Like it or not, advertising is a legitimate art form, studied and dissected just like its sculpture and literature forebears. As the high holy day of the medium approaches this weekend, I thought it appropriate that we discuss some of history’s greatest automotive advertisements.
And don’t worry, we will have a roundup of The Big Game’s best car-specific spots coming soon.
Ideally, an advertisement should sell a car. That’s the point, right? But it seems the most memorable adverts do more than facilitate a transaction — they make a connection with viewers that lasts longer than the 30-second run time. The message stays with the potential buyer for years.
I’ve selected a few of my favorites, and my absolute favorite is at the bottom. But I’m sure you’ll tell me I’m wrong, so feel free to link to your faves.
2016 was a rough one for celebrities, it seems, but in January we didn’t realize just how bad it would get. We’d lost David Bowie, though, and that’s all it took to make this Audi commercial pull at the heartstrings.
1996 was a big year for me. It’s the year I graduated high school, but it’s also the year Nissan killed off the Z for a while. But when their creative team decided to make a memorable advertisement, nothing else on the showroom floor evoked excitement like the 300ZX. So they used a toy Z instead.
I’ll admit it — unlike just about everyone else in the world, I’m not a Star Wars fan. I might have watched one of the films when I was a kid, but the franchise didn’t impact me like most. It took until last summer to get me through all of the films (to that point) with my kids. But the excitement this kid must be feeling when he uses The Force to start a Volkswagen is palpable.
My favorite is one I’ve shown before on these pages — and yes, it’s another Z. It’s the epic “Black Gold” commercial for the 1980 Datsun 280ZX Anniversary edition, and it’s packed full of era-specific disco-tastic cliches, including the best moustache this side of John Oates.
So — take your pick of these four, or add your own. Which car commercial is your favorite?
My favorite QOTD car ad? Hands-down my all-time favorite:
VW super bowl Star Wars Darth Vader little boy.
My second? Lee Iacocca in 1981 or 1982 promoting Chrysler K-Cars: “If you can find a better car, buy it”!
Well, for better or for worse, we bought a K-Car… A new base model 1981 Reliant, owned it for 7 years. A 2-year-old 1984 E-Class, owned it for 8 years. A new 1990 Acclaim, owned it for 10½ years. My F-i-L owned three K-cars. Then an Acclaim. Then he went back to Ford and owned three Taurus\'(sic) and a Focus as his last car.
incidentally, VW has my vote for the car commercial I hate the most. It was a few years ago, and the scene was some guy playing catch (poorly) with his young son. The voice-over came in and said “Passat. Pass down something he *will* be grateful for.”
and I nearly threw the remote through my TV. Here we have a man taking care of and playing with his son (which a lot of kids would love to have) and VW wants you to believe that’s *less* valuable than one of their garbage cars which will be a junk money pit by the time he’s old enough to drive it?
This one, of course.
https://youtu.be/pNzcRNrkdCw
I also like this one – I spent $25,000 on a new car because my otherwise perfectly fine car needed its door handle repaired.
https://youtu.be/N7hpyGgDW6I
I’d forgotten about that Subaru ad – that Cutlass looks GOOD, save the floppy handle.
The Subaru commercial reminds me of when I was a little kid and our family car, a ’58 Ford Fairlane 500 was in the shop. The shop gave us a loaner which was a Studebaker Lark 4-door sedan. Both front doors in the Lark would not open. To get in or out, you had to crawl over the front seat and get into the back seat, then open one of the rear doors.
We were desperate to have car, there was some emergency thing going on. My mother was wearing a dress and not at all happy about the loaner car. Moreover, some of my friends saw her crawling over the front seat back and were laughing and pointing at her because they saw her underwear.
It’s not a car commercial per se, but this one has gotta be on the all-time list:
The Shell / Ferrari F1 spot:
Damn, I miss naturally aspirated F1 cars. Turbos are a crime against truth and beauty.
I still pull this one up occasionally, just to listen to the engines.
Shorter link here:
https://youtu.be/LeuawrirUzc
Time to unpimp ze auto
After that, I liked the Joe Isuzu line of commercials
Another great one for music and cinematography was the Shiny Toy Guns cover of Major Tom fir the Lincoln commercial. The commercial really made you believe that this car was a technological marvel. A car commercial got me to pay for a digital download of a song (but not interested in the car!). Well done.
I liked the Lincoln one, too, and the cover song. The only thing I didn’t like was that the rear wheels spun when the driver stepped on the gas, which would not happen in a FWD car with part-time AWD.
