For how long will car companies continue selling roaring ICE with smoking doughnuts?

[Miguel M]

I mean, aside from Subaru, pretty much every car/suv ad features roaring engines, squealing tires, lots of smoke and machismo, spinning doughnuts, lots of pedal to the metal shots, even fire from the exhaust.

This ad visualization technique must still work.

IMO, they are selling “futurecide”.

At what point will this end?

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. When gas costs get to $4 a gallon and above.

Until then, the machismo is strong in this country.

[mr_lebowski]

9. Agree ... but this fracking boom isn't going to last as long as some people think ...

As a side note, I can't even tell ya how stupid it was (and this happened under Obama, although it was mainly the GOP Congress) to allow crude exports to resume after 20+ years of a ban. Stupid, greedy shit ... we should've kept it in the ground, if not for Climate Change reasons (the good reason), then for future national security reasons.

DUMB DUMB DUMB move, IMHO.

Anyways, the 'fracking/tight oil shale play' boom is going to be short-lived, I would bet.

Unless we figure out how to economically leverage 'Shale Oil', which we also have a bounty of. And which will be even more devastating to our atmosphere.

[RockRaven]

10. They still run commercials like that in Northern CA, and our gas is routinely $4/gal

and we're supposedly already non-macho hippies.

I think it's going to require something even more dire... but what exactly I know not.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Selling cars takes two things, alone or in combination...

Sex and macho. Either have supermodels hanging over the fenders, or show them breaking speed and safety laws like a bad ass.

I think ending that would require changing human nature.

[Miguel M]

5. It really is revealing that this still works in light of global climate change.

One would think that this would be reason to inculcate a different mindset for future sales... if there actually is a market for it.

Seems to be what’s happening everywhere but the USA.

[DBoon]

16. That is why "macho" refuses to believe in global warming

They would rather risk extinction than back off from their manly image

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. For as long as people enjoy imagining themselves driving fast on an open road.

In other words, forever.

[Miguel M]

8. Electric cars will accomplish all of that.

I’m thinking it’s rooted climate change denial. America is a nation of abjectly ignorant refuseniks, in this area of climate change.
Lots of lip service, then, head out to spin some proverbial doughnuts and consume more fuel.
Amazing place.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. Once electric cars are more common and have demonstrated they can go fast,

we'll see ads for fast, flashy electric cars. I think the attraction for most people is speed, not the means of propulsion.

[Miguel M]

14. If they want the roaring sounds, car co's could use subwoofer systems...

... you could dial-in the engine sound of choice.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

19. Have you seen videos of electric bikes in the quarter-mile?

By "bikes," I mean motorcycles. The video starts out with a rumble, but that's from some other vehicle that's out of the frame.

Chip Gribben
Published on May 4, 2012

The Lawless Electric Rocket bike piloted by Larry "Spiderman" McBride made history May 4, 2012 with a National Electric Drag Racing Association (NEDRA) DMC/A3 record run of 6.940 at 201.37 mph making it the first electric vehicle to break 200 mph in the quarter mile! The 355 volt Rocket bike was built by Lawless Industries and Orange County Choppers.

Virginia Motorsports Park

Website: http://www.virginiamotorsports.com

Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP) is a 1/4 mile (0.402 km) dragstrip in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, just outside of Petersburg. It opened in 1994 and originally hosted the NHRA's Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals. It has a seating capacity of 23,000 spectators. After a brief time with IHRA beginning in 2010, the track returned to NHRA in 2012.

Wait; did he say, the "National Electric Drag Racing Association?" Yes, he did.

National Electric Drag Racing Association

White Zombie, 1972 Datsun 1200 Sedan

Plasmaboy Racing

"...we blow things up, so you don't have to."

Not much has changed. Power output is now counted in kilowatts instead of horsepower, but it's the same old "let's see who's faster."

[Miguel M]

23. There's lot if YouTubes of Tesla's slam dunking super cars like Lambos and Ferraris.

Much less transmission issues (most electric cars have no transmission), regenerative braking, etc.

I see people making the “as soon as they’re as fast as ... “. I assume they’re not understanding that electric street cars can be much faster than ICE powered cars.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

17. Somewhere west of Laramie....

The imagery goes back to at least 1923.

Somewhere West of Laramie
Posted on June 21, 2016 by ahcadmin

“Somewhere west of Laramie there’s a broncho-busting, steer-roping girl who knows what I’m talking about.” So began a 1923 magazine advertisement that became legendary.

