# Volvo commercial - WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 19, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743 "2016-06-19T01:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/21 "2016-06-19T16:32:08Z")
See? _That’s_ what caused the stress in the marriage that he mentions! She’s a little ho-wah. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/22 "2016-06-19T16:36:06Z")
She and the groom had a [secret love child](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kx67NnuSd0) a few years ago. The early onset alzh guy in the back seat never noticed. At least the kidlet knows how to make a decent commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/23 "2016-06-19T17:25:28Z")
The extended version makes even less sense. We know he has his own car because the commercial shows him driving it. So why is he hitching a ride to his own daughter’s wedding with these other people? If the woman driving is his wife, then why the frak is he relegated to the back seat when the dude in the passenger seat isn’t even their son? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/24 "2016-06-19T17:38:10Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The extended version makes even less sense. We know he has his own car because the commercial shows him driving it. So why is he hitching a ride to his own daughter’s wedding with these other people? If the woman driving is his wife, then why the frak is he relegated to the back seat when the dude in the passenger seat isn’t even their son? The guy in the front seat is the Best Man. As for the driving arrangements - who know, maybe he likes the way the Bowers & Wilkins sound system sounds back there. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/25 "2016-06-19T18:08:22Z")
This ad has caused me great puzzlement. Thanks for posting about it. That’s one sad and sulky dad. Maybe it’s a moody Swedish thing in the melancholy Ingmar Berman way? This is as bad as the commercial where the Evil BMW maliciously splashed innocent people at a bus stop and the Volve drove by in a very kind and non-splashy manner. I am grateful, though, that it wasn’t one of those “people happily chatting and the driver looking at her phone and they’re hit by a Mack truck and smooshed into a little tin aluminum Coke can” (this is a strategy fave of both Volvo and Subaru(?)). Really? What are we supposed to get out of the Vehicle Death Ads? To me, they serve as a negative promotion of the vehicle and even more so a PSA for the dangers of distracted driving. And make me want to buy one of these cars not at all. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/26 "2016-06-19T19:15:29Z")
Um… I would’ve interpreted this without the text as a father goes with his daughter and two sons to a wedding, and he’s sad thinking about his dead wife afterwards. I never would’ve guessed that woman was supposed to be his wife, or the young guys her children. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/27 "2016-06-19T19:45:46Z")
I haven’t seen it, but from the description, it sounds like maybe they are going to (or coming from) the old guy’s wife’s funeral. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/28 "2016-06-19T22:03:32Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > About 20ish, I’d guess? She looks to be in her early 50s to me. I don’t know who the actress is to know for sure. > > Also, if you watch the previous ad (in the “extended version” link before this post) - the man isn’t as old as he appears, when you hear his voice. Ehh, I would have guessed she was 10-15 years younger than that. I’d guess he’s in his early 50’s. She didn’t read as his wife to me, at any rate. Either way, if it was easier to interpret, it’d be a better commercial. As it is, that it is a bit confusing is it’s only memorable part. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/29 "2016-06-19T22:06:16Z")
If it was easier to interpret the commercial, we wouldn’t be talking about it now nor would we remember it. (Heck, I never even saw the commercial until I started looking for it due to this thread.) ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/30 "2016-06-19T22:14:04Z")
That’s an incredibly insipid ad series. Volvo still exists? I thought they dropped into the fyords years ago due to irrelevance. I can’t imagine why this ad would make me want to buy such an archaic device. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/31 "2016-06-19T22:16:25Z")
I know what you mean about an archaic device. Automobiles are _so_ last century. I only use a transporter to get around. ---
**Author:** ![Rhodaw57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Rhodaw57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodaw57)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/32 "2016-06-20T23:05:21Z")
Well if you really want to be confused, go to You Tube and watch the video for Everytime the Sun comes up. I thought maybe there might be some significance associated with that song between the man and his wife. Uh, that would be a big no. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/33 "2016-06-20T23:42:09Z")
LMAO! ---
**Author:** ![stickusn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@stickusn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stickusn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/34 "2016-06-20T23:57:02Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I’m more puzzled by the way he’s playing with his ring - unless they just got married, those things don’t come off easy. My own father had to have his \*sawn \*off before some wrist surgery. > So maybe Volvo Dad has practice removing his ring. He’s a serial philanderer, Watson. Serial philanderer because his ring comes off easily…give me a break. I’m a Naval Aviator and my ring comes off quite easily as I’m required to take it off every time I fly. ---
**Author:** ![Ek6495](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b19c9b/32.png) [@Ek6495](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ek6495)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/35 "2016-06-22T00:06:22Z")
I think the old guy is hammered drunk and on his way to rehab because his wife left him again. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/36 "2016-06-22T19:30:17Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > I’ve had the same question. I did NOT get the “happy couple just got married and are reminiscing with Dad” vibe. It seemed much more…melancholy. Like the older guy just buried HIS wife, based on the way he was looking at the ring. > > Except they don’t seem to be in funeral attire. That was exactly my interpretation from seeing it at first glance. And that she was pulling up “their song.” I’m at the Volvo dealership right now! ---
**Author:** ![Fishinfrank2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/87869e/32.png) [@Fishinfrank2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishinfrank2000)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/39 "2016-07-21T02:02:24Z")
When I first saw it I figured the woman driver was having an affair with the guy in the passenger seat and they were driving the old man to his execution, or perhaps to an Alzheimer’s home. The other guy in the back seat is an accomplice to whatever and is glad the old guy has taken off his wedding ring to save him the trouble of getting it off later. I feel sad and confused every time I see this commercial and would never want my family to own one. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/40 "2016-07-21T04:20:56Z")
Well at least [Van Damme](https://youtu.be/M7FIvfx5J10) didn’t drop down onto their hood. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/41 "2016-07-21T07:09:14Z")
Well, as a father who’s oldest daughter (but still too young) just moved far away, the ad (particularly the extended version) resonated with me. If I was in the market for a new car, I’d be thinking Volvo. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2016, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/42 "2016-07-21T07:58:45Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > The extended version makes even less sense. We know he has his own car because the commercial shows him driving it. So why is he hitching a ride to his own daughter’s wedding with these other people? If the woman driving is his wife, then why the frak is he relegated to the back seat when the dude in the passenger seat isn’t even their son? I think it’s the same car. The family got there earlier with the bride - the father came on his own in the Volvo, pausing for a few minutes at the lighthouse to revise his toast. Then at the wedding, he drank a little too much, so his wife is driving them home. He’s in the back seat because his older son invoked the time-honoured tradition of yelling “Shotgun!” when they returned to the parking lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743.md?page=3)