Repost of original article by Leo Hickman, Feb 8, 2010, guardian.co.uk
Mmm, I wonder if Will Ferrell and his comedy compatriots at Funnyordie.com saw Audi’s Super Bowl ad (Sunday)? If they did, then they might have recognised the ad’s satirical vision of a world patrolled by the “green police”.
The reason being that they made virtually the same joke – scoring far more laughs in the process – in their Green Team video a couple of years ago.
Audi’s ad for its A3 TDI “clean diesel” would have been watched by an estimated 100-odd million viewers and it says a lot that it chose to appeal to potential customers with a message that basically says: “We know you care, but we also appreciate that you don’t want to be seen to be green as that’s just not cool right now. So here’s a car that let’s you look macho as well as show that you love sticking it to the man, but secretly you’ll always know that only buttercup petals ever fall from the tailpipe.”
David Roberts of Grist has an interesting take of the ad over at HuffPo. He says, unlike so many of the ads aired during the Super Bowl intermission, it was a subtle attempt at subverting the stereotypes of “Teabag America”:
The ad only makes sense if it’s aimed at people who acknowledge the moral authority of the green police – people who may find those obligations tiresome and constraining on occasion, who only fitfully meet them, who may be annoyed by sticklers and naggers, but who recognise that living more sustainably is in fact the moral thing to do. This basically describes every guy I know …
To scratch one layer deeper: what is Audi’s message to these guys who want to be good but find the effort anxious-making? Here’s a way to meet your green obligations and still have a bad-ass car! The Audi A3 is both green and desirable – indeed more desirable because it’s green. Buried deep in this ad, in other words, is a bright green message: prosperity, pleasure, and sustainability can be achieved together.
Anyway, not to overthink it (ahem), but the ad is not just another pot shot at greens. It’s an appeal to a new and growing demographic that isn’t hardcore environmentalist – and doesn’t particularly like hardcore environmentalists – but that basically wants to do the right thing. Audi’s effort to reach them, however clumsy, is actually a bit ahead of the curve.
I kind of agree with Roberts: it just doesn’t make any sense for Audi to run an ad like this if it only wants it to play to the Teabaggers screaming “environmentalists are interfering scum” at every rally they attend. Equally, though, I’m unconvinced that it will appeal to this new demographic that Roberts has identified.
But with the Prius and its questionable brakes seemingly headed for an adverse camber, perhaps the A3 TDI – which recently beat the Prius to the Green Car of the Year title – can now make up some ground on its rival, with or without this ad?
