No offense intended to Cadillac fans

[1750]

But I thought this was pretty tremendous.

If you have two minutes, watch the two clips at the end of the article.

http://www.businessinsider.sg/ford-destroys-cadillacs-rich-guy-ad-2014-3/#.UzioEye9KSP

 

[webbie]

I saw that. Good for them.....

It's heartening to think that our current culture actually understands the concepts expressed in the Ford commercial. I can die happy now....

 

[BrotherBart]

Corporate Judo. Love it. Use the other guys weight and momentum to nail him.

 

[fossil]

Yeah, I was, fairly recently, looking pretty seriously at the Cadillac CTS AWD coupe. Interesting car. But I find this latest ad attitude from Cadillac so obnoxious that I've scratched the CTS off my list of candidate vehicles. Corporate revulsion on a number of levels. If I had a Cadillac I'd hide it until I could get rid of it.

 

[webbie]

And this ad was fixed up so as NOT to offend thee....
"An Automotive News interview interview with Cadillac marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus, re-published in Ad Age February 6, adds some new and crucial details. Ellinghaus says he worried that the ad, which originally used a different vehicle, would be seen as "snobby, arrogant, a little aloof"--so he swapped in the plug-in ELR coupe to make it more "socially palatable."

I think they were going to use the Escalade originally.....
I know it's hard to believe for us with more common sensibilities, but there are a lot of people who are like the guy in the commercial. In fact, I know some of them. Some of them are related to me...but not by blood.

I'd rather have 5 weeks off and drive a Ford than 2 weeks and drive a Caddy. Then again, when I was growing up a Caddy was considered "gauche" among my set....probably because our parents (those who generally wanted to announce their status) had them.

I even remember my dad yelling at me about my perceived dislike of his choice of car.....he was saying what he thought I thought (but I didn't)...lots of choice sayings which folks used to describe the cars back then....mostly relating to the fact that Fleetwoods were the choice of many of the chosen people.

At the time, caddy's were probably in their worse incarnation ever. My mom had the Eldorado convertible with the doors that were 10 feet long and started drooping about 2 weeks after you bought the car (laws of physics took over)....

 

[Seasoned Oak]

At the time, caddy's were probably in their worse incarnation ever. My mom had the Eldorado convertible with the doors that were 10 feet long and started drooping about 2 weeks after you bought the car (laws of physics took over)....

They have come a long way since then. Its safe to say, todays caddy is not your fathers,mothers grandfathers car anymore. I have been considering an escalade as a next purchase.
My No. 1 consideration being safety of the occupants.

 

[yooperdave]

Yeah, I was, fairly recently, looking pretty seriously at the Cadillac CTS AWD coupe. Interesting car. But I find this latest ad attitude from Cadillac so obnoxious that I've scratched the CTS off my list of candidate vehicles. Corporate revulsion on a number of levels. If I had a Cadillac I'd hide it until I could get rid of it.

Hmmm. Moderating must pay well

 

[webbie]

Hmmm. Moderating must pay well

You would never imagine. The monthly take could easily make a payment on this...

 

[fossil]

Hmmm. Moderating must pay well

Let's just say that I take home every bit as much for the time I spend here as you do for the time you spend here.

 

[Retired Guy]

Can't bring myself to be anti-ambition.

 

[Grisu]

Can't bring myself to be anti-ambition.

To me Pasho Murray does not strike me as not ambitious. She just cares about more than her own personal self-interest.

 

[fossil]

Can't bring myself to be anti-ambition.

I'm all for ambition. I'm anti-arrogance.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

To me Pasho Murray does not strike me as not ambitious. She just cares about more than her own personal self-interest.

Nice to see a successful minority woman make it in business. Could serve as a much better role model than sports and rap stars.

 

[webbie]

This being the interweb, we're not going to ever come to the end of this one....here is a caddy (at the end)....

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[Retired Guy]

To me Pasho Murray does not strike me as not ambitious. She just cares about more than her own personal self-interest.

I was refering to the Caddy commercial.

I'm all for ambition. I'm anti-arrogance.