National advertising firms use Wyoming scenes as backdrops to pitch everything from yogurt to beer, even though the products are neither manufactured in Wyoming nor sold in any great quantity in the state. Ad agencies use Wyoming because they know there is an emotional dimension to advertising that motivates consumers to buy a particular product. This dimension doesn’t rely on price, quality or even special features of the product. Image sells the product.

Consumers identify with the myths of the West and Wyoming. Ads incorporating these images sell merchandise. Known as “image advertising,” the variety was unknown until 1923 when it was invented to sell a car. Indeed, the whole idea of image advertising was inspired by “somewhere west of Laramie” in 1923.
....



The drawing, in abstract style, showed a young woman on a horse racing against the Jordan Playboy roadster. The copy read:

Somewhere west of Laramie there’s a broncho-busting, steer-roping girl who knows what I’m talking about. She can tell what a sassy poiny, that’s a cross between greased lightning and the place where it hits, can do with eleven hundred pounds of steel and action when he’s going high, wide and handsome. The truth is—the Playboy was built for her. Built for the lass whose face is brown with the sun when the day is done of revel and romp and race. She loves the cross of the wild and the tame.

There’s a savor of links about that car—of laughter and lilt and light—a hint of old loves—and saddle and quirt. It’s a brawny thing—yet a graceful thing for the sweep o’ of the Avenue. Step into the Playboy when the hour grows dull with things dead and stale. Then start for the land of real living with the spirit of the lass who rides, lean and rangy, into the red horizon of a Wyoming twilight.
....

Full disclosure: as usual, I'm wearing cowboy boots today. The hat, too. Well, not indoors.

[hunter]

30. My grandfather couldn't wait to get the hell out of Wyoming.

He joined the Army Air Corps, met a nice girl in Hollywood, served as an officer in World War II, and became an Aerospace engineer when the war ended.

Nobody in my family had any illusions about the "Wild West." They lived it.

All four of my grandparents decided ranching and mining were not for them and moved to Southern California. My mom's parents worked in the shipyards as welders during the war.

My four great grandmas were fierce women, skilled with guns, knives, and horses. They didn't take shit from anyone, and were heads of their matriarchal families.

They'd have likely castrated any man who compared them to a car.

[Socal31]

4. Non-ICE vehicles are bourgeois (or even more exclusive).

As it stands currently, at least.

[NightWatcher]

6. I have a minivan that I can out-drive 95-99% of drivers/vehicles

People say there's nothing sexy about a minivan...

I've done car chases, stakeouts, oh and it even has room should you want to get freaky.

That being said, I'm probably getting the new super tough macho badass Jeep Gladiator soon, but that's for work too.

[Submariner]

7. The Subaru Forester was advertised with Labrador retrievers barking at a mail truck

and it jams on the brakes by itself if I have a senior moment and forget to brake, so I bought it.

The ads that piss me off are the 4 wheel drives blasting through fragile sand dune ecosystems. The Cape Cod National Seashore experience of driving on the beach was ruined for many by the few blasting through sandpiper nesting areas and dune grasses. End of rant.

[Miguel M]

11. Yes. That too. It's rooted in anti environmentalism too.

Sickness.

[zipplewrath]

13. Except for Lincoln

They've got that irritating Matthew Mcconaughey ad.

[Miguel M]

15. Lol.

[gibraltar72]

18. Here's the deal that's the sizzle

I ruled my streets in my youth. That stuff sells cars I don't buy that kind anymore. But it stirs people. With the new technology they provide astounding performance and do it within emission guidelines. Performance will always stir some deep reactions. Racing builds better vehicles. Electrics are now a big thing in racing it will stir the next generation. The displays you see are not even a drop in the bucket of pollution and fuel consumption.

[Miguel M]

20. I understand your point. My point was more about the general American mindset.

[Lurker Deluxe]

24. yea

I know ... all those American supercars.

The Porches, Lambos, Ferraris, BMWs ... ohh, wait.

Like the American superhighway with no speed limit ... oops, wrong country again.

[Miguel M]

40. The Autobahn has speed limits now.

A few short runs have 300kph zones, but most segments do have reasonable (?) limits now.

[A HERETIC I AM]

51. Not entirely true.

There are sections, such as those near urban areas that have speed limits, but many long stretches still have no speed limit.

In fact, a proposal to install speed limits was shot down;

https://www.dw.com/en/german-government-rules-out-autobahn-speed-limit/a-47265764


http://autobahnspeedhunter.com/routes_en/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_Germany

[TruckFump]

21. Have had a life time love affair with "hot" cars.

Too old now to drive anything but a conservative elderly CRV!

