You’ll likely recall this one if you ever saw it. A dopey high school senior gets a graduation gift from his parents. The gift is a sad little dormitory refrigerator which Mom and Dad have festooned with a ribbon. The gag is that it’s sitting in front of a shiny yellow Camaro convertible. The kid, who we’ve already pegged as a little dopey, sees the car and mistakes it for his graduation present.
While the premise of the ad is simple, it speaks to us on many levels. As parents, we realize that our ideas of gifts, while grounded in the necessities of finances, may not jibe with the preferences of our kids. There is also a certain common sense to the parents’ choice of a dorm fridge – you graduated from high school, Tommy and you were lucky to get into a state college. Those two facts merit a small appliance, not a muscle car.
We can recognize the unrealistic nature of youthful optimism. Kids clearly have little if any idea about the cost of a brand new car. The neighborhood setting of this comic tableau is decidedly middle class. This is where working people live, not the rich folk who would possibly buy their child wildly generous gifts for fairly pedestrian achievements.
The commercial succeeds because the incredible high of a cool new car is not lost on any of us, despite the fact that we will have to deal with payments, insurance and higher and higher gas prices. Mr. Johnson, the neighbor who the car actually belongs to, understands these things, but he is still financially solvent enough to be able to go play a round of golf. The director cleverly leaves out the potentially awkward act of Johnson putting a full bag of golf clubs into the trunk of the Camaro before he drives off.
This commercial works for me because it speaks to so many things which have nothing to do with a Camaro.
Alright, enough of these commercials, I’ve got featured presentations to write about.
1pointperspective 
This actually speaks to a larger issue – how did this kid get into college, when he has no idea of the cost of a new car? My 8 year old knows, at the very least, the cost of groceries, clothes, toys, etc. We’re working our way up to college educations, cars and houses. Those seem a little too big to comprehend for someone who gets a $2-5 weekly allowance!
You gotta love the humor…I just chuckle every time I see that ad.
Next up, my critical analysis of “The Walking Dead”
Every college kid needs to drive a clunker to start out with. Otherwise, what does one have to look forward to? The times I was lucky enough to even have a car in college were actually unlucky times because the pieces of crap broke down so much. But by the time I finally got a decent car, I knew how to appreciate it. 🙂
so in other words, you agree with the general idea of the commercial.
Abso-tootly.
Atta girl!
PS – I’m done with the commercials. Moving on to a new post which will be up shortly, all about the Walking Dead
That’s my husband’s favorite show.
I assume he saw the season 3 premiere last week? I did make one reference to it which could be construed as a “spoiler” – so you know. I wouldn’t wanna accidently ruin the surprise for Mr. Rubin.
Yes, he saw it. 🙂
Hey. Kid. Go for the fridge. It’ll keep your beer cold and your weed fresh.
He does appear to be a kid who’ll need to work on keeping his weed long enough for it to go stale in the first place.
I think the real issue here is that this douchebag of a kid thinks a Camaro is a cool car. Man, what are parents teaching their kids these days?
Good point…any teenager worth his salt should be able to identify the Hyundai sonata as the cooler set of wheels.
I love this commercial. I actually considered doing this to my son. Why? Because it’s funny and frankly, he deserves it.
Kids need to know that their parents can be cruel in the name of humor. It’s a life lesson.
HA! Life lessons usually are cruel and funny. But not funny until later. “…unrealistic nature of youthful optimism…” Definitely. Good post 🙂
Glad you liked it. It’s funny, I haven’t seen that commercial nearly often enough since it came out a few years back.