I like Toyota.
Well, I used to like them.
When they had the Celica, MR2 and of course, the Supra.
It helped hide the fact they also made cars that made beige Volvo’s look exciting.
Like the Toyota Corolla.
Sure, it’s a perfectly good car.
Practical. Drives well. Strong reliability. Fair resale value.
So why the hell do they insist on trying to sex-it up?
I know buying a car is probably the second most expensive purchase you’ll ever make so you need to feel good about what you’re buying, but trying to make an accountancy conference feel like a Motley Crue aftershow party is always going to end up making you look a tool.
And yet so many car brands continue down this path.
Which gets me back to that Toyota Corolla ad.
OK, to be fair, they’re trying to be less rock star and more deep and philosophical, but it’s still bullshit isn’t it.
“Find who you have not yet become”
What? WHAT?
What’s that even mean?
Forget the rubbishness of that 3rd division Yoda statement, what about the fact they don’t see the irony of combining people lighting sky lanterns that float gently in the air with beauty and grace and calmness with a gas guzzling car that pollutes the air everywhere it goes?
And why the hell are they lighting sky lanterns?
And why did the owner of the Corolla park in the middle of the road?
What if all those lanterns land on the house at the top left of the picture and it catches fire?
How is the fire truck going to get there and save the occupants if the road is blocked by some selfish Toyota Corolla owner?
And they have the audacity to end the ad with the line, ‘Let’s Go Places’.
I’ll tell you which place you should go … to the local jail where you will probably meet the marketing team who asked for this contrived, passive piece of rubbish … which achieves the rare feat of alienating both the folks who choose a car as a reflection of their ego and the folks who want a car that offers quality and reliability rather than hype and hyperbole.
You know, the people who would actually find the boring reliability of a Corolla exciting.
Sometimes we try so hard to be different when just telling the truth is the most refreshing approach available to us.