I was fast-forwarding through the commercials while watching the Tonight Show this morning (let’s face it, I fast-forward through all commercials on every show) but I couldn’t help noticing that the same commercial seemed to go on forever.
Out of curiosity, I went back and looked at it. Seems that Chevy bought up virtually every minute of commercial time on the Tonight Show to do a series of 4-minute long commercials for its new SUV (or whatever), the HHR. For some reason they thought that Andy Dick acting like a dick would be a funny idea. The youth market, doncha know.
What were they thinking? Except for those like me who watched this like a trainwreck thread, would anyone pay attention to this travesty? Do you think it will sell HHRs? Cause a buzz? Get the country talking today? Even though nobody has posted a thread on this yet?
Did I imagine this or did anyone else watch?
P.S. The contestants on Battle of the Jaywalk All-Stars were so particularly stupid that it was the perfect complement to the commercials.
I did not see the commercial in question. I just came in here to mention that I originally read the thread title as referring to an “Andy Dick Cheney commercial,” and I became horrified and fascinated trying to contemplate what a hybrid-clone Andy Dick Cheney might be like.
They announed at the very outset of the show that the show was sponsored by the Chevy HHR, which made Pepper Mill turn to me and say she’d never heard of anything like that. My thoughts:
1.) To tell the truth, I liked the first part of the first commercial. the Andly Dick stuff was very weird and very different.
2.) But that commercial directly lead into another part with Dick getting “demoted” by the auto executives. This went on wayyyyyy too long and wasn’t very funny or interesting. This is a combination that induces channel-surfing. It induced me to go and brush my teeth.
- I didn’t watch any more of them after that point, but if they continued in the same vein, it was a loser. A lot of relatively short, nonrepetitive commercials would be entertaining. This wasn’t
4.) That car looks like a gas guzzler. With gas prices rising precipitously, this is not the time to introduce such a beast. But presumably they can’t help it – they’ve already built that damned things, so they have to sell them. I suspect that this is the way they’re trying to do it.
I think it suceeded in solidifying my image of Chevorlet CEOs as a bunch of idiots.
Spotted the Heritage High Roof the other day. It’s about the same size as my Matrix, so… it’s yet another Crossover But We Won’t Call It A Station Wagon.
Looks like mild ass, especially in gold.
http://automobilemag.com/reviews/wagons/0509_chevrolet_hhr/
Decent power, but not a performance vehicle by any note. Little heavy, too. (Half a ton more than my car!) and rear drum brakes.
Based on the Cobalt.
In short, a direct competitor to the PT Cruiser, but not as good looking.
I thought it was a PT Cruiser at first glance.
I also fast-forwarded to Leno’s monologue so if they announced it earlier I would have missed it. The segments did include some supposed entrants into the contest, which may have been real, but there was also a lot of Andy Dickisms throughout.
I see in the link that it’s cheap but severely underpowered. Yeah, that’ll work.
Bad heart from all the freebasing.
Better comparison reviews.
The HHR
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/chevrolet/hhr/100536433/specs.html
The PT Cruiser
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2005/chrysler/ptcruiser/100466990/specs.html
Matrix
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2005/toyota/matrix/100395254/specs.html
(Hm. They lowered the horsepower in the '05 to match the Corolla.)
HHR is longer than my car (Which is shorter than the sedan version) but much shorter than the PT. This matters.
Same weight as the PT, same height.
Same cargo capacity as the PT, more than mine.
Same turning radius
Good amount more HP than the PT
Much worse MPG than mine, much better than the PT.
Same wheelbase on all of them.
Not a bad car, stats say, better than the PT.
(I love Edmunds)