We see a broken-down taxi with the driver standing outside of it ( I didn't even notice that the broken-down car was a taxi until the fourth or fifth time I saw this commercial, so I didn't quite get the nasty message right away.)
"Need a lift?" asks a helpful passer-by in the car we are supposed to ultimately find super-attractive, if not irresistible. "Thanks" says Taxi Driver Man, and he gets in the back seat (seems kind of odd- but OH I GET IT, it's like the taxi driver is now the PASSENGER. He's changed places, get it?)
"Mind if we take a shortcut?" Asks the driver. "No problem" says the back seat passenger. And off we go.
Driver, assisted with a GPS system apparently set to "find route with sharpest turns and most hills," proceeds to drive like a freaking lunatic up and down side streets, through what must be some kind of park (way to practice defensive driving there) and finding great delight (seriously, the guy has this massive evil grin on his face during the entire experience) in forcing his passenger (who is either not wearing a seat belt or is finding the seatbelt not an adequate form of restraint) to hold on for dear life to prevent being shoved by powerful g-forces into the car's sides.
Driver glances backward, same self-satisfied, evil grin on his face, while sick-and-nervous-looking passenger attempts a "yeah, I'm still alive" half-smile.
Finally, the passenger is dropped off at his destination, which seems to be the taxi depot. He waves goodbye to the asshole who inexplicably decided to offer a favor and then treat it's recipient like a pile of dirt, admiring the car as it speeds off.
Um, what the hell? All I can figure is that we are supposed to buy the old cliche that taxi drivers are sucky drivers who enjoy making their passengers miserable by taking turns too quickly and driving on uncomfortable roads at uncomfortable speeds. Thing is, I've been in a lot of taxis over the years, and I've never had a driver do anything like the fat dickweed seeking "revenge" in this ad does. Taxi drivers don't abuse their passengers, at the very least because passengers give tips. If they take short cuts, it's because their livelihood depends on getting you to your destination ASAP so they can move on and pick up their next client, not to tick you off.
Let's give the creep driver the benefit of the doubt and say that he's had a lot of bad taxi rides. Did the guy who ends up in the back seat provide all those rides? Any of them? If so, this sure is a passive-agressive way of meting out "revenge." Like a 30-second episode of "The Twilight Zone"- instead of the ranting anti-semite finding himself being condemned to an extermination camp, it's the careless taxi driver being trapped in the back seat with a crazy driver in command?
If not (far more likely, in my opinion) then the jackass is just being a jerk, treating this poor guy like shit as a way of getting some lame "payback" for past grievances. Either way, it's a really stupid commercial which beats you over the head with it's nastiness, besides failing to sell it's product because I've seen this several times and I can't for the life of me remember who makes the damned car, and nothing here gives me a warm feeling about a company that would produce such a stupid pile of dreck.
If I were that passenger, I would have had something to say to the driver when he dropped me off. Or maybe, I would have just vomited all over his back seat. That would have taught him something about seeking misdirected vengeance, anyway.
It's almost comforting to know that the near-total devastation of the domestic auto industry hasn't managed to end the grand and glorious tradition of car ads written by and for insane idiots. It's almost as reassuring as the knowledge that we'll always have to deal with snotty kids and their refusal to use milky minutes; after all, being antagonized is the best way I can think of to know I'm thinking clearly.
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