Chutzpah: “The quality of audacity”
The “quality of audacity” has now been achieved by Toyota in one of its latest TV commercials aimed at making us all once again love the brand. One of the spots’ vignettes shows a nice chap standing in front of a Toyota showroom. At first sight it’s difficult to know who he is…perhaps he’s a dealer or perhaps he’s an owner…and he’s saying to the camera “Thanks for standing by us.”
He can’t be an owner or dealer because the absolute cheek and supreme irony of that would be clear to the viewing public. If Toyota hadn’t caused the overall chaos their current owners are now experiencing, there would be no need for anyone to stand by anyone!
So this chap must be talking to the viewing public, Toyota owners, when he says “Thanks for standing by us.”, so he’s a dealer. Ah yes, that’s much more sensible. The dealer is saying thanks to his Toyota purchasers for staying with the company that has caused them so much angst and that hasn’t really got to the bottom of the recall problems. That’s a much more logical and believable marketing message isn’t it?
It’s a constant puzzle to us how advertisers seem to believe their current and potential purchasers are gullible. Does Toyota honestly think that its hitherto loyal drivers can be fooled into thinking what a terrific company Toyota is and that by just saying “thanks” all will be healed.
Toyota will be busy researching and measuring the level of credibility of this campaign (presumably using a microscope), so let’s see where it goes next.
One thing though. Prius drivers can no longer be smug about how they are taking the lead in being better than the rest of us. They’ll have to wait for the Volkswagon concept car that will do 170 mpg. Germany versus Japan. Who’d have thought it?
