So...these new Camry ads

[MinisterofDOOM]

Multi-chinned, dopey-grinned, slack-jawed dimwit talks about how sporty his hybrid is...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OM_h6ERW4c[/youtube]

I'm at a COMPLETE LOSS for anything to say. All I know is watching makes me uncomfortable in some way I don't really understand.

On the one hand, Toyota's depiction of their main demographic is SPOT SMEGGING ON.
On the other hand, it's kinda almost insulting to potential buyers. I'm assuming the fat goof is supposed to be relateable. I imagine, were I a potential Camry-buyer, I'd probably be happier ignoring that detail. Of course, if I were a potential Camry buyer, maybe I'd be proud to be boring? I don't know. It's all beyond my comprehension.

I'd prefer NOT to experience "The Camry Effect" after watching that ad, thanks very much.

[Jesda]

Ack.
My dad has a 2009 Camry Hybrid. He bought it to replace his company car and enjoy the mileage reimbursements. He ends up making a profit on it because of the fuel economy.

Otherwise, he has zero affection for it. It replaces a 2009 Dodge Caravan and the biggest upgrade he and I could think of, other than fuel efficiency, is the JBL stereo which actually sounds pretty good. The navigation system is terribly inaccurate and doesn't seem to tell you when you've arrived, so he doesn't use it anymore. The brakes are a combination of mushy and artificial with a lumpy feel when the regen kicks in. The auto start/stop is a bit abrupt.

It is, however, sufficiently quiet and rides comfortably, like a smaller, narrower Buick Lesabre. The Camry was a smart, practical choice, fully justified by the numbers, but I can tell his soul is malnourished living with it on a daily basis. Fortunately, he paid little for it (got the dealer to take three grand off asking price, paying close to wholesale) and should be able to resell it for a reasonable amount.

He's retiring soon and looking for a used Miata or Boxster (I steered him toward the Miata) so he won't be spending his retirement years behind the wheel of a beige Camry. He has a knack for buying super clean used cars so hopefully he can find a mint NA 1.8L M-edition in marina green with tan leather, a tan top, and speakers in the headrests, just like the one he and I test drove when I was a kid in 1997.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKRiCsZfx4k[/youtube]

[Dattebayo]

The DMV in northern Virginia gives HOV access to singular drivers in hybrids and alternative fuel cars on I-66 (which is a nightmare to drive all day long) and everybody buys the damn Camry.

My sister bought one recently for this reason, since she commutes back and forth exclusively on that road every day. At thanksgiving she tried to pull the whole concerned citizen thing about how they are good for the environment, then I showed her the production and shipping footprint of the thing and she finally shut up and admitted that it was just the Govt freebie that spurned her to buy it.

[MinisterofDOOM]

The DMV in northern Virginia gives HOV access to singular drivers in hybrids and alternative fuel cars on I-66 (which is a nightmare to drive all day long) and everybody buys the damn Camry.

This is how it is in northern Utah as well. DOT adds HOV lanes and advertises them like they're God's gift to humanity. But the only people who use them are people with alternative-fuel vehicles. Such a monumental waste of a traffic lane. HOV lanes sound like a good idea in theory, but they don't work in practice.

[Dattebayo]

One lane doesn't help anything in traffic dynamics of this sort, so the point is moot. All I'm saying is the point to why people buy hybrids (in this case, Camrys) here is not for their supposed reliability or anything to do with brand, but because it's one of the few car types you can get that the gov likes to give you a break with.

I call it state sponsored favoritism. Eff that noise.

[alms24sebring]

I dont like the reserved parking for hybrids either. My Civic get almost 40 mph highway, whats the difference besides age? Its so smug.

[themadscientist]

My 660 3-banger would smoke that thing. Probably gets comparable gas mileage too, I have taken dumps heavier.

[dickie]

Toyota is using really unattractive people in its ads.



and stupid too! because ugly, overweight, stupid and vaguely ethnic is a good cross-section of middle America these days i suppose.

i look at the guy, typical toolbag working in a cube farm with sneakers and khakis. i hear his comments about how all guys apparently want "RIMZ and sleekness to the body..." and I think that if you offered the poor dumb bastard any car in the world, totally free and no stings attached, he'd pick a Scion tC. that's probably what they traded in to get the camry since he's obviously controlled by his... mate thingee. i can see that conversation as she emasculates him in front of his sCiOn Kr3W because there *may* be misshapen lumps of offspring somewhere in their future if she feels like breaking off a piece of that flabby beige a**. being the no-chin beta he so obviously is, his shaft and balls retract to ken-doll status and he rationalizes as best he can with his coveted "RIMZ and sleekness."

she doesn't know her a** from a hole in the ground when it comes to cars. money isn't an object - she's not spending her own income, after all - but she feels limited by the vast number of possible options out there. basically her decision comes down to what her dumbass friend drives and how well it syncs to her phone. she likes how it feels "grounded to the ground," compared to the range of horrible Neons, Cavaliers etc... she's driven since high school. she's probably interested in a new car because she totaled her last in a long line of at-fault accidents that combine her fundamental lack of driving aptitude with her love for staying connected to her phone. hence, the bootooth being important. maybe she would have gone for a VW Jetta (the camry-ized one) if she wasn't being blackballed by her insurance company into something with a lower premium.

look at that face; it's the worst. her skin pulls back and her eyes turn to slits and that gaping maw gnashes like some kind of horrible pug/human/demon hybrid. so the commercial takes a turn for the horrific, not so subtly jolting viewers awake after the snooze-inducing driving shots.

i half-expected to see drool spilling from the edges of the guy's smile as only a lobotomized semi-sentient lump of organic tissue could pull off excitement for the new Camry.

[PapaSmurf2k3]

The first time I saw these commercials, I was disgusted with Toyota, America, and somehow myself. The kind of thing that just made me want to run into the bathroom and throw up. This once great nation that stuck it to the technological powerhouse Germans and later Russians has now been reduced to promoting idiots proclaiming their boring version of the most boring vehicle in the world is "sporty" and *shudder* "grounded to the ground*.
f*** I want to throw up now just writing about it.

AND THEN, WHAT I CAN ONLY ASSUME IS A COMPLETELY SEPARATE DIVISION OF TOYOTA (that thinks like me) RELEASES THIS AWESOME BOMBSHELL OF A COMMERCIAL:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OMsufuL_ug[/youtube]
Granted, it isn't really going very fast, up any hills, etc... but still- it hits on lots of things that every damn red blooded American likes. V8 rumble, big honkin chunks of steel, the freaking space shuttle, RANDY'S DONUTS... I mean s***, the whole thing is marketing genius.
I like how they emphasize that it's completely stock too.

Really the only way it could be better is if it was playing some sort of kickass patriotic or classic rock music or something.

[MinisterofDOOM]

It's a say day when mediocrity is lauded. There's nothing WRONG with mediocrity, but there's absolutely something wrong with praising it.

Humanity's future isn't going down the crapper anymore. It's clogged the poor damn thing. With bits of corn and grapeskin. And a little blood.