SUV ads Essay

998 Words4 Pages
Big Vehicle, Bigger Insecurity Money is potential energy that is useless, unless it is made kinetic. The process of making money kinetic can vary through different forms, whether it’s making it by earning an honest living through helping others or even by sabotaging people in marketing. Money can cause one to lose all sense of moral responsibility, and become a cynical predator that preys on the weak to produce money. SUV manufacturers and advertisers can relate to this skeptic career lifestyle. In High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the SUV, Keith Bradsher reveals the ominous marketing strategy through the SUV advertisers’ idea of capitalizing on people’s weaknesses, even if the lives of buyers will be in jeopardy. Although Bradsher wrote this piece in 2003, it applies to the past decade, as well as the present. SUV marketers like Rapaille appeal to their audience by utilizing “the reptilian instinct”, which is solely based on survival and reproduction. People want to live as long as they possibly can, and they want to ensure their future by any means. For example, in a 1999 Blazer SUV ad, the SUV is placed on the Titanic and their motto is “A little security in an insecure world.” Based on the historic event, “The Titanic”, the boat collided into an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean, along with a boatful of people that did not survive. The only people that did survive were the rich, first class people. However, this ad is attempting to insinuate the probability of surviving that accident because the Blazer is a lifeboat. Bradsher portrays the selfishness of how people “are willing to put other drivers at risk in order to diminish the odds that they will be injured themselves in a crash” (Bradsher, “Reptile” 455.) Although people purchase these vehicles to look dominant and powerful, they are indirectly declaring that they fear for their own
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