Chevrolet, here's an idea.

The BBQ Pit
1

So, GM, you’ve been having lots of trouble getting people to buy your cars lately. Admittedly, a lot of that falls on the fact that you have brands competing with each other (Chevy vs. Pontiac vs. Saturn, GMC trucks) but I think I’ve figured out a big part of it:

PEOPLE HATE THAT DAMN JOHN COUGAR MELLENCAMP COMMERCIAL.

Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ, who thought carpet-bombing the World Series and the NFL with this craptacular ode to Norman Rockwell’s Middle America was a good idea? Not only is that commercial enough to make me, a lifelong Chevrolet guy, want to set fire to every Chevrolet dealership in 5 states but it also makes me want to stab John Cougar Mellencamp in the throat.

I can only imagine how people who are generally indifferent to the brand of automobile they purchase are reacting to this steaming piece of videotaped shit. It’s not even a good song (not that John Cougar Mellencamp is Mozart or anything to start with.) And can someone explain why, exactly, Vietnam and Hurricane Katrina are going to make people more likely to buy an Aveo or that renamed-Cavalier POS “Cobalt”?

The Monte Carlo is dying because you people think this is effective marketing. I find it stunning that Ford’s still more likely to go under ahead of you.

2

I don’t watch sportd, and I don’t even know what song uou’re talking about.

But I HATE “Like a Rock”. And there’s some other country moron with a guitar strutting around on a truck chassis – I don’t even know what he plays but i HATE that guy. Another one of those jerks with a black hat and well trimmed beard. I HATE those guys.

3

This is the offending piece of shitty advertising.

I could tolerate “Like a Rock.” This is just… horrible.

4

I always thought making something that didn’t suck was a good way to attract business. Better commercials help, I suppose.

5

You can make the best cars in the world, but crappy advertising won’t move them off the lot.

Alternatively, you can make crappy cars and sell a ton of them with good advertising, e.g. Nissan. Or most Mazdas.

6

Is sure is shitty… but what’s with the “Stephen Colbert: don’t steal this”?

7

Maybe they need a Joe Isuzu type of spokesman. Only this time, he’s telling the truth about how much their cars suck, but you think it’s some ironic joke.

8

My brother’s fiancee noted today during the football game that she used to hate JCM but now she likes him (and the commercial, I guess).

I told her it meant she was getting old.

9

The negative response to this ad is not isolated to this thread. Slate’s Ad Report Card gave it a “D”. In fact, I have yet to run across anybody who likes it and thinks it’s effective.

10

I don’t watch commercials on television if I can avoid it, so the YouTube link was my first viewing. Does it run on TV with the “Stephen Colbert” stuff, or was that something added by the guy who posted it?

'Cos, that captioning makes it BRILLIANT! If it was part of the original, then the Slate Ad Report people don’t know what they’re talking about. If it wasn’t, then the ad agency that made it should hire the YouTube contributor and get him to fix everything they make before they let it out the door.

11

Oh good fucking god.

After about a quarter and a half of Cowboys vs. Panthers I was very much looking forward to creating this thread. Now I see my thunder has been stolen, but I’m glad my hatred for The Most Annoying Commercial Ever Aired is not a burden I must bear alone.

I really hope they aren’t playing that during NFL telecasts overseas.

Can we lump that “This is Budweiser, this is beer” campaign in with this one?

12

Your test track is a little kid? Your spokesman is some asshole with 5 dogs? Five fucking dogs that LOOK EXACTLY ALIKE?

I fucking hate dogs. Especially ones that look like that.

I ain’t buying no piece of shit Chevy. Times five.

13

The Budweiser ad isn’t quite as bad.

My hatred for this ad was kindled when, for reasons passing understanding, it was deemed necessary for Mellencamp to perform his paean to the Chevy HHR before a World Series game, and then the commercial ran about 49,000 times during the game. You don’t see Hyundai asking Eddie Money to perform before a golf tournament, or Chrysler calling on Jackson Browne to write an ode to the PT Cruiser for an Arena Football game.

14

Made me want to go out and buy a Toyota.

15

Hmmm. I guess you missed all the times Alan Jackson performed “Ford Truck/Mercury Blues” in the mid-90s then…

16

I had forgotten about that song, actually. It wasn’t quite as bad, mainly because it wasn’t so omnipresent for the better part of a month. And Jackson didn’t play it before a beach volleyball tournament or anything.

And as I recall, they decided to start using that song a year or two after Jackson released it.

17

It was added. Slate did a good review. The advertisement pretty much sucks harder than a Bangkok whore trying to get a coconut through a crazy straw.

Remember: This truck was up front with Rosa Parks and helped Nixon flash the peace sign with both hands, not just one.

18

Wow, when I read about the ad some weeks back, I thought that it was really a dumbfuck idea, now that I’ve seen it, dumbfuck idea doesn’t even begin to cover it. Quite frankly, I think that one of the reasons why Chevys aren’t selling is that they’re bland looking. Make something that looks interesting, and you’ll get people in the showrooms, but those featureless blobs just aren’t going to attract anybody’s attention.

19

Comon you know you love Bob Seger

20

It’s an odd commercial.

When JCM sings “from the East Coast, to the West Coast”, they show a bunch of crab pots on “east coast” and for “west coast” they show a forest fire.

Then, they show Katrina damage.

Then, they show the world trade center lights, followed by a shot of some canyon out West.

I don’t know what they’re trying to say. And, Rosa Parks?

Although, I find something sexy about the woman at the beginning of the commercial in the 50’s bathing suit.