Who sucks?

[pure_mercury]

I hate the Cadillac commercials with the fury of a thousand firey suns. Listening to a bunch of smug pretty people making pretentious lists of all the things they love while driving a boat anchor of a car. Yeah, never mind about that struggling economy thing, and all of those people losing their homes and unable to get health care. Let's talk about our rich tastes and how special it makes us sound.

To be fair, a Cadillac isn't exactly a McLaren F1, but I understand your sentiment. Why would an attractive 30-something chick boast about buying an overpriced old-man car, anyway? "I just moved to Florida, and I got a big-ass boat of a car with a V8. Time to drive it 22 in a 35 zone!"

 

[Ivy]

Caddie is trying to youth it up, I guess.

My first car was a gold 1977 Oldsmobile 98 which may be the only car more old-man than a Caddie, but I rocked it.

 

[pure_mercury]

Caddie is trying to youth it up, I guess.

My first car was a gold 1977 Oldsmobile 98 which may be the only car more old-man than a Caddie, but I rocked it.

I had a white Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight, circa 1989. It died on the way to my job at the country club one day.

BTW, remember the Aurora? In the mid-'90s, Oldsmobile tried to respond to Lexus/Acura/Infiniti with a luxury sedan. It was basically a Buick Riviera with slightly sportier styling and more options. That was a hilarious car.

 

[Ivy]

I had a white Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight, circa 1989. It died on the way to my job at the country club one day.

BTW, remember the Aurora? In the mid-'90s, Oldsmobile tried to respond to Lexus/Acura/Infiniti with a luxury sedan. It was basically a Buick Riviera with slightly sportier styling and more options. That was a hilarious car.

YES! What a silly idea. C'mon, you're Oldsmobile/Cadillac. Just embrace your old-manitude, right?

Did your Olds have an 8-track player? Mine did. Granddaddy spared no expense!

 

[pure_mercury]

YES! What a silly idea. C'mon, you're Oldsmobile/Cadillac. Just embrace your old-manitude, right?

Did your Olds have an 8-track player? Mine did. Granddaddy spared no expense!

AM/FM cassette, IIRC.

 

[LadyJaye]

To be fair, a Cadillac isn't exactly a McLaren F1, but I understand your sentiment. Why would an attractive 30-something chick boast about buying an overpriced old-man car, anyway? "I just moved to Florida, and I got a big-ass boat of a car with a V8. Time to drive it 22 in a 35 zone!"

My issue isn't with the actual machinery. It's with the incredibly vapid angle the company is taking in order to sell their cars. It's as if none of the people who wrote the commercials live on planet Earth with the rest of us. We're at a crisis point in so many areas globally, and to attempt to validate the "me me me" behavior is, I feel, morally wrong.

Caddie is trying to youth it up, I guess.

My first car was a gold 1977 Oldsmobile 98 which may be the only car more old-man than a Caddie, but I rocked it.

That's exactly it. They're trying to appeal to a new generation of monied consumers. But most of us don't have the plonk for a GTS Cadillac, so the few remaining folks that do have the money to spare, the company is attempting to stroke their egos by saying, " You're the Man! It's all about looking hot! You wanna look a million times cooler than everyone else in your law firm?! Buy this car!"

 

[Samuel De Mazarin]

My issue isn't with the actual machinery. It's with the incredibly vapid angle the company is taking in order to sell their cars. It's as if none of the people who wrote the commercials live on planet Earth with the rest of us. We're at a crisis point in so many areas globally, and to attempt to validate the "me me me" behavior is, I feel, morally wrong.



That's exactly it. They're trying to appeal to a new generation of monied consumers. But most of us don't have the plonk for a GTS Cadillac, so the few remaining folks that do have the money to spare, the company is attempting to stroke their egos by saying, " You're the Man! It's all about looking hot! You wanna look a million times cooler than everyone else in your law firm?! Buy this car!"

This is interesting enough to be in a whole new thread... most of the people in advertising I've met (and I know some people in executive roles in the creative aspects) are very level-headed, practical, and intelligent people. It actually makes sense that the people least likely to buy into the images created by ad companies are those who created the images...

