Thursday, August 11, 2011
The Hyundai Summer of Shame Event
"Uncensored," Hyundai? You use this word a lot. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I'm pretty sure that if you stuck a "hidden camera" (yeah, right- a hidden camera which magically knows when to switch from driver to passenger and back again to catch "spontaneous" comments and responses) into the dashboard of a Hyundai, you might OCCASIONALLY catch a remark here and there that is not 100 percent gushing praise of the South Korean import. Where are the comments about that Honda they drove yesterday that was also pretty nice, or the conversations which have nothing to do with Hyundais at all?
I simply do not believe that these are "uncensored" testimonials from people who have no idea they are being filmed. Therefore, Hyundai, I think your commercials are deceptive and insulting. Let's cut to the chase- I think you are lying to us when you call this ad campaign "Hyundai Uncensored." I think you are doing it deliberately. I think that these people are well aware that they are being filmed, and if they aren't actually reading off a script, they are given "suggestions" on what to say IF they would like to appear on a nationally-broadcast television commercial.
When you show four or five people bleating the same "forty miles to the gallon!?" line, that kind of reveals that this is not "uncensored." You see, Hyundai, whenever you cut stuff out, you've censored it. And unless all these people came up with "Forty miles to the gallon!" at the same time, this has gone through the splicer. Fail.
More- I think these commercials show your utter disdain for the buying public if you REALLY expect us to swallow this crap as legitimate.
Which leads me to wonder- what are you really trying to accomplish here? If your goal is to irritate the hell out of us by pushing the dishonesty envelope, mission accomplished- but you are still miles behind cell phone companies in that department. If you were just trying to see what you could get away with, well-- you can say pretty much anything you want in a commercial, unless it's for medication, and even then the laws are pretty damned lax.
Meanwhile, I'd really like to know what your definition of "Uncensored" is. Because to you, it seems to be "choreographed, scripted, and edited to the bone." And you really thought we wouldn't notice?
INCONCEIVABLE!
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Who knows English anymore?
ReplyDeleteThe patter once was "These are unsolicited comments from actual customers."
Unsolicited -- un-coerced, not paid-for. So what was left over was a basically-honest (or let us hope) comment about the product. But while these Hyundites may have been uncensored, they certainly weren't unedited.
Isn't which vehicle people drive a choice? I mean, nobody goes in to buy a Hyundai and comes out with a Hummer by accident. You chose to buy the SUV over the compact car. It isn't like you were stuck with it.
ReplyDeleteI drive a four-door Chevy Colorado (mid-size pickup truck) and the disabled guy drives a Chevy Silverado (full-size, shortbed pickup). But we have to because of his disability. He can't physically get into a smaller or lower-to-the-ground vehicle. Even so, I don't complain out loud to strangers about gas prices, because I knew full well that my truck was going to get shitty mileage. The only reason I drive a mid-size pickup instead of a Suburban or Tahoe is because that's what we could afford. Even the size change from a full-size to my mid-size is a bit of a cramping situation for the spouse.
That said- if you drive a bloody SUV, you have no right to complain about your petrol costs.
Damn right- cars that get bad gas mileage cost more than cars that get good gas mileage, generally. I was behind a guy at the station the other day who was putting seventy bucks into his SUV. Sucks to be you, buddy- but spare me the groans.
ReplyDeleteBed. Made. Lie.
Oh, don't get me started on SUVs; they're not sporty, they have no utility and since gassing them up is going to be a prohibitive proposition soon, they won't even qualify as vehicles much longer.
ReplyDeletejjamele, I've been hoping you'd take on this commercial! If we're told we're getting "uncensored" remarks, you'd expect something censorworthy to come out. Instead, we're supposed to believe that these folks just had nothing but unsolicited praise of Hyundai vehicles to make. Right.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point (and nice Princess Bride reference!) Unless they had a direct portal where EVERY comment recorded was aired, it is indeed censored. Just to edit the comments to a 30 second spot requires some parts to be edited. Doing so with any consideration of content whatsoever is censorship. It reminds me a bit of David Cross' bit about how people misuse the word "literally" to mean the exact opposite. But, as NOFX says, "the world keeps getting dumber...what a bummer."
ReplyDelete