AS car lovers, what are our unconscious motivations and fantasies?
In his wonderful 1987 book Driving Passion: The Psychology of the Car, the late Peter Marsh tells us “the car is not only a status symbol but often functions as a surrogate womb or as a means of self-expression, escape, romance and thrill and provides mobility and freedom, including sexual opportunities”. I think Ford ripped me off in most of these departments when they sold me the BA ute.
We can see that carmakers believe all this from the TV commercials they put in front of us. The One Club is like the Academy Awards of advertising. In 2013, the New York club teamed up with the North American International Auto Show to name the Top 10 car ads in the past 25 years. A panel from around the world saw Honda UK take the two top spots on the podium with VW US coming in third. See them atoneclub.org/autoshow2013.
But here’s the thing. None of these ads has someone spruiking the car’s technical features, value for money or horsepower. Here’s the other thing. All car commercials are ads for boys. If they do include women, the verbal and body language the women use look and sound like it is written by men.
Australia’s advertisers used to make great car commercials. In 1971 Fred Schepsi directed a young Graeme Blundell and others in some of the most successful spots of all time. Based on the US Chrysler Dart and Barracuda, the Valiant Charger started at $2795 with the blow-any-Porsche-off really hot version selling for $4850.
Fred’s ads for Young & Rubicam basically demonstrated that the car would turn ugly men into women magnets and that just being behind the wheel made everyone in the world love you. Charger sales showed just how fickle men were then.
Now that we have turned into a nation of soccer players, chicken and salad eaters and a country where our citizens are more likely to recognise a Labradoodle than a Kanga, George Patterson’s “Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars” is now depressing. Who cares if it was taken from an American ad and who cares that it was mythical view of Australia? What matters was that it made you feel like a commie for even thinking about a Toyota.
Read on here: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/executive-living/motoring/forget-the-specs-sex-appeal-still-used-to-sell-cars/story-fngmee2f-1227179577805