Ha! Yeah, I downloaded the song, too.
A Cadillac ad did the same thing for me and the song Punkrocker by Teaddybears.
https://youtu.be/m-OcxGfKcUA
This isn’t just my favorite car commercial, it’s my favorite commercial, period. The stereotype no longer really holds, but it was pitch perfect for the time.
I give you Audi Yuppies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LPWpzNWO88
All Subaru Doggie Drivers!
@ Chris :
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You’ve watched _all_ the Star Wars movies ? .
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Seriously ? .
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-Nate
Save the most recent one from December, yes. I was in the room whilst watching the films – the kids insisted.
I can’t swear that I was awake for the entirety of each movie, though.
You are seriously a good Daddy ! .
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I watched the first three in the Theatre but that’s it, the blush went off the rose, I can’t even enjoy them on video now =8-( .
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-Nate
I always liked the Lexus “something wicked” series.
youtu.be/EA6HUySkFss
What a great era. Mid-size sedans with V8s, a company touting that they are the fastest over “most advanced”, and a Lexus vehicle with a front end that wasn’t inspired by a bad shroom trip nightmare.
Since it has stayed with me for almost 50 years, the ’68 AMC Javelin commercial is my personal favorite.
This is one of my faves too. With a very young Richard Dreyfuss.
Best: Shell-Ferrari (also one of the best commercials for ANYTHING ever)
Coolest: Honda “Cogs”
Most Nostalgic: VW Cabrio “Pink Moon” , Mitsubishi Eclipse “Days Go By”
Weirdest: Lancia Autobianchi Y10 “Sexy Robot”
Most Dramatic: Maserati Ghibli Super Bowl ad “Strike”
Best Pop Culture Reference: Audi R8 “Godfather”
The ad for the 86 Citroen CX with Grace Jones is is pretty weird too.
VW: ‘What does the man who drives the snowplow drive’.
Mercury Cougar commercials with Farrah Fawcett.
I agree with the VW snowplow ad – here it is. It is also considered one of the all-time best TV ads by the advertising issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQga04SbTjI
The floating Beetle is also very good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qB0lb401ZU
And another one called the funeral:
Arthur- wasn’t that Kate Jackson? Foxy back in the day.
The Kia Soul 2010 “Hampster” campaign.
The launch ad featuring Fort Knox by Goldfish and the Black Sheep ad. The direct attack on other econoboxes as toasters, boxes on wheels, and hamster wheels
It created a social media sensation and the effectiveness of the campaign can’t be denied.
The ad that resonated with me as a target customer was the 2008 Chevy Malibu launch ad, with Oren Lavie’s Her Morning Elegance. As a father of an 8-year old daughter when this ad came out really tugged at my heart strings. It is hard to remember almost a decade ago what a departure the ’08 Malibu as to the steaming pile it replaced, and the ad showed the interior and styling of GMs first competitive midsizer in decades well.
Last one – which is decades ago and I can’t find on YouTube. Lexus has an ad for one of their cars where the narrative was, you got married, you had kids, they went to school, they went to college and then they moved out. At that very moment Ode to Joy from Beethoven 9th start playing, there is the most appealing exhaust sound, and in an overhead shot a Lexus races onto the screen in a cloud of scattering autumn leaves. I still remember that ad and thinking to myself, “THAT will be me one day.” Just 5 or 6 more years to go…
I really liked Audi’s 2010 Super Bowl ad, “Green Police”, when it came out. Great premise (and who doesn’t like Cheap Trick?).
It’s far, far funnier today for reasons that are obvious at the end of the ad.
I wonder of the VAG marketing people had any idea of the clean diesel hoax they promoted.
I doubt the marketing people knew the cars would one day be vilified by the people lampooned by the commercial. It was a funny ad, but did it really make anyone want to be green? Are you a nazi that wants to rob everyone of their personal freedoms? Yeah! I’m one too!
The Eminem/Chrysler 200/Imported from Detroit commercial from 2011. But, I’m a Detroiter.
It was an awesome use of image and atmosphere and a song. Can you imagine how badass it would have been for a Challenger SRT? I loved it anyway, but almost for what might have been.
FCA (or was it still Chrysler back then?) came out with a whole whack of excellent commercials in this same time period. In addition to the Eminem commercial, I thought the Chrysler “Arrive in Style”, Jeep “Manifesto”, and Ram “Farmer” commercials were all excellent.
