Have you seen this thing? Wow! It feels like a parody of the stereotypical Prius driver: smug and self-righteous. In fact, it wouldn’t be out of place on an episode of Portlandia. Yet, it’s a real ad, and apparently sincere. I have a few thoughts…
- That kid, let’s call him Soy Boy, gives me the creeps. Not unlike a person who’s under the spell of a cult, or a fundamentalist religion. Probably because he is.
- The self-satisfied parents, peering out the window at the little translucent weirdo they’ve created, should be concerned about the future — when Soy Boy rebels and becomes a junkie. Or, even worse, a Republican.
- I would be far less disturbed by a fat dumpling child sitting on the couch with his mannary glands covered in Cheeto dust, a Playstation controller wedged into his plump wienerwurst fingers, whining, “Daaaaad, I don’t wanna wash the car right now… Gawd!” Because that’s normal.
- Soy Boy has a bucket, but only sits on it while waiting for the goddess to send him some rain. When she finally delivers, he doesn’t use soap or anything of the sort. Presumably because his parents have taught him it will lead to The Day After Tomorrow, and/or heartbroken polar bears. So, he just takes a recycled spermicidal sponge and smears the filth around.
- I’m almost certain that’s fake rain, which means they wasted a shitload of water while chasing profits from people who want to preserve water.
- Wonder if Soy Boy could wash an entire Prius with his tears, while navigating the guilt, shame, and confusion of his everyday life?
For the record, I have no problem with hybrids. It’s just a segment of the hybrid-owners who rub me the wrong way: the “we’re better than you are” crowd. I know folks who bought hybrids to cut down on the amount of gas they use — for economic reasons. I certainly have no issue with that. And even if it’s about the environment… that’s cool. It’s just the smugness, ya know?
Do you have any opinions about this commercial? Can you physically refrain from shouting, “Give me a freaking break!” or “Oh, fuck off!” whenever it comes on? I can’t. If my mouth was taped shut, “fuck off!” would probably come out of my tear ducts somehow.
Let me know your thoughts, and have a great day, my friends.
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Was that car even dirty?
Know what you mean about the attitude. I’m the same way about the horse people around here. Sweet Jesus on a stick.
I am a horse person and I completely AGREE! Majority of these women are the meanest know it alls with sticks up their butts. Stop me now or I’ll fill the page.
You’re obviously not one of THEM, but I see you know who they are.
I’ve seen that commercial, and really didn’t think too much about it. But you’re right. It’s really stupid. The car didn’t need to be washed in the first place, so you didn’t see any bird shit smearing around when the kid was washing it in plain rain water.
All that I could possibly see that would come out of this scenario would be a dirty car with dirt smeared all over it, a sick kid, and in a few years a 3000 to 5000 dollar battery replacement on your car, which from what I understand causes more of an environmental impact to make than a regular car. Also, you could get the same or better mileage with a diesel. Made to appeal to ignorant or smug environmentalists.
Give me a minute to get over the headache I have from rolling my eyes.
As someone who has worked in advertising, I recognize this ad as a classic example of what an advertising creative team *thinks* a product’s audience wants to see. Nevermind that it’s completely ridiculous and represents a scenario that would never happen in real life.
The tears have salt so that might be bad for the car.
That little shit head thinks he doing the world a favor but will never do anything useful in his entire life.
Most people wash their cars after they’ve been driven around in the rain for a while. So when this shitstick is done washing, if it does not stop raining, he’ll just be in danger of needing to wash again, It’ll be a perpetual rain/wash cycle.
I agree. Dumb, annoying commercial. From a strategic perspective, it also seems silly. The buyers attracted by this commercial are already interested in a Prius. You’re not attracting new buyers. If I were them, I’d tout its performance or fuel savings or whatever. The hippies are already all over this thing.
We had an older (late 60’s?) couple move onto the street a few years ago who both drive Prius’s. Probably two of the rudest, most self centered people I have ever met. Tried to bully everyone about something. I believe they are professors at one of the plethora of snooty universities we have around here. Long story short, the day I got home to find every turd from every living creature they could find on their property carefully placed around my wife’s car (we had seen their incessant whineing on social media) was the last straw. Had they just stopped to talk with me about my dog, who I escort out every time and clean up after, they wouldn’t have had a mailbox full of raccoon/fox/’possum nuggets along with a note telling them to stop.
