A scruffy looking guy and his wife are in the kitchen of their posh home and, looking out the window, they watch their neighbor who has just bought a new car. But the car is backed up to a closed gate. The neighbor sees then at the window and waves. Is the new car in their driveway or is it the way into a gated compound? Why would it be backed up to the gate?
He has pulled the car into the driveway, then shut the gate behind him.
the explanation of the commercial is that modern Buicks are nothing like the floaty land barges of decades ago, and nobody would recognize one by name. Not everyone thinks this is a winning strategy.
the gate- or how the car is parked in front of it- is irrelevant.
GM has been engaged in a long-term battle to convince car buyers that Buicks are not boring overupholstered couches on wheels for old white people. Hence the ads featuring Tiger Woods and “the Garcias”, and the ad showing the young (and presumably hip) parking attendant being amazed to find that the car he wasn’t expecting to be a Buick isn’t so bad after all (this one backfires in part because he can’t tell the Buick from all the other boring sedans in the lot).
Apart from the reality of seeing real-life Buick drivers putting around in their comfy dull sedans, my impression of these cars is also conditioned by the Jean Shepherd story in which his irate Dad gets stuck behind a “fat-assed Buick”.
The only cool Buick I ever saw was my uncle’s mid-50s vintage cream-colored Buick Special with the big portholes.
The Buick line has been a major snore for decades. They don’t need better ads, they need a better car.
define “better car.”
Back in the mid 60s-early 70s Buick had some badass muscle cars. I used to subscribe to a magazine that focused on muscle cars of the 60s and 70s in factory stock condition. They rounded up an example of just about every thing out in the heyday of Detroit musclecars and drag raced them. Hardly scientific but they really tried to make it as fair as possible. The winner was a Stage 1 Buick GS 455. It beat the Hemis, 440 Six Packs, 454 Chevelles, etc.
Most real life Buick drivers are in an Enclave, which is an SUV. It’s primarily driven by young moms, not old men.
They’re doing pretty well right now, so I don’t think they need either.
I just want to smack the smug car owners in that ad. First off, they just say “It’s the Buick” - I guess there’s only one Buick in the whole lot? Secondly, they’re standing right there watching the kid - they can’t say “It’s the <insert color here> car behind you!”
Yeah, I know, that’s not the point of the ad. But I still want to smack them. 
My thought was congratulations, you have impressed a 20 something valet parker.
I received a Buick ad in the mail last week. It featured three cars, the Regal, the Verano, and the Lacrosse, with a photo of each, all in a silver color. No description of what the difference between each was, and they each looked pretty much the same to me. A quick look at the Buick website and I still can’t tell.
To give credit where it is due - here’s the complete Jean Shepherd Buick reference (from a story in “The Ferrari In The Bedroom”):
“The current Buick ad line: “Something to believe in - your Buick” would have sounded perfectly logical and honest to my father, except that he would have split a gut laughing because he hated Buicks, which he always associated with “Sunday drivers”. “Christ, look at that fat-assed Buick wallowing around!” is the way he handed that sect.”
The current Buick ad campaign centers around the idea that driving one will make your neighbors and total strangers go mad with envy, which is a wee bit bizarre.
What irks me about those Buick ads is that each vehicle prominently features the Buick logo on the front of it, yet no one seems to be able to identify it. It’s scarcely a new logo, it’s been around for ages. Just another simple stupidity that makes me holler at my tv.
I thought this was going to be about the sexist commentary about him getting a raise and the guy says “good for him” and the woman says “good for her”.
Weird "keeping up with the Jones’ " vibe aside, I always thought that was the strangest thing about this commercial as well.
But honestly, I’ve never known anyone under the age of 50 (or maybe higher) that drove a Buick that wasn’t in some kind of hand me down situation… though I do remember my father reminiscing favorably about their muscle cars.
That “music” they use on that commercial is the suck. Also, that dude’s wife is totally boneing the neighbor.
While that has been a tried-and-true ad campaign theme for decades, it’s not in play here. The current Buick ad campaign centers around the idea that Buicks are now hip and cool and good-looking, so people expecting the old, stodgy, boring Buicks won’t even recognize them.
Buick was retained by GM at the expense of Pontiac and Saturn because Buick sells in China. So GM made it a core brand, and is developing a design/marketing plan based on Pontiac that worked quite well. GM is targeting the generation that did not grow up with Buick because they don’t know about the baggage the rest of us already know.
We saw this commercial with friends last night and all agreed it sucks.
First, you have the creepiness of them spying on the neighbors with binoculars.
“Lucky for her.” is not only bitter and sexist, but a slam at her husband, who’s standing right next to her.
True, that. Buick is the big American car seller in China. Reminds me of … The French love Jerry Lewis movies, eh?
My thoughts about the commercial: when I started car shopping a couple years ago, I found that many of the styles I had in my mind were not up to date. I just hadn’t payed attention, and cars like the Ford Taurus looked nothing like I expected them. I was thinking of the dome-topped Taurus my sister used to drive, not the current model. So there were a number of vehicles I had to get up to date on.
Then there was resetting expectations. For various reasons, sedans don’t have much trunk space any more. I drive a 2004 Dodge Intrepid, and it has a fairly roomy trunk. It also has a large back seat with lots of leg room. Trying to find a sedan to match that space is a fool’s errand - they no longer exist. Fuel efficiency stats have driven vehicles smaller. You can see the same effect in SUVs - look at the latest generation of SUV models and you will find most of them are smaller than their predecessors of the same line.
Anyway, to some exent the commercial is right. People haven’t been paying attention to Buicks and don’t realize what the current models look like.
But many of the examples are just dumb. “That’s not a Buick!” Um, clearly it is. “I’m in the Buick behind you.” Try flashing your lights? Honk horn?