But...I will never forget my Porsche!!! Nor can I forget the Candy apple red Mustang GT!!!

[Miguel M]

22. Where I come from cars were a real luxury and rare.

Now, I’m in Miami in chock-a-block traffic daily.
I find myself longing for my “good ol days”.

[gibraltar72]

27. They still stir us don't they?

Big block Vettes were my thing. But I raced everything I had sometimes my dads too up until I was about 30. Keeping things in perspective They are only a blip on the radar. Those super hot cars of today can still get upwards of 25 miles per gallon on the road. Long smoky burnouts are just stupid in my opinion.

[TruckFump]

28. I like DRIVING a car.

New cars IMO have too much "crap" that interferes. Give me an old "hot" car, not subject to smog regs, and with a manual trans, and I am GONE!!!!

[fescuerescue]

25. As long as people buy them

and they earn the company money.

The day they don't. They won't.

It's why Ford doesn't sell cars anymore (except the Mustang)

[getagrip_already]

26. They will stop when psychology changes......

People don't buy transportation in this country. At least not the people willing to spend $50k plus on a car.

They buy an image embodied in a car. The ads are sexy and exciting and oooze youth and beuty and skill and people want in on that.

It's not about the car. It's about the idea.

And yes, it works on you also. Even if you drive a prius or a kia. It still works.

Heck, even if you take the bus or ride a bike, the ads work on you. You just don't know it. They do.

[TruckFump]

29. IMO, it's not the LOOK that gets me.

It's the feel of driving that beast!!!!!!

[hunter]

31. I hate cars. It pisses me off that I have to own one to be considered a fully functional adult...

... in this car culture.

When my wife and I met we were Los Angeles commuters. I resented every stinking minute I spent driving to and from work, much of it in 15 mph stop-and-go traffic.

By some planning and greater good fortune my wife and I have avoided the car commuter lifestyle since the later 'eighties. I work mostly at home, and we can see my wife's workplace from our house.

But we still live in a place that's designed for cars.

I bought a new car just once when I was young, full of testosterone, with a college diploma and a new career. I'll never by a new car again. If someone gave me a brand new car, I don't care what kind, I'd give it away like a hot potato to someone who cared.

The two cars I've bought since cost less than a $1000 each. I paid cash for them. If I want my cars to say anything about me, it's "I hate cars."

A car culture is a fascist culture. When I'm walking about I'm not required to wear a license plate on my butt or to carry identification. I'm not confined to any road, and I'm not held by an invisible tether to any parking place.

We need to be building a society where most people don't need or want cars, a society where walking and public transportation are so easy and convenient that most people won't bother to buy cars.

The world population is approaching 8 billion people. We can't all have have cars without destroying what little is left of the earth's natural environment.

[theboss]

38. I always view car culture as "Freedom" culture

I used to have a job as a college student where once a day, I literally walked a bag filled with the days intake to a bank. There would be $1000 to $1500 in that bag depending on the day. Not once did I fail to have a fantasy of grabbing the money jumping in my '86 Honda and seeing how far I could get. I figured I could be in Southern California in three days and still have a grand to start a new life.

Granted, I was 20 and attending an Ivy League school so starting a new life was kind of a dumb idea. But I still like the idea that my car can get me anywhere I want in X hours if I wanted to.

I talk a good game vis a vis public transportation. But like any good upper middle class liberal, I think I ultimately see that as a way for other people to get off the road and make my commute easier.

[MicaelS]

39. "A Fascist Culture"???

That is as funny as a rubber crutch.

[mahina]

32. For real?

No kidding?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. What does ICE mean in this context?

I'm completely puzzled.

And no, not all car ads feature such nonsense. The ones who do are positioning themselves as a sporty car for daring drivers. It's going to depend on what shows you watch, what ads you see.

[Zorro]

34. ICE Internal Combustion Engine

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

35. Well, not all ads for cars with internal combustion engines

feature what the OP claims.

I really wish people here wouldn't assume we all know every variation of every abbreviation out there.

When I see ICE the only thing I think of is Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not cars.

[Miguel M]

41. You're right. I should have posted the definition.

If you reread my OP I don't say ALL ads.

Cheers

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

43. Okay then.

On the rare times I'm watching commercial TV, I will really notice that certain shows or time slots have almost a monoculture in the ads. I especially notice when it's all car ads. No matter what the ads are like.