They did.
Hey! I am an older (early 70’s) Prius owner. I am really nice. I drive a Prius for one reason. Fifty four miles to the gallon. I don’t need any other reason. It’s a little low slung – bottoms out on the painted lines – and built rather cheaply, but gas mileage trumps that.
Hey, Jeanne . . .
Thanks for reminding us that stereotypes are not very useful and that people are mostly just people. I’m an older (mid-sixties) non-Prius owner and I bottom out myself once in a while, though rarely while driving. Thanks for speaking up below as well. Sometimes the truth is more interesting than the commentary, if only for its rarity.
John
What’s the big deal? Who cares? It was a dumb ad. Are Prius dumb because they’re energy efficient? I don’t get your complaint. Are Prius owners more smug than pickup truck owners with “Treehuggers Suck” stickers on the back?
I don’t see the point of this article at all except to be negative and maybe find some client change deniers to comments and gain traffic. This article is dumb.
I don’t think you get this blog or the internet, francis.
He does not understand Our Ways.
‘client change deniers.’
Good one.
You don’t get my complaint? Do you have reading comphrehension problems? The commercial is a stereotype-affirming touchy-feely eye-roller. If I were you I’d be annoyed by it, instead of defending it. Me? I’m just going to keep mocking it.
You got the black belt in Mockery so you are justified in using it. Carry on…
You’s one of dem prius owners ain’t yeah?
(damn spull chuckers…).
Methinks he doth protest too much. Why, exactly, are you here? I was mentally congratulating Our Fearless Leader for one of his best posts ever, and you, apparently, were getting offended. I bet the commercial brought a small tear to your eco friendly eye, and our irreverence pains you. Were you perhaps trying to navigate to Al Gore’s blog?
Jesus, t-storm took care of the guy in eleven words. Everybody else was piling on (except Jeff who retains jus primae noctis on his own site). It seems reasonable for somebody to have an opposing view now and again.
(It occurs to me that the front seats fold back, so Jeff’s right might actually be jus Prius noctis.)
I’m not looking for a fight. Sometimes people just walk into the wrong bar. They should be afforded the opportunity to walk back out before the pool cues start swinging. That’s all I’m saying.
John
Forget the pool sticks. Throw the balls at them. Lol.
Got a funny feeling this “Jeff” is actually Nostrils ( brother in law , cant remember the name for sure)
Yes, that’s right – Nostrils. First name Banana.
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[insert eye roll here] This commercial fills me with rage. I want to see where those batteries end up in a few years.
Everything is a trade off. And your kid has no immune system because you feed him soy burgers so now he has SARS
To hit a new deomg, Toyota should be featuring Prii (the plural of Pirus, I believe) with naked chick mud flaps and gun racks being washed in a shower of beer by a straw-hatted Hooters babe.
But not anyone in this ad.
Bunch of fucking self-righteous pricks….
Use MY money (via gunvermint subsidies ) to buy a NEW car thereby polluting the environment much more by it just being manufacturered than buying a USED car that has already “paid it’s debt” just they can say “I’m better than you…”
Ass holes…. If you really give a shit… Ride a bicycle…. Or a motorcycle…. Or drive a 20 year old car…
Or do whatever you want… I really don’t give a shit…… but for fuck’s sake STOP DOING IT WITH MY FUCKING MONEY!!
I say fuckem….. Fuckem in their stupid asses
I can’t watch television any more. I can’t afford the premium channels that don’t have commercials, and refuse to have my soul further shrunk by the commercials on the rest of TV. It has become physically painful to remain in the room while commercials are on.
I don’t find the Prius commercial any more objectionable than the jeans commercials that don’t mention jeans or any of the other crap that the post-apocalyptic remains of Madison Avenue fire at what used to be my brain. They are all insulting.
Podcasts do have a few commercials, but they are audio-only and the podcast host usually fucks them up somehow. I can live with that.
John
I like listening to bill burr do commercials. He may fuck them up but if he thinks your product is stupid he’ll say so.
