# Could someone please explain this car commercial to me? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248 "2002-10-28T14:35:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/1 "2002-10-28T14:35:10Z")
Okay, maybe I am missing the obvious here but what the heck is going on in that new Cabriola (I think) commercial? The guy is driving along the coast and holding an open jar. A few minutes later, he pulls up to a house and a old man comes out and greets him. He gives the man the jar and the old man puts it on a shelf with about 2 dozen of the same kinds of jars, all labeled with different location names. Wha? What the hell? Is the old man agoraphobic and unable to leave his house? Or is the younger guy traveling around the world and bringing back jars of air from different places?? Or perhaps the younger guy is completely nuts and keeps bringing these jars of air to the older man and the older man is too afraid of him to refuse them? (I like that version, myself) Arrggh!! I hate vague commercials. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/2 "2002-10-28T14:39:13Z")
I think the old guy can’t get around so much, so the younger guy is actually going to exotic places, “putting air” in a jar, and giving it to the old feller. I think it’s more of a symbolic thing than anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/3 "2002-10-28T15:15:01Z")
Uh, yeah. The young guy is gathering the scent of roses for the old guy to stop by. [scoff] I suppose he’s collecting the “fragrences” or “scents” of these far-off lands for the old feller. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/4 "2002-10-28T18:32:29Z")
Oooor…the old guy is the young guy, and he’s metaphorically giving himself memories for a time when he can no longer go to those places. Yeah…that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/5 "2002-10-28T18:39:59Z")
Okay, try _this_ one: A young man drives a Chevy while McLean’s _American Pie_ plays on the radio, getting to the final chorus: Bye-bye, Miss American Pie; Drove my Chevy to the levy, but the levy was dry; And good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye; Singin’ this’ll be the day that I die… The driver parks beside a stretch of beach and gets out, meeting up with a young woman who has been waiting. They walk across the deserted beach (neither wearing bathing suits) toward the ocean as the narrator says “Chevy. To the very end.” Has Chevy started marketing to the suicidal? It doesn’t strike me as a way to ensure repeat business. ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/6 "2002-10-28T19:11:12Z")
I think he’s waiting for the end of the song (which is known for being very long) before he will get out of the car and join his friend. I didn’t say it was a _good_ commercial. I don’t know why they think this will sell their cars. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/7 "2002-10-28T19:12:28Z")
No, it just means the sound system is so bitchin’ and the car is so comfy that he doesn’t want to get out of the car until the song is over. I guess. So the girlfriend waits patiently for him. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/8 "2002-10-28T19:13:56Z")
Yeah, that girl’s been waiting there for him for the song to end. He didn’t just pull up and find her there. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/9 "2002-10-29T09:20:43Z")
This commercial only suggests a suicide pact to me, in the determined way two fully-clothed people walk across a deserted beach toward the ocean, plus the “very end” narration and even the “this’ll be the day that I die” lyric. In any event, a bizarre theme for a car commercial. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/10 "2002-10-29T10:37:45Z")
Actually, I think that commercial is advertising the XM (satellite)radio system in the new Chevys. The sound system is so great that he is willing to forgo time spent with his good-looking girlfriend so that he can hear the song through to the end before joining her on the beach. You practically have to read the fine print to find out what they are advertising. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/11 "2002-10-29T11:00:23Z")
**American Pie** commercial. Guy and his girl are driving to the ocean so they can walk on the beach, a stereotypical romantic thing to do. On the way to the beach **American Pie** starts playing on the radio. When they get to the beach the girl gets out and wants to walk right away but the guy wants to finish the song. She sits down on the sidewalk annoyed at him and waits while he sits in the car enjoying the music and he is either oblivious or unconcerned about his girlfriend’s annoyance. This is where the commercial picks up the story. Then the song ends and he decides he’s ready to walk on the beach and gets out. I see a fight in their future. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/12 "2002-10-29T14:19:37Z")
I agree with **Osiris** that the girl is annoyed. But the point of the commercial is, as others have said, that this guy wants to sit and listen to the song “till the very end.” I feel that they picked that song because it mentions Chevys and the the “day that I die” reference is just the price you pay for citing “American Pie.” **Bryan** , you do know that that song is about the day Buddy Holly died, right? And that “the day that I die” is an allusion to Buddy’s song “That’ll Be the Day”? > [@](#): > > That’ll be the day, > When you say good-bye. > That’ll be the day, > When you make me cry. > You say you’re gonna leave: > You know it’s a lie. > 'Cause that’ll be the day when I die. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/13 "2002-10-29T16:52:22Z")
It’s a reference to Chevys in popular music. There’s at least one other that has people fawning over their chevys while “Little Red Corvette” and other chevy product songs play in the background. They’d be appalled if they thought it implied some sort of suicide pact-they were only concentrating on mention of their cars. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/14 "2002-10-29T18:06:51Z")
I once received as a birthday present an aluminum can that purported to contain Canadian air. Nothing in a can, how about that for a crappy gift? Heck, at least an empty Coke can is worth $.05 at the beer distributor :rolleyes: And Canadian air? How about something a bit more exotic? At least the old shut-in gets some variety. …and between you and me, I don’t think the can even contained Canadian air! I suspect that it was not an authentic can of Canadian air but a Mexican knock-off instead! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/15 "2002-10-29T18:09:01Z")
Was it a sealed can? 🙂 I mean geez, at least with a bottle, you can put a #$#@ cap on it. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/16 "2002-10-29T19:20:01Z")
Well Canadian, of course! Now [Perri-Aire](http://tomsquotes.amhosting.net/movies/space/perriair.jpg), that’s some good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-someone-please-explain-this-car-commercial-to-me/134248/17 "2002-10-29T19:36:15Z")
Every time I see that commerical with the guy bringing Grandpa some air, I always wonder why he doesn’t just take Gramps out for a drive instead. Weird.