Seth Stevenson, along with Slate readers, has compiled a list of the most hated ads of 2009, along with commentary on each. Seth on the above ad:
There’s an Audi ad in which a bunch of kids are coming out of school and looking for their parents to pick them up. The problem is, all the cars lining up for them look exactly alike—beige, SUV-ish, boring. Then the black Audi drives up and the associated kid runs straight to it. I think what the commercial is supposed to be saying is that you should stand out from the crowd by driving this different car. The problem is that to me, the Audi looks exactly like the other cars. Except black. Am I missing something?—Rachel K.
No, Rachel, you’re not missing a thing. The ad’s tag line refers to the “unmistakable” Audi Q5. But having watched the ad several times, I think I can say with confidence: The Audi that’s shown is a monocoque crossover vehicle, and as such is quite easily mistaken for a BMW X5, Acura RDX, Lexus RX, or any of the other many monocoque crossover vehicles lined up in front of that school. (If they’re so different, why do they all have 10-point Scrabble letters in their names?) In fact, the spot almost seems like a sly fable—mocking the meaningless consumption-pattern nuances we humans carve out to preserve our illusions of free will. Which is a strange way to sell a compact SUV.
Ads We Hate [Slate]
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