THAT was a fantastic ad – yes. Great visuals, great message, Marshall is a decent actor. Shame the product turned out to be a pile of crap.
The VW star wars add rocked when first seen and is still good today.
The 300Z Ken & Barbie Toys one is up there.
So is/are the Bob Eager ‘Like A Rock’ Silverado one(s).
Of current ones, Dodge Ram ‘Praise’ (RAM has among the best ad firms out there), as it’s particularly timely/relevant to societal issues, political strife and mores/values of rural and even urban America now – it’s what a non-denominational sermon could be:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVlgTkYXWik
Chevy should go back to the “Like a Rock” commercials. Anything is better than ordinary people saying idiotic things about cars.
Should be Bob SEGER above (obviously).
Also, although it’s not my favorite (but it’s very good) look at how much infinitely better Cadillac ‘Breakthrough’ Ads were just 8 or so years ago (the new Millennial Chick voiceover ones are sepsis by contrast):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpD7f8gWgDg
Well Zeppelin = good. So it automatically has that going for it.
I liked this DTS ad.
youtu.be/DoQXao7Zjpg
It shows Cadillac cars and Cadillac owners doing Cadillac things.
Adam,
I’m not sure if you heard, but those are real people in the Chevy commercials, not actors.
I wish General Motors would have made that more clear.
Not only are they ordinary people, but when all the bowties were covered, they would have given sworn affidavits that they were inside Audis, Beemers, Rolls-Royces’, Maybachs & Bentleys.
“Is this a S Class…maybe a S550?”
“You are actually sitting inside of the new 2017 Chevy Impala.”
“Wow….that’s amazing. I wish my 18-day old new Audi A8 had this level of fit and finish and these features.”
“Maybe this Cruze is an Audi?”
Very boring real people, to be sure.
Thanx DW ~
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That’s a Terrific advert ! .
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The restaurant ‘ CHIPS’ @ 0.21 is actually in Hawthorne, Ca. on Hawthorne Blvd.No. of 120th St. ~ I eat there regularly, had my comfort lunch of liver, bacon and onions there yesterday .
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It’s always popping up in movies and T.V. shows .
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-Nate
That ad is more politically charged than RAM’s ‘God Made A Farmer,” yet they did it in a positive, not negative way.
What could be more timely/good now than an ad about the value of work tied to family tied to sacrifice tied to people who make actual things (versus shifting money around and executing documents) that allow the nation to actually function at the most basic level?
Agreed but in a good way as you said =8-) .
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I’m always hammering these basic upbeat forward looking values into my Teenaged Foster boys,much to the horror of the Family Services Department .
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Interestingly , our success rate is far above anyone else’s .
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NO SHAME in being a Farmer (I didn’t cotton to it) or any sort of Tradesman no matter what my own Father thought .
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-Nate
Farmers rule. /no sarc
Shoveling shit and pulling tits wasn’t my idea of the good life….
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Haying was O.K. as it was out door work .
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I just pulled an all dayer battling wits with an old beat up Mercedes Diesel and I’m beat and sore but *much* happier than I ever was on the Farm .
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-Nate
Absolute GOLD!
https://youtu.be/SaZqQLpbjFU
Valet can’t find your Oldsmobuick.
I’m a certified VW hater but “it’s definitely sucking” will never leave my vocabulary: https://youtube.com/watch?v=xCIF6JF1O5U
Those are my favorites.
Also a vote for the Ken and Barbie 300Z.
Duke remembered a good one. Chev used to unveil their new cars each year on the season premiere of Bonanza. Sunday nights. Used I believe Monument Valley made famous by John Ford.
The Subaru border collie commercials currently showing are good.
Ricardo Montalban became a cultural phenomenon with his Corinthian leather.
The ad for the ’64 Chevrolet Impala, featuring Dinah Shore, shot from a helicopter, in Monument Valley, Arizona:
This is the only ad I’ve ever seen that’s silenced 50-plus people at a Super Bowl party. Ram Trucks, “And God Made a Farmer.”
https://youtu.be/AMpZ0TGjbWE
Ok, last one from me. F-body Trans Am.
youtu.be/f9Ho-uyPock
Everything about that is good.
There was another Nissan commercial with Barbie. Plus GI Joe, Dr Love, and a Pathfinder (I think it’s a Pathfinder).
Corinthian leather for me, thanks!
I kind of liked the Subaru ones with Paul Hogan back in the days when the Outback was a wagon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z9qohzqq9g
“Drive your Volvo like you hate it”:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E9c2Y8_2TH4
60s Amazon commercial that fits the way many people used them up, having a lot of fun doing that.