 

[pure_mercury]

My issue isn't with the actual machinery. It's with the incredibly vapid angle the company is taking in order to sell their cars. It's as if none of the people who wrote the commercials live on planet Earth with the rest of us. We're at a crisis point in so many areas globally, and to attempt to validate the "me me me" behavior is, I feel, morally wrong.

But the ignorant ALWAYS buy things based on image and social status. Do you think that advertising "Our new Oldsmobile generates 15% more torque with its long-stroke engine" appeals to people? Of course not. They want the brand new, exotic car they saw their richer, more happenin' neighbor bought, or the one in that movie. How else can you explain adults spending $20,000 on a purple PT Cruiser? It's not ad people's faults. It's their job not just to provide information to potential customers; they need to CREATE customers out of people who didn't give a crap before.

And this will be contested, but whatever, it's true: "me me me" behavior is usually better than "we we we" behavior. I'd rather have a society of solipsistic twits out to score a fast buck to get that butt-ugly purple PT Cruiser than a society full of people who are ready, willing, and able to decide for me (or for any other individual with half a brain) what is important and what we may or may not have. In the original vein of this thread, that kind of world SUCKS.

 

[Jack Flak]

a society full of people who are ready, willing, and able to decide for me (or for any other individual with half a brain) what is important and what we may or may not have. In the original vein of this thread, that kind of world SUCKS.

East Germany!

 

[pure_mercury]

East Germany!

Yes, or North Korea. Or middle school. Any awful place you can imagine.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

PDF documents
Any book Oprah recommends
Dr. Phil
Talk radio
People who have seen Mamma Mia and can't shut up about it
Texas summer heat
Those really bleak contemporary novels, ie House of Sand and Fog
Most songs that are used in commercials
Judge Judy

I'm so with you until the very end. Judge Judy kicks ass! She don't have no sass! No sass-haver, she!

 

[Thursday]

top 40 radio

 

[Alpha-6]

Which artists (with some modicum of critical acclaim) actually suck? Directors, authors, graphic artists, whatever? Who is completely overrated? Which creative emperors have no clothes?

First nominee, for Egregious Overratedness: My Bloody Valentine. Cool sounds, no songs to speak of, not a great example of the shoegazer aesthetic.

This one Scion car commercial pissed me off. Something along the lines of "It's that which makes us different, that brings us together."
"United by individuality" I f**K** hate that commercial.

Also,

What The Bleep- Down The Rabbit Hole
Hancock
I Heart Huckabees

 

[Noel]

Ranch Dressing
Virginia Woolf
Spenser's The Faerie Queen
Newcastle Brown Ale
Heineken
Democracies
Corporations
English Theory

 

[pure_mercury]

I hate when people use the term "all in" in a non-poker context. I also CANNOT STAND the phrase "it is what it is." That says absolutely nothing. It's like you just wanted to say words. If you meant, "Well, we can't really change this situation; let's accept it," then say that.

 

[Domino]

Embarq commercials with the never-on-target weirdness. Plus I hate that resurgence of 90s irony in them.

 

[ZiL]

Quaint little acoustic jingles that are found on like 30% of all advertisements nowadays.

 

[heart]

I'm so with you until the very end. Judge Judy kicks ass! She don't have no sass! No sass-haver, she!

I don't like Judge Judy either.

I like Judge Hackett, she's at least got a sense of humor and she seems to have a true love for people in all their shades of dysfunction and flaws.

 

[ajblaise]

People who misuse the word "ironic".

 

[Martoon]

I can't believe I was ready to make Martoon my platonic life partner and then he proceeded to make a hate list that could have doubled as my "favorite things" list. He somewhat salvaged himself at the last minute by hating Angelina Jolie. But the scars are deep, and they are real. KISS forever!

Does this mean the platonic wedding is off? What really caused the hurt, FM? It was my bashing We Are the World, wasn't it? I knew I'd gone over the line with that one.

I was going to make a new list of things that suck, but I found a way to sum them all up in one single entry:

Things that college kids like (drinking too much excepted).

Ooh, thanks for catching that! One more for my list; drinking too much.