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Wednesday, 25 February 2004

SUVs and Big Time ::

The city of Sunnyvale recently did some work on the traffic lights at the intersection near my apartment complex. I noticed that they’d been raised higher. I began to notice crews at work elsewhere in Cupertino and Sunnyvale, raising signs. I thought, “hmm, I suspect they’re doing this to make the signs more visible to drivers like me in lowly Toyota Corollas when they’re behind a Ford Expedition.”

Why do people drive those things, anyhow?

Internal industry market research concluded that S.U.V.s tend to be bought by people who are insecure, vain, self-centered, and self-absorbed, who are frequently nervous about their marriages, and who lack confidence in their driving skills.

– gladwell dot com / Big and Bad

Ah, documentation supporting what many have suspected, and one writer put so delicately:

I printed up a small card to put on the windshields of aircraft carrier-sized new SUVs around Venice, where I live and write a syndicated advice column. In case I missed yours, here it is:

“Road-Hogging, Gas-Guzzling, Air-Fouling Vulgarian! Clearly you have an extremely small penis, or you wouldn’t drive such a monstrosity. For the adequately endowed, there are hybrids or electrics.”

– Amy Alkon

This week I read a reaction to Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time” being used in a Lincoln/Mercury SUV ad. (Google found this one; sorry, I lost the original link). Yes, “oh the irony.” Up there with “Rocket Man” in an AT&T commercial, or Intel using “Play that Funky Music.”

The first reaction I read had slammed Gabriel for allowing the tune to be used in the commercial. But he may or may not control those rights. And if he does control the rights, maybe he considered that the commercial could encourage people to consider their motivations for wanting to buy such a vehicle.

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