I think the Lexus December to Remember commercials are entertaining. P.S…did you know the jingle / motif that’s heard in those commercials is part of a pre-existing song that Lexus licensed from the composer? I didn’t. I thought they’d had it made specifically for them.
Nice one Kyree. I’m a big fan of the LS430 Shoo-fly Pie commercial. So classy.
I had a Saturn SL2 with 5-speed in college. Great, simple car. I remember a commercial of a guy banging his head into the plastic “dent-resistant” doors. I think his girlfriend was nagging him or something. Good stuff.
The 93/94 Camaro ads with Jimi Hendrix “Let me stand next to your fire” playing. They called it “the official car of rock and roll” if I remember correctly.
I don’t see myself ever needing a truck, but I always liked the old Chevy commercials with Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock”:
http://youtu.be/d2VgRiaDHWw
I also remember enjoying the Subaru commercials with Paul Hogan when I was a kid, and the recent ones with the dog family are pretty well-done.
I don’t have a link, but the MoPar Rapid Transit commercials from the late 60s was my favorite… Plymouth Road Runner, Dodge Charger, Dodge Super Bee, and other…
Volkswagen Bug / Blue Flame.
Blue Flame on its record run, roaring left to right. Voiceover: “When Gary Gabelich broke the land speed world record on October 23, 1970, he was glad he had a car he could rely on.”
Bug trundling slowly through the dusk from right to left: “That evening, going home, he felt the same way.”
First, an apology. I am sorry. I’m not really a sappy yuppy.
Now, the Driver’s Live commercials (cut to diff lengths) by Mazda were excellent. Talk about nailing the spirit of a car! Of course, it helped that the first Miata I ever saw was on the campus of my university during Junior year. Living with the blue NA I had later was tricky as a 23 yr old, but nostalgia is a powerful thing. Almost makes me forgive the goofy add-on dash screen on the new one.
…and in that same vein…Inner Mustang.
The 300zx commercial was quite good. I’d still like one of them.
Other good ones:
Lexus for the SC300 when it came out. A guy driving through the back country. The announcer says, “You have a 30 mile commute. You could either own a house closer to work or own the road in between.”
Audi’s 2017 SuperBowl VS ad is likely to be talked about during half-time.
https://youtu.be/7PL7qHs3OgU
Joe Isuzu rules!
The Musclecar lives…
https://youtu.be/zILlHwmB66M
Jeep Grand Cherokee from the ’90s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpOCrrqL_vc
the video is labeled “Australia” but I remember seeing this one on TV.
Man they were firing on all cylinders back in the nineties. That was a great one.
The snow commercial won a bunch of awards, apparently…
Gotta love the kids in the classroom hawking the “Big New” Studebaker, and who can forget that great jingle?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbWA0IHDXlU
(Of course as we all know, despite claims of being “new” Studebakers under the skin were pretty much the same from 1953 until the end.)
Cool Paul Richards, with a crowbar, whacking the Endura front bumper on the new ’68 GTO.
https://youtu.be/vZNNu1YuQ6c
Wasn’t there a commercial in the 1990s of a baseball player hitting the “unbreakable” black plastic grille of a Chevy truck with a baseball bat?
I don’t know what it was before watching that 280ZX “Black Gold” video, but I know what it is now.
Thank you, TTAC. That made my day.
Then there’s the “Red Carpet Ride” commercial for the 1967 AMC Ambassador. A neat trick to pull off in the pre-CGI era. All I could find is a poor-quality B&W video:
One of the best and classiest car commercials!
A couple of great ones –
the operatic Saab ad from the 80s –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bikJjHXevNc
and a more synth pop version from Isuzu – same era
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKfEivMfDPU
and A typically funny Dutch VW ad –
Some oldies but goodies:
Have you driven a Ford . . . Lately!
GTI commercial with one word from the driver after running it through it’s paces . . .Ausgezeichnet!
and Little GTI in German!
Joe Isuzu was great.
Volkswagen’s “1949 Auto Show” commercial.
1999 Dodge Viper commercial with the Magic Carpet Ride mix.
Black Gold is all gold!
Citroen CX2 with Grace Jones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdT9oURGtTc
1984 Corvette
Amigo! Amigo!
An RV dealer in Ventura, CA circa 1989 doing his own TV commercial, ending with:
“Folks, if you have no credit, bad credit, bankruptcy or divorce…come see us when things get better!”
