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Tom Turrentine
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Feb 14, 2014 - 01:09pm PT
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Great thread, the ad agency has indeed played us well. This ad should get people to be aware of this vehicle, which other wise would get no attention in an expanding competition to dominate the next phase of vehicle technologies.
This commercial is a result of Tesla S being a symbol of smart success, especially at selling high end electric vehicles to buyers who have lots of money to burn, are motivated by technology, power, looks and status. Such vehicles have much higher profit margins, and luxury makers such as Audi (e-Tron) BMW (I8) can absorb some of the long term development costs of battery intensive designs. These programs also have much higher advertising budgets.
GM has struggled to move the Chevy Volt, and so is probing up market where there is tons of padding to spread out development costs of its plug in hybrid drive train. Cadillac has lost its shine in many markets; GM is trying to breath life into Cadillac as a technology division.
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Daphne
Trad climber
Northern California
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Feb 14, 2014 - 01:24pm PT
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When I saw this, I thought the subtext was: Men like you better drive a Cadillac to keep that young trophy wife interested. Cause the only reason she's with you is for your money.
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STEEVEE
Social climber
HUMBOLDT, CA
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Feb 14, 2014 - 01:35pm PT
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Makes me want to ride a bike.
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Barbarian
climber
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Feb 14, 2014 - 02:48pm PT
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I find all Cadillacs manufactured after 1963 offensive. The new add isn't changing my opinion in any positve way.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 14, 2014 - 03:02pm PT
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I'm gonna bunch up me knickers the next time I go for a ride in my buddy's
so I can do a TR for y'all.
Tarbuster, that must be the CTS-TGV, n'est ce pas?
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 14, 2014 - 03:06pm PT
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Tar, I'm thinking Dick bought that from Don Draper.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Feb 14, 2014 - 04:19pm PT
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Guys like rSin make the mistake of thinking people who trade money for a service, should also have some kind of interest in the service provider personally. If you get paid and no safety or labour laws were violated in the transaction, who cares ?
Ruler are made for people who need rules.
And just because there is no law against "the push," you mentioned earlier, doesn't make that behavior ethical.
It's actually rather despicable.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Feb 14, 2014 - 04:32pm PT
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Oh about the commercial … I actually like it. You see, I'm all about punchy characterizations of hubris and xenophobia ... Also, as an appreciator of the communication arts this has to rank among my favorite prime time ads. It's crisp, brash and tautly paced. It's got nice turns and a cute finish. As cynical parody it's perhaps most effective because its nationalism (and the rest of the content) is sincere. It's very provocative, (so by extension quite memorable -an accomplishment which supersedes even content within the advertising milieu) … and for better or worse the actor totally nailed it.
Gosh, it IS a long ways from “a rope, rack, and the shirts on our backs". The commercial is obviously a handy springboard for spirited discussion of the socioeconomic type. But I don't find it offensive. What I really find offensive is rating creep! Ha! Please don't get my engine fired up on that one … (Okay back to the Winter Olympics).
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Feb 14, 2014 - 10:28pm PT
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Happiegrrrl, sometimes people lose time on an agreed to schedule. Are you willing to pay the contractual late penalties if you miss the turn over date ? Sometimes it can be as much as $10,000 a day.
That was not what you were talking about when you referred to it before. In that instance,it was about pushing to get more out of someone than had been agreed upon.
One of things that disgusted me about working on the wholesale end of importing was that big stores often had "late fees" as part of the contract. If the goods weren't on the boat by a specified date, penalties could be added(which the store would deduct from the payment due). Many of the times the reason they fell behind schedule was not on the side of the factory, but on the side of the buyer. They would delay in providing crucial information, approvals and what not. With certain stores, it was their way of doing business - a false due date in the contract with full awareness they would throw a wrench in and take advantage of the clause.
Like I said - despicable.
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Feb 14, 2014 - 10:44pm PT
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Ace pretty much hit it on the head with this analysis.
