# Just Who Is Responisible for These Ads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407 "2003-02-11T19:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/1 "2003-02-11T19:18:17Z")
Is there a good source of information on the Web that can tell me which advertising agency is responsible for a particular television ad campaign? Inspired by this thread, [New Bizarre BUICK Advert!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=161920), I’ve been wondering which agency came up with the craptastic Harley Earl campaign. Was it the same one that did the really creepy Chevy commercial in which the guy waits in his car until the end of Don McLean’s _American Pie_ (“That’ll be the day that I diiiiiiiiieeeee…”) before joining his girlfriend for their final walk into the surf? And who did that Mitsubishi ad with the spastic dancing girl in the passenger seat? Somebody needs to be held to account! I want names! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/2 "2003-02-11T20:18:39Z")
Check [adage.com](http://adage.com). ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/3 "2003-02-11T20:47:15Z")
Thanks, **digs** , I’ll have to check out that site some more. In any event, it looks like the people responsible for disinterring the body of Harley Earl are McCann-Erickson. Check out this press release from GM: [http://www.gm.com/cgi-bin/pr\_display.pl?3195](http://www.gm.com/cgi-bin/pr_display.pl?3195) > [@](#): > > The new campaign was created by Buick’s national advertising agency, McCann-Erickson Detroit under the direction of Executive Creative Director Dave Moore. Of course, at least some of the blame for these ads has to go to the director. From the same site > [@](#): > > Famed director Tony Scott directed the five new television spots. Scott is known for a number of top films, including “Top Gun,” “Spy Game,” “Enemy of the State” and “Crimson Tide.” Tony Scott. Why am I not surprised? The AdAge review is amusing. From this page, [http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36660](http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36660) > [@](#): > > It’s Mr. K meets “This is Not Your Father’s Oldsmobile”: A who-dat phantom of long-forgotten heritage invoked to announce a revolution not yet occurred. And it’s just the latest unfathomable blunder by General Motors and one of its old-line agencies. The culprit this time: McCann-Erickson, Troy, Mich., which is now faced with the unenviable task of combining a dead, irrelevant pitchman with a live one. > … > That leaves plenty of opportunity for Buick to state, restate and eventually own the concept of affordable luxury. Indeed, it has intermittently, half-heartedly, in the past tried to stake that claim – but not now, because now it’s suddenly “style.” Now it’s a corpse in a fedora promising “to build you a great car.” ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/4 "2003-02-11T22:39:13Z")
You want to know what I think of when someone mentions Harley J. Earl? The Daytona 500 trophy. That’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/5 "2003-02-11T22:42:37Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course, at least some of the blame for these ads has to go to the director. From the same site…Tony Scott. By the time Tony Scott got involved, the decision to reanimate a designer unknown to 99.9% of the population had long since been made. Blame him for the lighting effects if you like, but I’d be surprised if he were involved in the campaign at the concepting phase. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/6 "2003-02-12T01:55:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Was it the same one that did the really creepy Chevy commercial in which the guy waits in his car until the end of Don McLean’s American Pie (“That’ll be the day that I diiiiiiiiieeeee…”) before joining his girlfriend for their final walk into the surf? Now I’m curious. Why do you think it’s their final walk? Are they breaking up, or going to drown themselves, or what? I’m seriously asking, because I hate it when I miss the subtext in a 30-second commercial. The Harley Earl campaign baffles me (assuming the idea is to make people want to buy Buicks). ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/7 "2003-02-12T02:00:28Z")
I also did not get “final” vibe from that commercial. They’re just going to the beach, for all we know. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/8 "2003-02-12T02:09:53Z")
And I want to know who the hell thought up the new one for some sort of SUV with the two guys in it, where the passenger starts choking on food and the driver speed up, then slams on the brakes and the offending piece of food goes splattering onto the windshield. Not only is it not funny to watch someone choking, but this was just plain disgusting. And it doesn’t make me want to buy the damn vehicle. I was so distracted by the grossness that I can’t even remember which car it was. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/9 "2003-02-12T03:26:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baldwin \* > **Now I’m curious. Why do you think it’s their final walk? Are they breaking up, or going to drown themselves, or what?** The first time I saw that ad, I couldn’t figure out what was going on. One of my more fanciful theories was that the couple were about to commit suicide. The despondent-looking young woman on the beach and the man listening to American Pie by himself just seemed creepy to me. What really made me wonder, though, was the tagline: “Until the very end, we’ll be there. Chevrolet.” Now, obviously, no car-maker wants you to think their vehicle is the perfect machine to drive to your Final Destination, but the fact that I considered the possibility that the ad actually was about a suicide attempt makes me think the ad agency missed their target. Of course, if I’m the only person in the world who got that vibe, they might not have missed it by much… And, by the way, that ad seems to have been the product of the Campbell-Ewald agency. The director was Noam Murro. The best online reference I’ve found is a cached page from AdWeek on Google which, on preview, I can’t seem to provide a link for. Do a search on “‘American Pie’ Campbell-Ewald” and it should come up. