In their latest commercials Subaru tells us that dumping a junk car in the wilderness or driving a car you can't see out of equate to some strange form of love. The first shows some environmentally-challenged dufus driving two days to take his old Forester to "Subaru heaven," which consists of a spot somewhere in an otherwise pristine wilderness area where other Subaru owners have abandoned their worn-out rides. There, apparently, they sit until they rust to pieces, releasing their various petrochemical-based fluids and toxic metals into the environment instead of being responsibly recycled and reused. The other shows someone who must come from the same genetic pool as that guy because he refuses to wash his Outback, claiming it's a "badge of honor" and that he'll "let the universe take care of it." He'd better hope the universe is taking car of him when he pulls out in front of that bus or runs over that motorcycle in the lane next to him because his windows are so nasty he can't see what's around him. And this comes from a company that not long ago bragged about how their factory is a wildlife preserve and how safe their cars are. Maybe they just don't expect their customers to share their "values."
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I absolutely have no idea why they think the commercial where they abandon the Forester under the tree is a good idea.
Can I keep all my beloved used tires there, too? And while I’m at it, 100,000 of my tires closest friends?
and videogames cause violence
And these got past the legal department how?
Thanks Frank for pointing out the ridiculousness of this ad. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and was just astounded how disconnected Subaru is from their customers.
A better commercial would be the dude #1 selling/giving his older Forester to dude #2, and then dude #1 gets in his new one one. And they both drive off with some clever tag about recycling or re-using.
…but who am I afterall.
They made a reference to the old Subarus in the woods being used for parts by others:
“… give that car a chance to live on, one part at a time.”
But yeah, why not just sell it to a salvage yard, which will do the same thing AND remove all of the fluids and chemicals and dispose of them in a responsible manner?
As for the other one, lighten up, it’s only a commercial.
only 300,000 miles and he dumps it under the tree???! Could have donated it to NPR. Sheesh.
I know I had a “WTF” moment after seeing that commercial for the first time.
I like the ‘Wash Me’ ad. Why needlessly consume gallons of water that could be used for cooking or drinking to wash a car when the occasional rain shower will do the job for you?
The car dump ad is terrible.
The dirty car ad is okay though. As long as he keeps the windshield and front side windows clean he’ll be able to see just fine, and the wiper at the back can take care of the back window. There’s been many times I’ve just cleaned off the front side windows and mirrors instead of washing my car.
beetlebug wrote:
I know I had a “WTF” moment after seeing that commercial for the first time.
Same here.
Jeez! Get a life! It’s just an ad!
Do you believe that if you spray AXE on your chest that hot nubile young girls will stalk you?
Silly people….
I think if anything deserved a bit of cynicism or negativity it’s the Subaru heaven ad. The message that seems to come across to me is a bit disturbing. I understand how it’s supposed to be an homage to owner loyalty, but really, is leaving a car to rot in a field really something grand? Sometimes cutesy doesn’t cut it.
I’d write more about this but there is a group of young women about to tackle me. Thank you AXE!
hey.
Its a subaru add..
who cares?
They should let John C. Mcginley (a.k.a. Dr Perry Cox) do some more ads…
@ rpn453: Me too. Hey, it works. If I get gas and my car’s dirty, I’ll wash the windshield and windows and be done with it.
Cool! Where is this “piece of heaven”? I’ll run up there and get me a Subieroo which apparently was thrown away for no good reason. I mean he drove it for 2 days didn’t he? Couldn’t be that bad – could it?
Yeah, I like the junkyards that disassemble the parts donors and put them on a warehouse shelf piece by piece. Parts in better shape than the ones that rot in a field for 5 years before I show up to buy them.
I thought the “Heaven” ad was dumb. And not in a clever way. Maybe I’m too left-brained today?
gawdodirt :
Do you believe that if you spray AXE on your chest that hot nubile young girls will stalk you?
Reminds me of the ad where the .. er .. woman .. has men’s heads turning after her all over town. Her secret was rubbing a Planter’s Cashew over herself in the morning. Hilarious ad.
beetlebug :
I’d write more about this but there is a group of young women about to tackle me. Thank you AXE!
Hehe, I’ll tell you AXE worked better for me than my Corvette ever did!
gawdodirt:
I’m not bothered or offended by the ads so much as I’m shocked that no one else in our current sue-happy, wet-noodle-spined, political-correctness-or-death society was offended to a degree that would have put the brakes on the spots.
Could it be that our culture is finally (re)growing a pair?
Do you believe that if you spray AXE on your chest that hot nubile young girls will stalk you?
WHAT?????!!!???
You mean that’s not true????
aw crap ….
At least when I do dumb things, they’re not put on TV for millions to see.
Some “high concept” ads work, some fall flat.
It’s hard to believe that someone in the ad agency or at Subaru thought that they could depict the dumping of a car in a forest as an environmentally friendly act. It’s one of those jarring contradictions that just makes no sense.
You have to wonder why some young flunky at the ad agency didn’t say “um, doesn’t this commercial make it look like our customer is dumping this car into an otherwise pristine wilderness? And is that really the image we want to project, i.e. that Subaru owners are some kind of inconsiderate rednecks dumping their cars out on public land somewhere?”