Site doesn't do permalinks so longer C/P
Cadillac Ad Attempts the Impossible: Selling Electric Cars As A Pro-America, Patriotic, Anti-Socialist Statement of Principle
—Ace
What is the problem with electric cars, marketing-wise? (Let's put aside their technical problems, and the problem marketing a vehicle with technical problems.)
Well, for a lot of possible buyers, an electric car represents a buy-in to a specific mode of life that is alien to them -- granola-crunchy, limousine liberal, soft-headed and soft-handed, and suspiciously European in taste.
This is especially a problem for a Cadillac electric car, as (I'm just speculating here) the Cadillac brand seems to appeal to two groups:
1. Older, wealthier business-oriented buyers, who are probably conservative in culture and politics.
2. Rappers.
Well, this ad is designed to appeal to category 1.
So here's what Cadillac does: They pitch to that exact demographic by making fun of stuff that more conservative people make fun of, chiefly, the French.
They do not sell the car on the basis of environmental impact. They sell the car on the idea that you'll be teaching the French a lesson in How to Be a F*ing Man by buying a f*ing electric car.
It's a ridiculous, brazen effort to turn the electric car from being an effete progressive's Trader Joe Run puttermobile into a red-blooded American's middle finger to socialist decay, and yet... well, you be the judge. It's a good ad, let's just say that. I don't know if they could ever possibly sell this idea, but the ad is as good a shot at it as I can conceive.
The actor here will be familiar to most of you; he's Neal McDonough. He's in everything. He was one of Captain America's Howling Commandoes; he played psychotic blond hitman Robert Quarles in Justified a season or two back. (It didn't end well for him there.)
He famously refuses to do any sex scenes (or, I think, even use profanity) in his roles because he considers that part of his Catholic principles. (On the other hand, he plays psychotic villains a lot, and so he does all the violence and menacing stuff.)
So here's Cadillac attempting the impossible: Trying to convince conservatives that an electric car is kind of a conservative thing.
It's impossible, and yet, I applaud anyone who attempts the impossible.
http://ace.mu.nu/
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Feb 15, 2014 - 12:47am PT
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That Cadillac ad isn't offensive. Do you find the new Honda ad offensive? Many do.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Feb 15, 2014 - 12:48am PT
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Honda is gearing up for Presidents day sale with some questionable ones. The first Honda ad is purported to say: "We are celebrating the American Presidents, but the one we want to recognize is (holding up a bunch of Hundred dollar bills) Benjamin Franklin!" They go on to explain how many "Benjamins" you will save by buying a Honda right now. Someone should tell Honda that while Benjamin Franklin was a great statesman, inventor, and publisher, he was never the President.
Round 2:
Adweek is bitching about ex-Presidents rapping for a car. Here ripping on other Honda ad's http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/honda-first-mock-washington-and-lincoln-presidents-day-ad-year-147261
The Adweek rant title: "Honda Is First to Mock Washington and Lincoln in a Presidents' Day Ad This Year "
Haha, I hate rap but love Honda's. Torn.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Feb 15, 2014 - 09:08am PT
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Brennen - I left the accessories importing business of my own accord in 2001, and have worked for myself since then, though this past fall I took a job with the Mohonk Preserve, and I will be back there again in a few months for the season. It is an hourly job and very straightforward on the agreement, not much room for abuse.The abusive nature of the industry was one of the primary reasons I left.
When one of my businesses had grown to the point of needing assistance, I had a cardinal rule: DON'T f*#k with the money of the people I pay to work with me. and I am proud to say I never did.
Of course it is up to ourselves to maintain boundaries, but a business person(or anyone) who takes a stance of "Well, if they can't protect themselves, that's their own fault, and I will take advantage" is - despicable.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Feb 15, 2014 - 01:00pm PT
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Do you agree that it is despicable to push those working for others beyond what has been agreed upon, and without offering addition and appropriate compensation?
