Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Selling us what we don't want

I couldn't help but notice as I watched the Super Bowl last Sunday the ads for cars and trucks.

The most prominently-featured ad was for the Cadillac Escalade, a big, hunking SUV.

Now I'm sure GM has been caught with a few too many Escalades in stock, what with the gas prices and resultant disdain for SUVs. And I know that GM is in big trouble and needs to make money, but this was ridiculous: how many folks watching the Super Bowl are in the market for a top-of-the-line gas guzzler?

Not us. We're looking for a trim, economical convertible that will comfortably seat four people. It needs to be quick, stylish and affordable, preferably a hybrid. Nobody makes one. But what does GM spend millions on Super Bowl ads pushing? Cadillac Escalades. Yecch.

Advertising can only go so far by pushing people to buy products. Better to pull them by designing and building what they want to buy.

1 Comments:

At 9:21 AM, Blogger DetroitGirl said...

What you are asking is that the "free market" folks actually take a leadership role! Silly you!They have fought alternative fuels, mass transit and any other progressive ideas about how to move people around forever! What they favor is big, ugly, immodest, inelegant and gross--so long as they make a profit. No wonder they are going under!

 

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