I’m a car guy and I note that Toyota don’t show this car being driven..cos its the equivalent of a fridge. Its even in fridge white. People buy it because of its fuel efficiency getting them from A to B…for fucks sake if you want to save the planet and you’re not interested in driving take a train or a bus or a bike or fuck’n walk for all I care….at least leave some gas for those of us that will enjoy it! Don’t even get me started on letting that little retard scratch the paint with acid rain and a dirty sponge!
The whole family needs to get down off of that high horse.
At least I didn’t have to listen to that goddamn “is it a Camry or a Camry” one more time.
This commercial is number 2 on the most annoying list for me. First is the Kia commercials with the hamsters (rats?). I still don’t know what rats driving a car has to show about the quality of their product.
As for saving the planet, good for these assholes and their priui (is that plural of prius?). Just don’t charge me any money for your misguided quest.
I drive a Suburban. When people ask what kind of gas mileage it gets, I launch in to my diatribe of ‘I want a car that’s Big, fast and gets really shitty gas mileage’ (quote from the movie Robocop), I’m an American dammit, burning fossil fuel is my birthright.
It’s a retarded commercial, but that’s a redundant phrase like ‘wet water’.
I agree with jtb on the subject of commercials and TV. While I don’t have any regular podcasts, I will flip around my car (not a Prius) radio presets to find the station that’s not in commercial at that moment.
And I’m thinking the plural of Prius might be Pria, but I guess that depends on what declension it is. I flunked Latin anyway, and Prius is a made-up word anyway, so whatevs.
.
Chill. . .
I think your analysis of the plural of Prius is fine as far as it goes. The problem is that Prius isn’t a Latin word. It’s a marketing word which is supposed to sound smart in a variety of languages. We might as well say that the English language plural is “dicks” and the Spanish plural is “cojones”. These plurals capture the connotation without compromising the denotation.
The declension is behind the steering wheel eating Tofutti.
John
The plural of Prius is Prius’s. Toyota said so.
I thought Declension was Elvis Costello’s given name.
Yes, Prius is no more Latin than “meatus”. I may have flunked, but that doesn’t mean I learned nothing.
.
Chill . . .
Here’s a fond memory of our friend Declension:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=238OiX470uA
And BTW, the youtube embedded link doesn’t work for me; the place where the video should be appears as a black box. The commercial is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxPz3RmN6bM for those who both haven’t seen it on TV, and use an OS other than Windows. Wait, that’s only me.
.
I have 3 cars… A Ford F-150 with a V-8 that gets around 17 MPG, an Aston Martin V-8 Vantage that gets about 14 MPG, and a BMW M6 Grand Coupe that gets about 14 MPG. I guess they’re the douche ying to my douche yang. My cars get washed properly, though… Except the truck, I’ve never washed my truck. In fact, just to make my truck extra classy it has “FUCK” keyed into the drivers side front quarter panel…
Adam, you need to key the word “ME” into the quarter on the passenger side.
Bought my Volvo wagon brand new in ’98 and still have and love the old girl. I’ve had number of people over the years tell me I just dont come off like a Volvo owner. What? One car dealer said I should be wearing a corduroy blazer with elbow patches.( I was wearing my muck boots with jeans tucked in) She can still haul the horse, manure, hay, kids and a few dogs.
I lost it at Soy Boy. Funny stuff Jeff
I am on vacation with crap internet and phone service so o can’t see the commercial but the description and comments give me a fine picture
I occasionally see a smoke belching lift-kitted pickup with the license plate RLN COAL. “Rolling Coal”, for those who are not automotive buffs, is a trend of tuning your diesel to produce as much carcinogenic pollution as possible. The moron who owns that truck has certainly achieved that. ‘Cos cancer’s awesome, you know?
Give me a Prius driver any day.
The coal is just pure fucktardery. There is a middle ground, such as burning excessive fuel for the big grin generated by driving sideways. As opposed to just burning it for no reason.
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It brings to mind a petulant child who has been told they may not eat candy for every meal.
Oddly enough, the driver of RLN COAL is a wee little chap. Not working through some issues by driving Rob Halford’s Big Butch Truck, then 🙂
I don’t give a shit what car anyone buys and don’t want them to be judgemental toward my choices either. I do hate the holier than thou attitudes. The one thing that does piss me off about the hybrid owners is when they pass my on the highway when I’m going 70 which means so much for using the car to be green.