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Feb 15, 2014 - 04:10pm PT
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Interesting conversation going on here.
In my experience shitty employees usually have shitty bosses, the opposite can also be true. A lot of it has to do with your ability to relate to people, to be empathic.If you value your work ethic & pride yourself on doing a good job, being selfless, & willing to give a little to get a little you will more than likely do well. Sport this attitude & you will probably get along just fine with "the man". If you think "the man" owes you something from the get go, & that you are so hard done by as an employee because someone is telling you what to do then chances are you will never be happy working in any field. Chances are you are a moaner & employers & co workers alike probably don't enjoy working with you because you may have an entitled attitude that brings everyone down. This is prevalent in the workforce of today, everyone wants something for nothing & expects to win the lottery without buying a ticket.
Hard work is still valued & those that participate will always do well, whether you are a contractor or employer or employee or self employed.
Work sucks, sure. But why not make the most of it & do a good job. Pay your dues, make the boss happy, if the boss is happy they will be more likely to make you happy. As Jim states, you are the one who needs to take responsibility for your actions., if you don't like it, change it. If you are always changing it tho, & constantly blaming it on "the man" then maybe it's time to take a look in the mirror.
Edit-
Signed,
MANAGEMENT
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goatboy smellz
climber
लघिमा
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Feb 15, 2014 - 04:23pm PT
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There is a difference between confidence and bravado.
That ad is great and it's funny to see the granola crowd up in arms while driving saabs, toylolos, and lezbaru's.
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Feb 15, 2014 - 05:40pm PT
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Brennan - Most people, myself included, understand that a contract is between themselves and the party they made it with, and not between themselves and a third party whom they have not contracted with....Not sure why you even mentioned that.
I'll make it as simple as I can: Do you agree that it is despicable to push those working for YOU beyond what has been agreed upon between yourselves, without offering addition and appropriate compensation?
If you value your work ethic & pride yourself on doing a good job, being selfless, & willing to give a little to get a little you will more than likely do well.
This would have well described my efforts as I worked for others in the fashion accessories market. One of my very first design projects took me about four hours work, and resulted in an order of of a full shipping containers of goods(several thousand dozen) with no changes to the product design needed to achieve an agreement during negotiation. It doesn't really get much easier than that, for an importer.
Every single importer I worked with got to "put a feather in their cap" due to products I designed for them. I consistently put out full lines even though hired to the job after the designers they had on staff had botched the line. I was always hired to work the lowest price market(Walmart/Target level) and after those buyers choose their goods, the rest was put in the line to offer to the better markets. And it sold. Target once came to preview a line of crochet bags, and exclaimed the it was by far the best line in the market. It was only the first ten groups out of forty I had in the works.
I fulfilled my end of the deal, consistently. And yet most of those bosses and sales managers couldn't stand to credit my work(or the work of any designer in their employ, really). I was regularly told that "a college kid could do your job," that all I was doing was "coloring," and - the most amazing one, from the last place I worked - "I don't know you from Adam. How do I know if you have the experience you say you do?" (an outright obnoxious remark, intended to be insulting. We ALL knew every one of the players in our industry, and we all knew that we knew each other.
There are good employers, and there are dysfunctional ones who could be good if they only had business training. There are dishonest pieces of crap who intentionally abuse others, and ones who wouldn't abuse others if they only had business training....
A "good" employer saddled with a bad employee finds a way to make it work or terminates the relationship - especially when there is no union at the company, and it is in a Right to Work state of the US. They aren't stuck in horrible circumstances which force them to abuse or take advantage of the employee.
The same cannot be said for the majority of employees. Often it is at a considerable disadvantage that they terminate a relationship with a shitty employer. Especially in jobs which pay at a lower scale, and especially so for someone with dependents.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 15, 2014 - 07:25pm PT
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Your last two paragraphs concern the necessity for proper labour and minimum wage laws, which I absolutely agree with.
So, Jim, the beatings will continue until morale improves? Good mam.
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