Here's a bold move that really isn't. It's a really old advertising idea - weddings - and a specific wedding idea already done much better by Volkswagen in 2001. (Jetta 30 sec & Jetta 60 sec). It's an idea that's been on the bristol boards ever since "the Graduate" was in theatres. Dustin Hoffman even appeared in a "Graduate" situation for Audi A6 in 2004. It's the bride being "rescued" from her own wedding.
Hey, asshole in a Camry, how about you tell the girl of your dreams how you feel before she, her fiancé and her family spend more than a year planning, and a huge chunk of change, on their wedding? This scene meant something entirely different in the 1967 movie, and today it comes off as - yes, stand back, I'm going to use the word - sexist. The bride in white is the damsel in distress, being given away like property, and can only be rescued by the "bold" hero who drives a Camry. As if the bride had no choice in the matter leading up to this wedding, as if the bride needed to be rescued. She seems to enjoy it, so maybe she was drugged for an entire year while planning a wedding at Forrest Gumps house, totes crushing on Camry-guy but lacking in agency or self-determination so she can't do anything about it, like pick up the phone and call Camry-boy. The bride checks off three objectfication boxes, no agency of her own, owned by bro-possé in wedding-car and stolen by Camry-boy, and nobody seems to have been concerned about her feelings leading up to this moment. I realise the creative team are women, so I'd like to congratulate the ladies for perpetuating the damsel in distress trope. The bigger sin however, is trying to marry this tired old idea with the word "bold".
The Audi ad was a direct nod to "The Graduate" and even has the joke "you're just like your mother" in it. The Volkswagen ad showed a story of heartache and pain, by how it was told, and the man racing to prevent a life of regrets (twist, you think he's the groom first). Don't get me wrong, he's still an asshole, but at least Jetta guy wasn't skidding across the lawn while being chased by the bro-possé of best men. In fact, you don't see them leaving at all - the ending was up to the viewer to supply. That was a bold move. This is just a tired old idea with a tired old execution.
See also Camry B.B. King - Guitar
CCO: Jason Schragger
ECD: Margaret Keene
CD: Erich Funke
ACD/Copywriter: Julia Regan Markiewicz
ACD/Art Director: Jera Mehrdad, Vik Bhalla, Javier Torok
Art Director: Max Wang
ACD/Art Director: Vik Bhalla
Art Director: Max Wang
Copywriter: Eric Stevens (Breakout/ Guitar), Brian
Frisk (Breakout/ Guitar), Nick Spahr, Chris Ford (Bucket List)
Director of Content Production: Sara Seibert
Senior Broadcast Producer: Jennifer Vogtmann
Senior Integrated Producer: Holly Otto
Director of Print & Integrated Art Services: Lorraine Alper Kramer
Group Account Director: Erica Baker
Management Supervisor: Carla Tanchum
Chief Strategy Officer: Mark Turner
Strategic Planning Director: Evan Ferrari
Senior Strategic Planner: Erika Bridges
Strategic Planner: Lindsey Summers
Executive Communications Director: John Lisko
Business Affairs Manager: Biba Millstein
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Smuggler
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Andrew Colon
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Lisa Rich
DIRECTOR: The Guard Brothers
EDITING COMPANY: Rock Paper Scissors
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dave Sellars/Angela Dorian/Linda Carlson
PRODUCER: Leah Carnahan
EDITOR Guitar: Adam Pertofsky
EDITOR Breakout and Bucker List: Stewart Reeves
FINISH: A52
MUSIC: TBD
SOUND DESIGN: Noises Digital
Adland® is a commercial-laden heaven and hell for advertising addicts around the world.
This advertising publication was founded in 1996, built on beer and bravery, Adland® now boasts the largest super bowl commercials collection in the world.
Adland® survives on your donations alone. You can help us out by buying us a Ko-Fi. Adland® works best in Brave browser
So he drives to "a wedding." Could be any wedding. Maybe he just passed a random wedding and took a liking to the bride. It's not even 'Drove to HER wedding.'
- reply
PermalinkOh, bloody hell you're right DING DING DING more objectification-points. You win a retro battle of the sexes T-shirt.
Actually, upon re-listen I think he says "her wedding". He's just mumbly.
- reply
PermalinkThere's a lot of creative people on this. I guess this is the camel by committee?
- reply
PermalinkYes, but the release also explains that there's more to come (online content?) and that this is the first effort from "first launch initiative under the Total Toyota (T2) model, a total market model that created a more cohesive marketing approach. All of the T2 agencies (Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, Burrell Communications, Conill, InterTrend Communications and Zenith) came together under Saatchi LA’s leadership to arrive at a core idea for the campaign. " Which means all of those agencies have weighed in to make sure it can work (and doesn't offend) in their markets so .....Yeay for missing the utterly sexist slant on this, all ye agencies. Well done.