Commercials over the last five years have just pissed me off so much that I watch nothing that I have not DVR’d so I can bypass them. I saw a great tweet where a guy said he dumped his girlfriend because she refused to fast forward through commercials she had recorded. I would have done the same.
Well, it all depends on whether they are passing you on the uphill or the downhill. (There’s no level in WV, anyway) If it is uphill, they are wasting gas. If it is downhill, that sucker not only is not using gas or electricity, it is charging it’s battery for the next up hill.
I’m the complete opposite. Fuck it, I’ll be dead and gone before any of this apocalyptic, greenhouse bullshit collapses the planet. Not that I am setting out to leave the largest carbon footprint possible, I just don’t give a rat’s ass. I’m not here on this planet to leave it to anyone. I’m here to have fun, not to worry about some pussy tree hugger and his Islantic Snow owl. My truck gets 8 miles to the gallon, Rolling Coal, but it works for what I need it for. Again, I am not setting out to be a dickwad, but I also have no problem throwing my empty beer can out the window , especially when approaching a DUI stop 🙂
That you drink beer out of cans says it all really.
I feel like a glass bottle would have a more appropriately dramatic landing when he throws it at pregnant women and nuns. And pregnant nuns.
Damn, it looks like we’re in for a few more virgin births. You remember what happened the last time they tried that. Crusades, inquisitions, Pat Robertson. And now they have social media instead of that supernova.
jtb
“Wonder if Soy Boy could wash an entire Prius with his tears, while navigating the guilt, shame, and confusion of his everyday life?”
Tears of laughter on my end. And the comment on what would happen if your mouth was taped shut… Jeff is on his A game with this post.
I took a shower in the rain once.
It was right after my unit moved into the Saints practice facility at At Zephyr field.
We hadn’t been able to get the water back working for about 10 days. Sometime after the first week it started raining again. I beat feet out onto the kicking field around the corner from the indoor practice field we were all living.
I hid around the corner because I’m a decent human and didn’t want the other 200 people I work with to have to see my pale fleshy mass.
By the time I finished and walked back around the corner, the outside field was full of people following suit in practice but not in humility.
Sir, my amygdala responsed simalarly. But my frontal lobe could not have expressed it so fluently.
I particularly enjoyed Amy Gdala’s second album in which she employed the Limbic System instead of the traditional pentatonic blues scale. I understand they’re going to use a couple of cuts in the next season of Gray’s Anatomy.
jtb
It’s nice to find some brainy comments, when other blogs feel like mindless chatter from lobotomy patients.
Whoever came up with this commercial should be placed on a rocket and shot into the sun. Save the Earth, fuck off. Same goes for the pricks that came up with the creepy moms crawling around on old spice commercials. Drink bleach assholes.
Would a big boobed bikini girl eating a hamburger while washing the car with her Tata’s pressed against the windshield be more effect? I’m not into marketing but just throwing it out there.
Yes. This boy has no tits at all.
I like your plan oprah
You must have watched Cool Hand Luke recently.
It’s actually better to get your car washed at a car wash, since they filter out the oils and other contaminants. Washing your car in your driveway is awful for the environment since all the contaminants will wash down into the storm drain, hurting fish and other wildlife.
If Prius really wanted to tailor this commercial towards environmentalists, they need to get their facts straight.
I gotta hope the kid in that commercial’s real parents were thinking ‘This is friggin’ stupid, but payin’ for college!’
these are the very same people that attempt to make us feel guilty for not being as virtuous as them we MUST drive hybrids, use green energy and other energy efficient products in order to “save” the earth. But wait… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091846/Plastic-Toyota-Prius-melted-energy-efficient-windows.html
Energy efficiency, meet energy efficiency.
I keep waiting to see Mom and Dad’s smug looks turn to horror as their Soy Boy realize what happens when lightning tries to find the easiest path from the little rain cloud to earth. Love that liberal parenting–“green” cremation!
Found your post by searching “I hate this hippy prius car wash comercial” glad to see that I’m not the only one!
You just know this kid grows up to be PJ boy in the Affordable health care ad. The lack of soap was the real kicker for me and his maniacal expression as he washes a perfectly clean car is quite disturbing.
Annoying and dumb commercial i’ll say. Just my opinion,