CRASH II

You know how they say the truth is often spoken in jest? Well, a certain car company – it doesn’t matter which one, but it’s Toyota – has been running a humorous but violent ad for pick-up trucks. They tried it out in theaters first, then started running it on TV.

The ad opens with a narrator saying, “I think I’ll get my tools back.” He then uses his Toyota pick-up to rip the garage door off his neighbor’s house, retrieve his tools and drive away laughing. I tell ya, if it gets any funnier than that, I just don’t know what.

The point of the ad, of course, is to show how powerful the truck is, how powerful you would be if you owned the truck. But the clear message is that if you are powerful you needn’t worry about courtesy, common sense, or the law. You can just take what you want.

It’s all done in a humorous vein, as I said, but the deadly serious intent of this ad, as it is with all ads, is to convince consumers that buying this product or that one will magically grant any wish, in this case the wish to be a tough guy. Would that life were that simple.

I’m not saying I’d like to here a big, “Ohmmmm,” at the end of every ad, but actions do have consequences, and some of them contribute to harmony while others contribute to stress, chaos, and violence. Programming is required to reflect the mores of the society. Isn’t advertising?

I come from television, so I understand the need to advertise, but trying to sell products by implying that violence could somehow be justified, be cool, even be funny, sullys the reputation of the advertiser, demeans the consumer, and harms the community.

One foot on either side.

1 XCZR