(They are calling this spot: “Baby Driver” on YouTube, and Subaru posted it, so I guess that’s what it’s called. Only the driver is a toddler, not a baby, but whatever. But that’s practically the only thing I can argue with about this ad: its title, that we don’t even see as part of it when it runs on TV.)
This commercial has been running for a long time, and I almost didn’t even think about writing about it, simply because I have nothing much to criticize about it. I like to make fun of ads, and there’s almost nothing to make fun of here. But I have recently made some statements about what works and what doesn’t work in television advertising, and so I thought I should use this one as an example of one that works extremely well.
So if you haven’t seen this commercial, here it is:
Okay, so that’s just a great ad! Even if you hate, hate, hate commercials, even you have to admit, this one is really good! It communicates everything it intends to and serves its purpose so effortlessly, we don’t even feel like we’re being exploited as a prospective car-buying market (even though we are!). And it’s so cute, sweet, and touching, it doesn’t even annoy me at all, even after months and months and months of repeated viewing! Now that’s a good ad! In fact, if they never made another ad for Subaru, and they just ran this one forever, it might still work even after the machines have taken over in the year 2217.
Seriously, the ad works wonderfully well, and here’s why: they show us everything they want us to know in an emotionally-resonant vignette that gives you a heart-meltingly warm & fuzzy feeling, and they don’t tread on it with anything that feels intrusive or irritating. They don’t appear to attempt to “sell us” on their product, either. They just show us a “slice-of-life” moment that everyone either will go through, has gone through, or can relate to, and they make it seem authentic and adorable and amiable all at the same time, without interruption! Wow, they just knock it right out of the park!
So from this cute little scene, we see everything they want us to know about their car, and why we might want to buy it, as opposed to another car. And they do it without seeming pushy. How? Here’s how: They show this darling little girl, and she acts as cute as the dickens, especially giving us cute-overload when she says: “Daddy, okay…” while playfully sliding the seatbelt under her knees, and then she makes that ultra-excited, gleeful-anticipation smile that little kids make where her tongue is slightly sticking through her teeth when he hands her the keys (and then she turns into the teenage-version of the girl.). Wow! So natural; so authentic; so real! And so cute! And they have this father, who obviously loves, cares and worries about his daughter, and he’s showing her (and us) how much he cares by how much overbearing concern he’s exhibiting; but that tells us just as much about the car! After all, since he loves her and worries about her so much, he’s not going to let her drive around in a car that’s unsafe, unreliable, etc., right? And based upon how he’s dressed, he’s obviously not rich, so the car is also affordable. And when the ad does make a pitch at the end, it’s his voice (the father’s), saying that they knew this day would come, so they prepared for it (meaning her safety, etc.) by getting the right kind of car to protect her: a Subaru. See? That's why they bought a Subaru: because they care about their daughter, and it will keep her safe (and they could afford it)! (<But they don't bash us over the head with safety claims and reliability statistics, etc.: they just let us figure it out, and we do!)
But they don’t have to tell us anything about the car, since we see it all! Even with the sound off, you can’t miss this message! And with it being as heart-warming as it is, it makes you even want to turn the sound on! So this is like a little love story, and the car is a big part of it; but it’s not intrusive, and it’s not confusingly, arbitrarily, or jarringly out-of-place, like the products seem in so many other ads. Seriously, this commercial is like a natural athlete or dancer: it makes an extremely difficult task look easy! And it’s fun to watch! So it’s basically perfect, from an advertising standpoint, plus it’s nice to see for other reasons as well.
Now since I am incapable of not ragging on ads in at least some capacity, I have a couple of little issues with the spot, but they aren’t the fault of the creative team that conceived of this commercial: they did an excellent and unsurpassable job, and my hat is off to them (even though I’m starting to lose my hair and everyone will see and be able to tell, and they mighty tell everyone else about it, too)! But the issues are kind-of small ones, so it's not that big of a deal.
