Comments on: Support The Intrusive State. Buy an Audi

By: Barak A. Pearlmutter

Barak A. Pearlmutter — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:04:59 +0000

What a bunch of humourless dorks lurk hereabouts!

The point of the commercial was that the guy got a “pass” from the “green police” by driving a cool *Audi*.

They exaggerated the green police, and made a pretty subtle but powerfully subversive point in the process. (Is this where we want to go? Have we already gone too far down this authoritarian road with govt enforced eco-correctness? This is where we already are with the drug police, isn’t that even worse, shouldn’t we stop those authoritarian abuses too?)

But the main point was a *pun*. The guy with the *Audi* got a “pass”! From the Green Police!

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:44:23 +0000

The ad turned me off, because the eco-nazi images were too close to reality. Still, the ad caused a lot of discussion, which is great for branding and might result in a few sales to the greens.

Also, green or not, Audi still makes this lust-worthy machine: http://www.audiusa.com/us/brand/en/models/r8.html

By: artemis

artemis — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 18:30:27 +0000

They threaded a line fairly well. They appealed to multiple audiences. People on our side seem to think it was a parody and the green nuts think it was serious.

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:40:16 +0000

I think it was an attempt at parody and found it hopeful. Audi seemed to be trying to make fun of Green Correctness and in the public arena ridicule is nearly always more effective than criticism.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:21:24 +0000

The ad was kind of funny, but it seemed more like a satirical ad for a Prius (e.g. from SNL or The Onion) than an actual ad from a company trying to sell me their car. At the end I found myself thinking that I don’t give a flip if the Green Police approved of my car.

By: Glenn Geist

Glenn Geist — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:01:57 +0000

No, Audi will never get my business. Ever. That ad made we want to kick in my TV…and also to hope that some of the “Eco-Police” shown would get shot. Until and unless we’re willing to do what it takes to throw off our oppressors, we’re going to have this stuff slammed down our throats. Audi is big in the American Le Mans Series with their diesel sports car, and I’ve previously e-mailed their President to let him know that I’ll NEVER watch another ALMS race due to their green stance on racing. I watch EVERY other racing series on earth, but the ALMS is off my radar because of their environmental positions.

By: bryan

bryan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:08:39 +0000

I’m not sure how anyone could defend that commercial. I thought the message was pretty clear. “The enviro-fascists are taking over… so here’s a cool way to go with the flow”. Hmm, maybe that does explain a bit about nazi germany.

If on the other hand at the end of the commercial the car was a huge black smoke belching monster truck that rolled over all the cars in the line and smashed through the green police roadblock, that would be an American commercial. I’d buy whatever they were selling.

This commercial was crap.

By: Zach

Zach — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:37:55 +0000

My typical enviro-liberal sister (in that she wants everyone else to save the environment but doesn’t really do much herself besides use cloth bags at the store) said “way to make environmentalism look really stupid.” Because there was much tension in the air (we were all rooting for, and I had 9:1 odds on the Colts) and because I’m not really “out” with my liberal family and friends, I choked back the urge to say “no, that’s pretty realistic of what environmentalist wackos want”.

By: Fred from Canuckistan

Fred from Canuckistan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:43:46 +0000

I had the exact same thought.

Audi’s are off my list. One day, when my TL dies and goes off to car heaven, I have one less dealer to bother with.

By: Russell

Russell — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:58:04 +0000

People who liked this TV ad cherish Orwellian times, they want to be controlled. Enviro mentalists are detroying our basic freedoms. Audi has nothing to be proud off pointing out the future.