrolet ads where that guy with the beard does flimsy demonstrations to convince people that Chevys are best. Well, that's supposed to be the message; my takeaway is that Chevy are maniacal jerks who like to terrorize innocent focus groups. Like in the one where he pretended to shred a group's cell phones, or that other one where he locked a group in an elevator. That latter example was to show that the Chevy Volt's range-extended electric system is better than the Nissan Leaf's purely-electric drive. Now Chevy is contradicting themselves with the all-electric Bolt.

They also keep playing the ad with Mr. Sadist turning kids against one another over video games only one can play at a time. These "real kids" with "real reactions" say, "oh my gosh" in unison, upon seeing an SUV. No part of that sounds believable, especially when you realize that SUV's are to them what minivans were to the last couple of generations. So I'm guessing these kids were well compensated for their acting jobs. I hope so; it'll help them pay for the therapy they'll need after this experience.

But then there's the one where adults from the target market are shown a Chevy Malibu with the logos removed to keep opinions honest.

• First, they say it reminds them of an Audi or a BMW. Wow, that is quite an endorsement: In the esteemed opinion of someone who can't recognize a Chevrolet if it doesn't have the badges on it, this is like an Audi or a BMW.
• It has Teen Driver Technology, which mutes the radio until the seatbelts are fastened. This is met with amazement from the focus group, who can't believe such a thing exists. Really? You can turn on the radio by telling the car to turn on the radio, but it didn't seem possible that someone could connect the seatbelt to the radio? Personally, I would have prevented the teen from putting the car in gear until the seatbelt was fastened, but I guess the radio is good too. After all, how are today's kids possibly going to get access to music without a radio?
• But the big, I-can't-believe-they-got-this-past-the-legal-department trick is when the group is presented with the price, and someone says, "for all this technology?" That's never answered, but the answer is, no, not for all this technology, because all the things they've been showing off are options, not at the base price they just quoted.