Hard to avoid arrogance with advertisers and actors involved.

 

[Bobbin]

The good man and I were stunned when we saw that smug, arrogant, self-aggrandizing commercial (and we wonder why the rest of the world loathes us? go figure). We both agreed the present generation of Caddys have zero appeal to us. I couldn't care less about AWD (I'd rather have fins and my Lincolns with the continental kit; it's tradition, like portholes on Buicks). And I think the French (and many other countries!) have much to teach us about how to live life enjoyably and how to behave in a circumspect manner that doesn't rely on demeaning others to build yourself up. "Ugly American"? Cadillac certainly managed to reinforce that stereotype, n'est ce pas? I think the fact that we left a junk car on the moon is an embarrassment (leaving the "keys in it" was about a stupid as it gets).

And I love the big, bold Afro and the gritty "smack down", by someone who's "talkin' the talk and walkin' the walk. That that "someone" is a woman is pure gravy for me. Smart, dedicated, socially and ecologically conscious people interest and inspire me. I can't remember the last time I had 2 wks. "off"... but whenever I want a day off, I take it!

 

[Grisu]

I was refering to the Caddy commercial.

So did I. I wanted to show that you can have more ambition than just a fat paycheck.

 

[webbie]

The Wolf of Wall Street and his hundreds of employees had that kind of ambition (certainly didn't take a month off)....true story, also!

 

[fossil]

At some point, in some people, ambition morphs into plain old naked insatiable greed. In my mind, it's no longer recognizable as ambition. Ambition = good, greed = evil.

 

[webbie]

I think you can somewhat suss it out by the end desires of the ambitious. Steve Jobs and the google guys have goals of adding to the intelligence of mankind, etc.

The Wolf and his hundreds of employees had their bank accounts as the #1 and only issue. It's the same old story...sometimes it seems as if we reward the financial system workers more than those who actually do something.

Then there is everything in-between. It's amazing how much MLM and "passive income" and other stuff is around these days. Oh, real experience here - my book is a best seller on Amazon. Last week I looked and there was another book with a similar topic! One look at the sample and I saw that it was, thought for thought, a weak copy of mine. I looked up the guy who "wrote" it and he's bragging everywhere about "passive" income....meaning making money without working. One of his schemes is to take books and then hire someone to copy them, while changing the wording every so slightly......

That's ambition? Nah. That's greed and immorality.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Rich guys buying expensive toys like the plugin caddy and the tesla cars are paving the way for the rest of us down the road to be able to buy affordable, reliable electric cars. It sure does help us more than when they buy a new yacht or a third or fourth home. Let them pay the R&D and the upfront startup cost. Many say GM should have started with the caddy instead of the volt.

 

[webbie]

That's true - tesla did it right. I had never thought about it much until I heard him explain it in a podcast a couple years back.

We've heard so much crap about how expensive solar, wind and electric cars are...and about the terrible failings of Solydra, etc. etc. - but as you point out, this is exactly what is supposed to happen. Anyone who looks at the charts can see the trend.

Dealers are very scared of Tesla it seems. No reason they should be....in the short term. But I guess they want generational monopolies on this stuff.

 

[ironspider]

I know I'm the minority here but I didn't find that caddy commercial too arrogant. What they are trying to show it's the guy that works hard and willing to take risks get rewarded.

I'm not a caddy fan but I enjoyed both commercials. I do like Ford trucks though.

 

[johneh]

I know I'm the minority here but I didn't find that caddy commercial too arrogant. What they are trying to show it's the guy that works hard and willing to take risks get rewarded.
I'm not a caddy fan but I enjoyed both commercials. I do like Ford trucks though.

Only thing I prefer GMC Trucks
But to each his own !

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I know I'm the minority here but I didn't find that caddy commercial too arrogant. What they are trying to show it's the guy that works hard and willing to take risks get rewarded.
.

Most of us admire hard work and success, but what we dont like is when the rich appear to gloat or rub our noses in their success.
No one like a bragger,in person or on TV. As a hard working self-employed person in business i know the kind of commitment of time and capitol it takes to just stay afloat these days let alone become rich.