Lost in Ed’s announcement about the revised TTAC was the issue of just how much cold cash we’re all making here at America’s finest automotive blog. Well, I don’t know about the so-called “contributors” who make up the rest of the roster, but speaking personally I don’t mind disclosing that in 2011, I’m scheduled to receive at least one hundred and fifty thousand
reminder emails from Ed about getting my articles in on time. Well, if he wants me to write more often he’s going to have to make it worth my while. One way he could do it would be to have more “Gift Guides”. Gift Guides are awesome for two reasons. The first reason is that you can sell a bunch of targeted advertisements to be placed within the pages of said gift guide. The second reason is that I strongly suspect that the guys at AutoWeek are KEEPING ALL THE STUFF THEY REVIEW! I could be wrong, but surely nobody expects that they are going to mail an eleven-thousand-dollar watch to a bunch of broke-ass bar hounds and actually get it back?
We need to be doing more of these here. I checked AutoWeek’s advertisement for their advertisements and discovered the following fact:
Number of “Gift Guide” articles planned for 2011:
AutoWeek: 26
TTAC: F***ing ZERO
This has to change. And there’s a disturbing third possibility: that the “Gift Guides” aren’t solely designed for sucking ad money and free swag from “lifestyle marketers”. Some of you lemmings out there may actually be waiting for me to tell you what to buy!
This is a crushing burden for me to face, emotionally speaking, but I’ve thought about it, and I think you should all buy Electra guitars. I have a lot of them and Vodka McBigbra says it’s time to clear out some space in the living room. I also have some old issues of AutoWeek, and you could buy them to read the Gift Guides contained within.
If none of that tugs at your fancy, why not consider the Automoblox Highcroft Racing car and trailer set? You can tow your toy cars with a toy truck. This is bad-ass and it will turn your son into a real man faster than that one episode of “The Backyardigans” where Pablo beats a homeless guy to death.
Check it out here. And, no, they didn’t give us one to “test”. I’m going to have to pay my own money for it. But I warn anybody from Automoblox who is reading this; if my Highcroft Trailer Set doesn’t come with a free bottle of Ketel One Citroen, I might talk about how the fit and finish isn’t up to the level of the Taiwanese competition. Capiche?
If I recall, TTAC did one Perfume Cologne review many months back. A very good one, too.
That said, there’s definitely room for an Automoblox Death Watch.** Definite branding issues caused by corporate ADHD and too long in a dominant position.
** I bought my son a basic set last year. He liked it well enough, but lost the pieces pretty quickly and, truth be told, gets more mileage out of the little bags of mix-and-match toy cars you can pick up at Value Village.
What kind of over-privileged weenie boy even wants to play with a $120 set, finished flawlessly in what appears to be the color of nail-polish, with color-matched accessories? That set seems to be targeted more at the high-maintenance mom who wants her precious little Olivia and Emma to “play with cars” as a way for mommy to feel all warm and gooey about gender-stereotype-busting and what not.
Toss the boy a block of wood, a set of wood-carving tools, and a bunch of wheels ripped off of old toy cars. Let the boy be a boy, for pete’s sake.
(edit: psarhinjian, this wasn’t targeted at you – i was referring to the original article. I must have hit reply on your post, so it showed up as a response to yours)
I’m in total agreement. Given the state of the industry, it is our civic duty to give cars. It is our editorial duty to deliver car gift guides.
The best presents over 500 hp
Cars for the man who has everything
Cars for the woman who has everything
Cars for the domestic helper who has everything
Gift cars for gifted children
The gifts that will keep on giving (headaches)
Save the planet, give these EVs
Minivans that will bring big smiles
The topless way to show him your love
And so on. It’s good for the economy. It creates million of jobs. We should have one a week.
You mentioned cars for gifted kids but skipped over the much larger “gift cars for stupid kids” segment. That’s where the volume is.
Consider this thirded to Bertel’s second. If I had an altar-ego here it would be fourthed, fifthed, and sixthed.
I had to laugh at the placement of the jump here Jack, well played!
And I want that toy set!
How about a review of car magazines as gift subscriptions? For example, I’m thinking that a certain knuckle dragger in my family would be delighted to receive Motor Trend beginning with its “Rush to Judgment” issue. Not quite as timeless as Car & Driver’s “Miss Cancellation” issue, but a rare political kamikaze act from an unlikely source among auto buff mags.
Actually agree with the Automoblox Death Watch – I got one for myself out of curiosity (at much less than $120) and was fairly disappointed with the quality of woodwork or finish. Looks nice from afar or on pictures but I agree that most kids will probably say meh fairly quickly and move on to something else. Good trick of selling to the parents, though…