Any and all of the Joe Isuzu commercials.
Mazda celebrating its 100th win in IMSA with a RX-8 circling broken down Porsches, Corvettes, etc. While Patsy Cline sings ” I fall to pieces” in the background.
Am I really the first to nominate BMW films: “The Hire” series? OK, short films, ads, …
Dealership: Trunk Monkey
OEM: Nissan “Dogs Love Trucks” with the Mr. K.
Guess I like animals in Car ads.
No links, google it your self.
You and I are on the same wavelength. I’m stunned “Dogs Love Trucks” hadn’t made it on the list until your post, and those Clive Owen shorts were great.
Great point. That was a perfect tagline. Why in the world did they give up on it? I could see it coming back perfectly for the new Titan.
Dogs love all vehicles equally now and don’t know that trucks are any better because it would be inhumane to suggest that they prefer riding in the bed.
I second the BMW films nomination.
“The Hire” was pretty sweet.
I imagine Guy Ritchie spoke a bit of truth in jest there. I’m surprised his ex actually signed on to that. Kudos to her.
Chevy rules Ford in the all important egg test:
http://testdrivejunkie.com/1960-chevrolet-truck-commercial-egg-test/
Pontiac GTO enduro bumper – interesting trivia that the announcer is greatly out of breath after pounding the bumper, and died shortly thereafter from lung cancer.
I’ve written my share of car spots, and can think of only three for which I wish I could claim credit: Volvo “Survivors”; 2016 Honda Civic “The Dreamer”;and any one of Subaru’s doggie family spots.
American Motors had some superb ads in the late 1960s. They hired really good talent (including young Robert DeNiro and Richard Dreyfuss) and the ads were funny.
Lots of cool old car ads here:
http://www.carsindepth.com/?cat=519
My favorite automotive commercials are the ones done by Firesign Theater for Jack Poet Volkswagen. Nobody will ever make ads this surreal again.
https://archive.org/details/Firesign_Theatre_Podcasting_003
Nissan Z “toys” but Lexus GS “Something wicked this way comes” as runner up
Dan Creed on the corner of Main and Filmore. “If you don’t buy your next car from Dan Creed, then shame on you.”
Anyone who grew up within broadcasting distance of WKBW, Channel 7 in Buffalo during the 60’s and 70’s will remember that one.
And the news team at Channel 7 invented the concept of ‘Eyewitness News’ and was the longest standing news team in American broadcast history. Irv Weinstein, ‘Commander’ Tom Jolls and Rick Azar. Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum dum dum. “It’s 11:00 o’clock do you know where your children are?”
I’d say that the commercials Buster Keaton did for Ford merit at least an honorable mention:
From the movie Used Cars: “This price is too f***ing high!”
Back in 2013, Audi got it seriously right with their “Prom (Tradition)” super bowl ad:
I also like the Quattro ads with the tow truck operator who is haunted by an Audi Quattro that always eludes him.
Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that TTAC’s B&B aren’t fans of the Volkswagen spots from the late 90’s/early aughts, but they were some of the best commercials ever made, in my book – and certainly the best scored. Top three in ascending order:
Jetta/wipers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6HofT9_fmk
Jetta VR6/wedding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCJrQgyNYTo
Cabrio/Pink Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nWuCZe4lSE
One other that stuck with me: the “soul of a BMW” commercial they used to announce the E38:
A good question is, with these great “mini-films”, did it sell cars? Pink Moon was just gorgeous.
You guys are jogging the rusty hinges on my memories of that decade…
How about the “Sunday Afternoon” ad for the Golf?
Song:Da Da Da (I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdccNAOvPHg
More:
https://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/classic-ad-volkswagen-golf/?_r=0
Possibly the reason is that the VW commercials of the 60’s are regarded as some of the very best in advertising history.
Just watch ‘The Man Who Drives the Plow’ and compare it to what the D3/D4 were pumping out at the same time.
Yeah, the “Pink Moon” VW advert is a stunner. Some kids driving to a party in a Cabrio, watchng people having a good time at the party, then deciding it still wouldn’t be as much fun as driving around at night in their convertible was and turning around to drive some more. Totally made me want to trade in my car for a convertible.
When I was at the local auto show the year that was aired I mentioned to the booth babe at the VW display how great I thought that commercial was, which turned into a conversation about how much we both liked Nick Drake (who of course wrote/sang that song). That night, I had a dream where she and I were on an awesome date, then I woke up and realized I didn’t even get her name IRL. I actually went back to the auto show the next and final day just to see her but she had already flown to the next city and wasn’t there. :-(
Not necessarily one commercial, but a series. Nissan’s Dogs Love Trucks.