- reply
Permalink“Much of the messy advertising you see on television today is the product of committees. Committees can criticize advertisements, but they should never be allowed to create them.” - David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man
- reply
PermalinkDude, if people actually took Oglivy's advice we'd all be living in castles in France ... wait why aren't we doing that?
- reply
PermalinkCorrect me if I'm wrong but in this ad, the wedding is over and the bride leaves the groom after they've left the guests and parents. If that's so, an asshole is driving the Toyota Camry and Toyota is sending a pretty sorry message.
- reply
PermalinkHe did say "didn't hold my peace."
Which means she walked out... or he got there sooner. I think the jury is in on the guilt of "Camry Guy."
- reply
PermalinkNah...I think we're pretty much unanimous the Camry guy's a dillweed.
- reply
PermalinkCamry-guy is a dillweed and Bride-escapee is a flake who is A-OK with walking out on a wedding. I really want to aspire to be this kind of bold asshat.
- reply
PermalinkI find this commercial very offensive. Its like your condoning a woman to run off on her groom for a car on her wedding day. How rude is that id understand if it was the bride and groom running off to there honeymoon or something but not the bride and some random guy. Its just wrong on so many levels i think this commercial needs to be taken off air or rewrote where its the bride and groom or a people just driving through the wedding or something other than the what it is now.
- reply
PermalinkOffensive? Sexist? Rude? As a woman growing up in the 1960s, I think this ad is absolutely charming and delicious! Am I the only one who saw THE GRADUATE or RUNAWAY BRIDE?? When did America become such a bunch of judgmental sourpusses? Lighten up. The bride looks very happy. Camry guy is adorable. Why not change your mind, even if it is after the fact, rather than face a lifetime of unhappiness and regret? Love it!!
- reply
PermalinkI reference the graduate in the writeup. Similarly to "The Graduate" the bride in "Runaway Bride" was a woman marrying for her families sake, not her own, like I described it, a woman without agency. In Runwaway Bride Maggie Carpenter wants to please her fiancés so much she even changes what eggs she likes depending on fiancé - thus a woman without a sense of self at all.
My comment about sexist trope still stands.
- reply
PermalinkIf you did grow up in the 60's as you say, then you know the Graduate was a complete and total judgmental reaction to the post-war generation who have material goods, but were, to paraphrase Mr. McGuire "One Word: Plastic."
Regardless, you are mistaking criticism for being judgmental. You are also mistaking holding a viewpoint contrary to yours as being negative. That is as silly as it is thin-skinned. Let's get one thing straight-- we aren't "haters," for not liking this ad. We simply have an opinion. If you don't like it, then move on.
- reply
PermalinkSexist? Yes, but that's not its worst offense. Charming and delicious? As another woman of the 60's, I'm blown away by those two adjectives as descriptors for this commercial. Not only did the idiot driving the car break up a wedding, the writers, and apparently a certain segment of our society, consider this move "bold" and admirable. Maybe it is bold, but it certainly isn't admirable. Neither is the fact that both he and the bride are laughing at the jilted groom. Since when is it funny to treat another human being in this hurtful manner much less something to be admired?
My opinion is that this commercial is tasteless in the extreme and perpetuates the me-me-me attitude our society seems to think is just fine. Do whatever you want, who cares who gets hurt, expect praise for it. Does finding this objectionable make me a sourpuss? If it does, then I accept that description gladly. There is a classy way to present ideas. This isn't it.
- reply
PermalinkIt may have started with "The Graduate" but this has been done so many times since then that it's just cliche. For whatever reason Hollywood thinks it's incredibly romantic when a lover breaks up someone's wedding. Rarely done well. The only successful execution of this was done on Frasier, but it's successful because the characters have a sense of regret and reflection on the people that they're hurting. They're aware of the aftermath and they go back to the wedding to own up to what they're doing. But Hollywood writers usually aren't that clever. Most "runaway bride" plots just exposes the characters' narcissism.
- reply
PermalinkYeah and what's even worse is this isn't Hollywood, it's advertising.
- reply
PermalinkI'm pleased to discover that I'm not the only one finding myself wanting to throat punch the psychopathic bride and her narcissistic Camry driving fling. Not only is this lame creative sexist, it plays into the worst about our me, me, me, who cares about you culture. The bride and driver's jolly good laugh at the expense of an emotionally scarred groom and financially raped families is especially callous and would be better suited to a Chevy "Cavalier" commercial. FAIL!
- reply
Permalink