Deactivated cylinders 5

The competition to own the biggest truck on the block has finally reached its zenith. The Detroit News tells us that pickup truck sales continue to "crater."

GM and Ford Motor Co. announced plans to cut North American vehicle output in the third quarter to pare their stocks of unsold [pickup] trucks.

"That market is sitting back a bit," said Gary Dilts, senior vice president of sales at DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group. "But the core of the truck business -- a very large percentage -- will remain, because they need that kind of vehicle."

Garbage in = garbage out. A small percentage of people who buy these trucks actually need them.

GM's Ballew said the automaker needed to better explain the fuel-saving technologies it has developed, such as engines that deactivate some cylinders when full power isn't needed. "That's not as easy to communicate as saying, 'I've got a (Toyota) Prius,'." he said.

Just imagine that you are at a party when some guy walks up and says,

"My full-sized pickup has fuel-saving technology in the form of an engine that can deactivate some cylinders when full power isn't needed, hic."

You take a sip of your beer and say, "I've got a Prius."

He says, "Hell, every guy has got one of those, hic."

"I said Prius, not..."

A woman suddenly pops out of your beer and says, "You are a buffet of manliness."

You have a sudden urge to eat a candy bar. Hey, advertising works.

I was watching parents pick up their kids at a private school the other day. One giant SUV after another rolled up -- expensive ones like the Cadillac Escalade and Toyota Land Cruiser. At one point, there were three in a row, each driven by a petite mom with one hand on the steering wheel (which they could not turn without power steering) and the other on a cell phone. If they only new how ridiculous they looked sitting atop these behemoths, at least to me.

Calling these Sport/Utility vehicles was a marketing coupe. These women wouldn't be caught dead in a utility vehicle. However, a sport vehicle portrays an image of leisure, wealth, and health. Never mind that there are no sports you can do in one of these cars. Driving to a ski lodge doesn't count.

They are just as susceptible to subliminal cues as to what is cool as the rest of us. Depending on your peers, tattoos and piercings may be cool, or business suits and ties. This is what we are. Using guilt to change behavior has its limits. The environmental movement should know this after thirty or so years of trying to change people's behavior with that tactic.

Changing the subliminal messages that tell us what is cool would work a lot better. Detroit is doing everything it can to plant the message that driving great big trucks and cars that have the potential to run on ethanol is not only cool, it's green. It is pretty much up to the blogosphere to say that it isn't. Which means that people who only watch TV are going to continue to buy big trucks and cars equipped to run on ethanol right up until their fuel bills eat their car payments.

My real name is Russ Finley. I live in Seattle, married with children. Suffice it to say that although I am trained and educated as an engineer, my passion is nature. I very much want my grandchildren to live on a planet where lions, tigers, and bears have not joined the long and growing list of creatures that used to be. In an attempt to minimize the workload on Grist editors responsible for turning my submissions into intelligible articles, I will also be posting on a seperate blog called Biodiversivist, which will contain articles in addition to those submitted to Grist.

Related Stories

Advertisement
Advertisement

  1. Icelander Posted 10:43 pm
    08 Jun 2006

    BlacklistedI've been blacklisted from GM's Fastlane and FYI blogs for pointing these things out.
    I take it as a compliment.

    Permalink

  2. Biodiversivist's avatar

    Biodiversivist Posted 12:49 am
    09 Jun 2006

    That's funnyThis is a real downside to blogs. They can be used to mine for postive feedback, filtering out critique. I visited a blog the other day where a guy had actually written "hear no evil" software that checked for critical commnets. For example, the site was about his "cool" house (gouged out of a forest). If you used the words "not cool" in the title of your post, it was all over and you were automatically blocked for good. Maybe GM should write a program like that. Better yet, just write one that generates positive comments and emails them to the blog.

    In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com

    Permalink

  3. atreyger Posted 2:23 am
    09 Jun 2006

    saw a commercial last nightHad a big GM (i think) truck rolling consequently through a construction site, 'Panama canal' dig, large sport complex construction, all that jazz. At the end, the narrator said: "While you may not be the person who works on these (or not tough enough or something), this truck could." Edit to an average-looking guy with a child standing by him looking at it as if it were a movie screen.
    Umm, why the hell would he want to spend a ton of money in order to have a truck that he won't use? To make him LOOK manly? How pathetic do the ad people think that the average viewers are? Or are the viewers pathetic enough to actually buy into the entire idea? Or when did the size of your truck start to make up for a lack of size down there? Or a complete lack of muscles? Why not buy a sports car instead, those are definitely bigger chick magnets, or if married why do any of this? Psychologists definitely did a good job of permeating the ad space to work on human insecurities.

    Permalink

  4. bookerly Posted 11:16 am
    10 Jun 2006

    When you see ads using "manliness"   You should (if male) immediately fire off a letter to the company and rage at them "How dare you suggest I am not manly if I don't buy your product.  If your product is so poor that you have to resort to this kind of cheap pyschological manipulation to sell it, then I don't want anything to do with your product or your company.  Good day."
       If enough men did this (women might do the same thing, replacing the first sentence with "How dare you suggest my husband/boyfriend (whatever) is not manly if he doesn't buy your product"), then perhaps we would begin to see the end of this kind of advertising on television.
       Instead of trying to emulate this, we should be seeking to end it.  It is not only advertising, but the creation of "values" that serve only the god of consumption.  We need to change our cultural values, and these ads are the enemy.
    Patrick

    Permalink

  5. Biodiversivist's avatar

    Biodiversivist Posted 1:46 pm
    10 Jun 2006

    Fight fire with fireWe all get our subliminal clues as to what is cool from our culture. Combing our hair and wearing clean clothes is a sign that we want people to think highly of us. You can't change that behavior. What you can change is what is cool by changing the subliminal clues. Messy hair is cool in a lot of circles. Make biking, small homes, and small cars cool. One way to do that is with ads.

    In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Help acquire and protect ecological hotspots, give to a conservation organization: http://www.saveourbiodiversity.com

    Permalink

Add a Comment

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

Hello, Visitor!    Why not register?

Viewed
More
Commented
More
Advertisement