After seeing all the Hummer ads yesterday during NFL games

[redstateblues]

I'm starting to think GM won't survive no matter how much money is pumped into it- they are too invested in selling gas guzzlers- they don't understand why they are going down the tubes.

[DS1]

1. Target demographics

just like the ads for big burly pickup trucks doing ridiculous things and giant televisions.


People see Hummers and think tail-gate parties

[KharmaTrain]

11. It's A Target When It Has Money

It's kinda hard to shell out the 50k for that tank as well as the huge gas bill when you've lost a job or your stock portfolio lost nearly half its value in the past year. Then try to finance one of these monsters right now.

Yep, they may like the big trucks...and I do see a Hummer here or there (usually a middle aged cigar chomping male behind the wheel), but people are finding they can tailgate just as well with a hatchback.

The media is always the last to "get it" when it comes to styles and reality. It's easy to create an image and "demand" when times are good, but those same pipe dreams become sources of frustration when times are bad.

Cheers...

[southpaw]

2. I can't believe they still promote those things!

Hummers are a heinous affront to all things decent!

[stuntcat]

9. they should be outlawed

They are a SHAME on all of us.

[uncle ray]

24. no they should not.

use your shame as a tool to discourage owning a hummer. there should not be any laws banning a vehicle. i have no problem with gas guzzler taxes, etc. that make ownership less appealing.

[cliffordu]

26. I openly mock their owners. i asked one guy

if he was willing to start pimping out his grandchildren for gas.

He got really excited about that.

[JackRiddler]

27. No, not a ban - but there should be laws against MAKING such a vehicle.

Mass-producing them, anyway; if anyone would like to put one together in their garage, that's fine.

[GodlessBiker]

3. They think innovation is offering $1,000 incentives or cheap gas. n/t

[patrice]

4. Death-mobiles for our Troops in Iraq!

It's hard to understand how people buy the damn things here, let alone how they get away with advertising them at all!

They're death-mobiles for U.S. Soldiers, for our economy, and for Earth!

[Jim__]

5. If we give them $25 billion ...

... you'll probably see even more ads. I'm beginning to wonder if this bailout is a good idea.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

6. but but but

the gas prices are down! $2.00 gal (+/-).

With gas prices down, we can now start to buy SUV again :sarcasm:

[bookman]

7. Talk about short memories..

..when will we ever learn?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

8. Was that a death wish on their part to push the Hummer?

[Doodler71]

10. Target audience: Having a Hummer makes your d*ck grow

[Mari333]

13. I finally saw my first huge pickup truck wearing testicles

I live in MI, and yet I hadnt seen one before. I was driving near Grand Rapids, and there was a HUGE red pickup with all the trimmings on it, and a sign on the back that said PROUD REDNECK and COWBOY UP on it, but what amazed me the most was a pair of rubber testicles this guy had hanging off the back end of his truck. red ones, as a matter of fact.
as I was driving behind him, those rubber testes would swing back and forth as he braked and accelerated. it was mesmerizing, and then the whole truck literally symbolized his own wish for a dick, it seemed.

[ipfilter]

17. Did the truck sport an Oklahoma license plate?

[Mari333]

19. I didnt notice lol...I was too busy being hypnotized by the swinging testes..

[DefenseLawyer]

23. The Hummer lets chickenhawks pretend to be in the army without getting shot

and it makes their dicks grow. A wing-nut double play!

[flying_wahini]

12. Advertising works. fear works. sex appeal in ads work.

the Hummer ads appeal to the non-thinking class because it preys on all

of these not so subliminal messages.

if you have a Hummer you will be safe.

if you have a Hummer you will be "big and Strong"

The cost of gas be damned..... these people feel like if you can

afford to drive one, it puts you in a different income bracket.

(I guess you are, if you can afford to gas one up..)


Hummers are for people who need to reinforce their basic shortcomings.

These owners feel like they can drive their way out of a crisis situation

by literally driving over other people.

After Hurricanes Rita and Ike I have noticed a surprising number of

new Hummers on the road around here... I live near Houston.

[surrealAmerican]

20. Hopefully that "non-thinking class" ...

... will be forced out of existence in a difficult economy. Imagine what the roads would look like if everybody made RATIONAL decisions.

[a kennedy]

14. and seriously they THINK the American people SHOULD bail

them out. :puke: I honestly don't know what to do with them.......

[gratuitous]

15. This is what Detroit sells

And don't you dare blame them for putting their production lines into service of Hummers and oversized pick-ups that never see an unpaved road. And don't bad-mouth them for advertising them heavily, to the exclusion of anything else. And don't give American automakers grief for not manufacturing and advertising smaler cars that get better gas mileage. And surely you can't fault Detroit for fighting tooth and nail against everything from seat belts to higher CAFE standards for decades. I mean, how can you seriously market safer, more efficient cars? There's just no way! So much easier to market cars that will go 120 mph, even if there's nowhere to drive a car that fast. Americans like to go fast! So Detroit must (must!) manufacture and market vehicles that gulp down the gas just in case the goddam government sets up swinging girders across every interstate highway. You don't like the government do you, ya sissy?

[Warpy]

16. Look at it another way

Gas prices have temporarily fallen and they've got a huge overstock of those monstrosities. They're not rugged enough to sell to the military, they're only good as penis extenders. They know they have to unload the dinosaurs quickly before gas prices rise again--and they will.

Hyping the guzzlers during football games is a smart thing to do because that's the audience most open to thinking they need one of those things.

What's stupid is that they don't hype their small cars, at all.

[surrealAmerican]

21. ... but, following your logic a bit farther, ...

... why would they? The customers who expect gas prices to go up will seek them out anyway. No need to waste money advertising what people will buy anyway.

[Warpy]

22. Uh, they want to unload what they're stuck with

Remember, they advertise because it works.

[surrealAmerican]

25. Sorry. I guess I was unclear, I was responding to the ...

... statement at the end of your post about promoting efficient cars. You're absolutely right about pushing the gas guzzlers.

[LeftinOH]

18. GM: The same company that decided there should be a Cadillac pick-up truck on the market

...NO WAY should there be a bailout without some effort to improve the small/economy vehicle line (and slapping a "Chevrolet" logo on a Daewoo isn't good enough).

[CRF450]

28. Um, they are working on fuel effecient cars.