The first issue is that of the girl’s shirt. The little girl wears a red & white-striped t-shirt, and the grown-up girl wears a blue & white-striped shirt, with a different stripe-width, pattern, etc.; and even the cut of the shirt is a different style! Um, what, were they out of red & white-striped t-shirts when they wanted to shoot this ad? I mean, come on! It's supposed to be the same girl, just seen through the father’s eyes as a little girl because she’s still “his baby”, or “still just a little girl” to him! So wouldn’t he see her in the same clothes? And even if he doesn't shouldn't we for identification purposes, so we know it's supposed to be the same girl? I mean, seriously: what the &%$#? So that was obviously some wardrobe malfunction or something, and it definitely takes your mind off-message when you notice it, so that’s a real (if small) problem. (Actually, this spot was edited and written very well, so it's not as much of a problem as it could have been; but had it been edited or written a little worse, it could have ruined the commercial and confused everyone! So it's actually a bigger deal than I originally thought. And now that I've watched it again, I'm remembering that every time I see this ad, when they switch to the older girl, I always think about what a mistake this is, and they lose me there.) But the least they could have done was to use the same-colored-stripes on both shirts so we're sure it's the same girl: I will never back down from the importance of that issue! I wouldn’t use that wardrobe person again for anything after that screw-up, unless it's someone else's fault! Seriously: commercials are the highest amount of money spent per second of screen time of any type of media, even up to the highest-budget blockbuster movies (excepting only perhaps Avatar); so with such a small script, and such a high budget, you’d better get everything right! And there’s just no excuse not to get everything exact and perfect, especially with something as easy to handle as a shirt! But it’s the “hero” shirt, so please make sure it’s all proper and correct, okay?
Then there is another issue that I am a little hesitant to bring up here, as I don’t intend to insult anyone, and I realize that political correctness has encouraged people to be offended as easily and as often as possible. But this is a piece about advertising, and advertising has to deal a lot with perceptions, and there is something I keep hearing people say about Subaru, and that’s that it is supposedly “a lesbian car”.* I mean: that is to say, it is the preferred car of lesbians (from what I’ve been told again and again, anyway. Every time I mention Subaru anywhere, someone invariably says: “That’s a lesbian car”, which is odd, because none of my lesbian friends or acquaintances has ever driven a Subaru that I’ve seen. Maybe they drive them around secretly when I’m not looking, but this stereotype is not something I’ve noticed first-hand.). So that could be interpreted to mean that this girl’s father is trying to turn her into a lesbian. Isn’t she going to try that in college anyway? So why this push to force her into it as a teenager? (Maybe their daughter will inherit a king’s ransom if she marries a man by a certain age, but if not, then her parents will get the money!) But I guess maybe he wants her to “get it out of her system” at a young age (if she ever does at all: actual gay people don’t become straight, so… But still, some people think it’s “just a phase”.), since her mother has already decided who she wants her daughter to marry, and she’s endlessly hounding her husband to try to get her into it early so she’ll get over it sooner. Or, wait: what makes even more sense is if her mom is trying to make sure other men won’t screw up her plans for who her daughter will marry by sending out the signal to everyone through the car she drives that she’s a lesbian, so don’t bother hitting on her. Oh, and maybe her father doesn't want her to have pre-marital sex, so he bought the car for that reason too. So maybe that’s it. But that’s just a joke, based upon this stereotype I keep hearing people say about Subaru, and how it could relate to this commercial's scenario, so I really hope this doesn't offend anyone, as it's certainly not intended to. (But parents really do stuff like this in real life, I’m telling you! You know, saying things like: “It’s just a phase”, or “She’ll get over it”, or “Get it out of your system”, and making manipulative plans to try to subliminally push their children toward doing specific lifestyle-related things without actually coming out and telling them what they’re up to or what result they’re hoping to achieve. It’s funny, actually; unless you’re their children, and you’re gay, and they’re trying to “cure” you of it. That’s something people need to stop pushing for. The movement to demonize being gay has totally jumped the shark {not that it ever was cool}, and it’s about time people stopped doing it! {I'm looking at you, Rick Santorum!})
* (I keep hearing about how cars are “sexy”, and everyone always refers to cars as “she”, so I suppose if the cars become attracted to one another, they would technically be lesbians. But I don’t think that’s what people mean when they call Subarus “lesbian cars”. But maybe that is what they mean, and I’ve just misinterpreted the label.)