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/10 "2003-02-12T03:42:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by chukhung \* > \*\*Was it the same one that did the really creepy Chevy commercial in which the guy waits in his car until the end of Don McLean’s _American Pie_ (“That’ll be the day that I diiiiiiiiieeeee…”) before joining his girlfriend for their final walk into the surf? > \*\* Isn’t that one for one of those satellite radio companies? XM-Radio or some such? Jeez, how do you get that they’re going to commit suicide? She’s waiting for him to finish listening to the song, and then they’re going for a walk on the beach. It’s just a freaking commercial. I think you’re reading waaaaay too much into it. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/11 "2003-02-12T04:24:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vivalostwages \* > \*\*And I want to know who the hell thought up the new one for some sort of SUV with the two guys in it, where the passenger starts choking on food and the driver speed up, then slams on the brakes and the offending piece of food goes splattering onto the windshield. \*\* According to this page, [http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36975](http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36975), from AdAge, that spot (for the Dodge Ram Truck) was produced by BBDO Detroit. > [@](#): > > In what may be one of the most disgusting vehicle commercials ever made, viewers are treated to a close-up look at a passenger upchucking a wad of chewed jerky and saliva onto the windshield. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/12 "2003-02-12T13:41:34Z")
Man, sometimes I think those ad biz guys are on heroin! Instead of sticking to telling us what might be good about Buicks, they resurrect a long-dead designer (Harley earl), and match him up with Tiger Woods! I can understand why Buick needs to change their target audience…Volkswagen was in a similar fix years ago (remember when Volkswagen ads were geared to cheapskate eccentrics who wanted everybody to know how much they liked their weird cars)! Volkswagen changed 180 degrees-they are now courting the 22-30 age group, and have won back a huge share of that market. Buick coulddo the same…if only they didn’t have ads with guys from the 1930’s, and a dead guy wearing fedoras and two-tone shoes! ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/13 "2003-02-12T16:03:44Z")
I’m wondering about the JCPenney ads. They manage to be insulting to every population segment. I can’t imagine seeing or hearing one of the ads and thinking that JCPenney is for you instead of thinking “morons.” Why are they still on the air? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/14 "2003-02-12T17:27:36Z")
The ad with the woman dancing (or having convulsions, it’s hard to tell…) in the passenger seat of a Mitsubishi Eclipse was the work of Interpublic Group of Cos.'s Deutsch, Los Angeles. More information about this ad is here: [http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=34194](http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=34194). While I may have thought this ad was a loser, my opinion doesn’t seem to be shared by the advertising industry. In fact, Deutsch won _Advertising Age’s_ 2002 Agency of the Year award. There’s an article about it here: [http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36844](http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=36844). The head of the agency, Donny Deutsch, does seem to be a bit of a loon, though: > [@](#): > > NEW YORK ([AdAge.com](http://AdAge.com)) – Donny Deutsch makes a fist with his right hand and flexes his bicep. “I have the best body of any advertising CEO in the world,” he says proudly. > … > Standing in his office, the 45-year-old chairman-CEO of Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Deutsch pulls his white T-shirt over his head, and naked from waist up, holds his arms out at his sides, palms up, as if to say, “See?” The reporter who wrote that was Lisa Sanders. Real classy. Strip to the waist in front of a reporter of the opposite sex during an interview… ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/15 "2003-02-12T17:37:20Z")
On the David Chappelle show he has a skit making fun of the convulsing/dancing girl. He’s driving, she’s dancing, he keeps giving her strange looks and finally pulls over and yells ‘Get out!’ until she does, then drives off. He then says to himself ‘Damn crazy dancing makes my penis soft’. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/16 "2003-02-12T18:18:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarinth \* > \*\*I’m wondering about the JCPenney ads. They manage to be insulting to every population segment. I can’t imagine seeing or hearing one of the ads and thinking that JCPenney is for you instead of thinking “morons.” > > Why are they still on the air? \*\* Oooooh, I HATE those ads. The “Where is your mother?” commercials! Dumb father can’t handle taking care of the kids while spendthrift mother is out racking up the credit card. Grrrr! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/17 "2003-02-12T18:38:27Z")
How about the one where the driver keeps tapping the brakes to make the passenger spill coffee just as he’s taking a sip? Yup – our cars are for assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/18 "2003-02-12T21:31:24Z")
The only thing I like about Chevy’s “spilling coffee” commercial is that the brake squeal is in the same tempo as the music. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/19 "2003-02-13T00:36:51Z")
If you need to get satellite radio in order to hear American Pie, then you ain’t tryin’ very hard. That is all. -Myron ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407/20 "2003-02-13T01:25:38Z")
> [@](#): > > How about the one where the driver keeps tapping the brakes to make the passenger spill coffee just as he’s taking a sip? Yup – our cars are for assholes. Hate hate hate hate this commercial. The Sequel: Driver does the brake thing, passenger uses the convenient cup holders, then punches driver in face. Hard. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-who-is-responisible-for-these-ads/154407.md?page=2)