Back at ya

[theboss]

36. High school kids aren't into cars...or driving....or seeing other human beings in person

My daughter is going on 17. I think maybe a quarter of her friends of driving age have licenses. Which strikes me as just amazing. I turned 16 in 1989 and nearly all of my friends were at the DMV within a week of that magic number.

Maybe it's because I'm in endless suburbia instead of rural America, but I think if I suggested that she and her friends go for a drive, I would be seen as an alien from another world.

I'm going to go listen to Racing in the Street now.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

44. Where do you live?

How do your daughter and her friends get around?

A related, but separate issue, is that most states license kids at a far too young age. And too many parents can hardly wait for their kids to get a license so they no longer have to drive them around. And then they assume it's completely normal for a kid to crash three or four cars in the first two years that they are driving.

I told my sons they could get a permit at age 17, drive for a full year on it, then get a license. As it turned out, the older son simply wasn't interested, and I finally had to push him, when he was about 20 or so, to learn to drive because I couldn't keep on driving him everywhere. The younger son wasn't at all happy, but I could tell I'd made a good decision there, because it was obvious to me that at age 17 he had far more respect for how powerful a car really is, even a Honda Civic, than he'd have had a year or two earlier.

I lived for seven years in the DC area without a car, even before the Metro opened. I loved it. The only reason I finally got one was that I'd decided to return to school, and the logistics of getting to and from work and the junior college were impossible. If I ever move again, it will be to a city with really good public transportation and I'd give up owning a car.

[theboss]

45. Fucking Texas

I just assumed everyone here cruised on Friday night. That's what movies told me.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

46. Where in Texas?

Is there public transportation where you live?

And again, the essential question is: how do your daughter and their friends get around?

Cruising on a Friday night is not universal. When I was a teen in Tucson in the early 1960s, yeah, that's what most teens did. I didn't, but that's because I had no friends.

In northern NYS no one cruised. And I don't think teens cruised in the Kansas City area where my sons grew up.

Anyway, if where you live the kids all cruise, how do your daughter and her friends cruise if none of them drive?

[theboss]

47. They don't go anywhere

They just Snapchat.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

48. They never leave their homes?

How do they get to school? A job? Or do they stay in their rooms all day, not working, not going to school, Snapchatting the hours away? Why would parents tolerate this?

I can't begin to imagine letting my kids do this as they became adults. I made my kids get jobs in the summer or over winter break.

[theboss]

50. It's 2019, man

I don’t know what to tells ya.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

57. My worry is that none of them will be available

to change my diapers when I'm in the nursing home! Hopefully you get I'm joking.

[A HERETIC I AM]

52. Fucking, Texas. That's near Deepinaharta, isn't it?

I went through God Damn a couple weeks back.

[MicaelS]

56. Speaking from Texas..

Back in the 70s, it was easy to get a hardship permit. All a parent had to do was sign a piece of paper. Many of my fellow HS students got them as soon as they turned 15. And those of us who did not were envious of those who did. I had to wait, unfortunately, until I was nearly 17 to get my license and first car. I would have LOVED to get a car at 15. As cheap as cars were back then, if you wrecked one it was no big deal. I paid $350, for my first car, which was 10 years old. Drove it for 3 years, and had to junk it, because it was burning a quart a oil every 25 miles. Fun while it lasted.

These days of kids not wanting to get a license and a car are completely alien to me.

[Codeine]

37. Until clever companies start selling electric cars

with smoking tires and pedal-to-the-metal images. People like racing and speed and tear-assing around, even if only in their imaginations.

[tinrobot]

42. Tesla easily could have squealing tires if it did ads.

Their cars are really fast and fun to drive. In fact, most EVs outperform their ICE equivalents off the line.

I think once someone actually drives and EV, they get it. They're zippy and fun. It really is just a matter of getting prices down on the cars and installing a lot more fast chargers. When that happens, we'll see a tipping point.

[Blue_Tires]

49. I can tell you're not a car guy...

[Tikki]

53. Our oldest son drives a Tesla..our granddaughter made a video of her....

..waving at the people in line at the gas pumps.

It is cute and not malicious at all. She is 10 years old.

Her dad will not let her post it online.

I guess I know why.

Tikki

[The Figment]

54. Us gearheads can have our cake and eat it too...

Electric Drag Racing is the Future of "fast" cars...like this one

This thing is totally Sick!!

[Miguel M]

55. That is sick.

A modern breakthrough in battery tech will change everything, imo.


Thanks for posting the vid.