# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/43 "2016-07-22T01:16:36Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > When she started looking at the pictures, I anticipated another Volvo crash safety commercial. I wondered if I was the only one who snapped, “Eyes on the road!” when she was eyeballing the camera in the passenger’s seat. ---
**Author:** ![stosh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@stosh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stosh)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/44 "2016-07-24T17:07:46Z")
They are actors in a stupid car commercial. It’s deliberately vague to make people mention " Volvo". It could be “Chevy” or “Ford” or whatever. It’s just a ploy to get people talking about " Volvo’s" ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/45 "2016-07-27T00:32:58Z")
and she never once used her turn signal. ---
**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:** [July 27, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/46 "2016-07-27T01:59:38Z")
> [@stosh](#): > > They are actors in a stupid car commercial. It’s deliberately vague to make people mention " Volvo". It could be “Chevy” or “Ford” or whatever. It’s just a ploy to get people talking about " Volvo’s" :eek: No way! I never would have guessed that the purpose of an advertisement was to get people talking about the product being advertised. ---
**Author:** ![rrwcm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@rrwcm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rrwcm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/47 "2016-08-18T22:54:34Z")
I REALLY dislike this commercial. Hate the music, sounds like the singer is moaning and needs to be put out of misery. As for the old guy in the back, he looks like a terrorist with a suit on. Volvo, you need to change advertising agencies. ---
**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:** [August 18, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/48 "2016-08-18T23:14:53Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > :eek: No way! I never would have guessed that the purpose of an advertisement was to get people talking about the product being advertised. Especially since the OP mentioned that very thing! Gosh, **stosh** - are you always this insightful, or did you just get lucky? ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/49 "2016-08-18T23:31:33Z")
> [@rrwcm](#): > > I REALLY dislike this commercial. Hate the music, sounds like the singer is moaning and needs to be put out of misery. As for the old guy in the back, he looks like a terrorist with a suit on. Volvo, you need to change advertising agencies. A well groomed older man in a luxury car commercial “looks like a terrorist”?? Really? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/50 "2016-08-19T13:39:07Z")
I did get that it was the mother, but who wears a white lace dress to her daughter’s wedding? ---
**Author:** ![scalldan54](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@scalldan54](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scalldan54)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/51 "2016-08-28T16:43:18Z")
My wife and I have discussed this commercial. Truly, the brand VOLVO does not come to mind when I think about the scenario. If it’s the father-of-the-bride looking at his wedding band, why isn’t he riding in front with his wife (or ex-wife)? It doesn’t make me remember VOLVO at all! It makes me wonder why a company as sophisticated as VOLVO would waste money on a commercial that totally misses the mark. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/52 "2016-08-28T17:15:17Z")
> [@rrwcm](#): > > I REALLY dislike this commercial. Hate the music, sounds like the singer is moaning and needs to be put out of misery. As for the old guy in the back, he looks like a terrorist with a suit on. Volvo, you need to change advertising agencies. > [@leftfield6](#): > > A well groomed older man in a luxury car commercial “looks like a terrorist”?? Really? > > :rolleyes: When we were first talking about this thread I was trying to figure out who played the mother and father and ended up on a message board full of comments exactly like the above. I had to look up what ‘muzzie’ meant. Their problem with the commercial was that a muzzie shouldn’t be married to an American (or a hot blonde or something like that). Found it “Recently I saw a commercial selling some junk and there was a married couple depicted as a perky white blonde girl married to a slovenly, Arabic-looking guy with a full muzzie beard.” The comments just get worse and worse and worse as the thread goes on. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/53 "2016-08-28T20:07:22Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > … I find it extremely insulting that jackasses in marketing departments so often think that this kind of imagery and sound would resonate with me–that there is anything at all I would identify with. They really have no clue about me at all. … The ambiguity of this commercial and of the characters in it is a feature not a bug. It is a scene from some story that the viewer can complete but the story clearly includes a family of some diversity and of wealth that love and care about each other. **guizot** (and **rrwcm** ) you highly probably are not the target demographic they had in mind for this luxury plug-in crossover that starts at $68,100, often sells with packages that come to more like $84K plus, and goes 0 to 60 in 5.3 seconds. The demographic they are looking at might also be considering an Audi Q7 or a Mercedes GLS or maybe a Tesla S. That likely is fairly few of us. [Forbes’ review](http://www.forbes.com/sites/lianeyvkoff/2016/03/16/the-2016-volvo-xc90-t8-plug-in-hybrid-volvo-is-beating-tesla-at-its-own-game/#382d9838414f)hits who they are aiming for clearly: > [@](#): > > … The plug-in hybrid XC90 is the automotive equivalent of a single-source, organic fair trade chocolate bar wrapped in hand-printed paper–nice if you can afford it, but completely unnecessary. For many, it’s likely a feel-good justification of an otherwise extravagant indulgence. The world is not being saved by purchasing this excessive and expensive SUV, but the buyer can have the illusion it is. > > In that sense, XC90 T8 seems to be a way for the luxury consumer of a certain tax bracket to be part of the electric revolution without compromising personal space, convenience, or performance. And that plays in well with the core of Volvo’s safety and responsibility brand. A plug-in hybrid is the most responsible and accessible way to buy a daring 400-hp SUV enveloped in comfort and safety while tipping your hat at the polar bears on melting ice caps … Tesla will win the sexy product group. Volvo’s sales pitch is based on people who want to think of themselves as people who care most about their family’s safety and being responsible, even as they make an absurdly indulgent purchase. This commercial is aimed at them. It is effective ambiguous sentimental swill that declares that this is not about announcing how sexy you are or declaring how much money you have … it is about allowing yourself to indulge in power and luxury while still advertising to the world that what you care about is your family and maybe the planet a little too. That may not be you and it may not be me but it is who might buy that vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/54 "2016-08-28T23:28:30Z")
The next - prequel - [installment](https://plus.google.com/+PeterGMcDermott/posts/TmeDdJgZTWL) of “The Wedding.” Extended version. BTW, Hasselblad is a Swedish company, and the camera featured, the H6D, will be selling for about $33K. ---
**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:** [August 28, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/55 "2016-08-28T23:38:16Z")
That’s the same extended version of the commercial linked to [upthread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19416717#post19416717). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/56 "2016-08-29T00:30:06Z")
Ah sorry. As it has very little of the same material I assumed it was a new commercial and had gotten to it clicking a link that entitled it as such called “The Letter.” My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Brobollard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Brobollard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brobollard)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743/57 "2016-08-29T06:53:46Z")
I got it: Mom is driving. Dad is in the back seat nervous about the speech he’s got to give and about giving their kid away. Ring is for the kid getting married. Groom is in the back seat. Dude in the front is the best man, the groom’s best friend. This makes me think the couple getting married is straight and therefore that the “kid” getting married is the daughter of the driving mom and the pensive dad. The dad is hawt! Mom is too. Their kid must be really hawt. But this commercial pisses me off and make me not want to buy a Volvo EVER! It shouldn’t be this hard to figure out a damn commercial! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/volvo-commercial-wtf/757743.md?page=2)