This classic from Peugeot for the 205GTI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4yOLH9IpTE
and its successor for the 208GTI:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nym8rtN12uc
put a smile on my face every time.
Behold, the 1993 Chameleon XLE
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/chameleon/2859849?snl=1
Greatest auto TV commercial: Reinhold … and his co-workers the best job in the world – they test drive Porsches … on the Autobahn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h2b6cup9o0
Most brilliant, funny auto TV commercial: Kia’s Super Bowl spot for the Sorrento – genius concept, great music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeZsMrI-bHg
Runner up: Infiniti’s campaign (TV and print ads) “When did it start for You?” – http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?574584-2003-MT-Car-of-the-Year-Infiniti-G35S-G35C
I emailed this one to a few people, asking them if this was to be their next car, LOL! :-)
https://youtu.be/4dilUbkP-PI
I think this is the most memorable car anti- “ads” of all time, which wouldn’t sell many cars! A Pacer!
VW “pink moon” commercial.
Fiat 124 Remy Julien commercial.
lets GO
lets LIVE
lets LOVE every mile…
the only way to travel, is CADILLAC STYLE.
A sweaty Johann wakes up and unfurls his comforter.
“Vat did I dream?” he quietly says to himself as he reaches for his glasses on the endtable.
“Cadillac… style? Vat is dat?” he says shaking his head before sliding the glasses on his nose.
He turns and his bare feet emerge from under the covers as he lays them on the carpet and slips them into a pair of Uggs. Standing up, he walks over to the 1:4 scale model of the XT-SPC prototype on his dresser.
“Now dis, dis is style” he says with his arms opening.
“Tree inch windows, cubist contours, headlights stretched past both doors, a giant cat fisht grille, and the finishing touch, thirty for inch wheels”. He beamed as he looked over the model.
“Now dat ist style”
My all-time favorite was for the early ’70s Karmann Ghia.
It showed a K-G speeding toward a big paper barrier. A voice-over intoned, “The Volkswagen Karmann Ghia is the most economical sports car you can buy.
A shot of the K-G unable to break through the paper barrier. “It just isn’t as powerful.”
I asked a former TTAC editor about that, and he said the K-G had its own advertising group, and he wasn’t part of it. That ad didn’t get shown for long. I wonder what happened to the advertising group?
Anyway, the ad is where you’d expect:
That black gold ad certainly appeals to the young child in me. They made that car look almost as cool as KITT.
Youtube – Have you driven a Ford Lately, Commercial 1980’s.
Youtube – Heartbeat of America Commercial 1980’s
I read somewhere that at the time after the 3-4 year old daughter of a Campbell-Ewald exec.(Chevy’s Ad agency) started singing the Ford commercial song so often he came up with the Chevy- Heartbeat of America commercial in fall of 1986 and that went on to win several awards.
Mad man Muntz. “My wife thinks I’m crazy, I’m giving them away!! My favorite
Someone else above mentioned the 1984 GTI commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zcm4oS9IaM
Looking at it now, it’s hard to appreciate the impact of this ad at the time. A German song for 30 seconds on TV was unheard of. Whatever “hipster” means now, this ad was it. And hey…I bought the car. In some ways I think this ad singlehandedly made VW cool again after some pretty rough times in which the Accord was the only game in town. The fact that the GTI was as fun as the ad promised didn’t hurt either. This first-generation GTI inspired incredible passion on the part of customers as well. I’ve never driven anything before or since where flashing your lights at fellow drivers was so universally practiced.
About 45 years ago there was commercial for the then new 1970 or so Camaro coupe that showed the cars being driving in beautiful scenes, along the beach, up through mountain passes while a male singer sang “I drive my Camaro from the mountains to the sea.”
It’s not on youtube and I haven’t seen it in ages, but supposedly the performer went on to be modestly successful as a singer/songwriter later in the ’70s.
the introductory spot run for the original boxster [also featuring a similarily-silver 550 spyder]. porsche ads supporting any model were quite rare back in the day…
70s & 80s Chrysler Cordoba commercials were simply the best!
G Class crash test commercial.
youtube.com/watch?v=8PBqKqM0nrA
I’ve always loved the Cadillac ELR ad, I think “Poolside.” https://youtu.be/xNzXze5Yza8 It hits all the right notes.