Audi has accomplished something I had previously thought impossible -- they've managed to offend people on both sides of the "green" issue. If you watched the Super Bowl, I'm sure you saw the ad. It was, not to understate the obvious, epic in its effect on people, regardless of political persuasion.
The Left hates it, yet nonetheless has tried to spin it as positive in that it targets "urban and suburban professional males in Audi’s target market", as opposed to the "teabaggers" targeted by the rest of the advertisers. The telling quote was this one.
The ad only makes sense if it’s aimed at people who acknowledge the moral authority of the green police—people who may find those obligations tiresome and constraining on occasion, who only fitfully meet them, who may be annoyed by sticklers and naggers, but who recognize that living more sustainably is in fact the moral thing to do. This basically describes every guy I know.He obviously doesn't know me, a suburban professional male who USED TO BE in Audi's target market. Until the commercial, that is.
The Right sees the add as tomorrow's reality if we don't stand up to the forces of political correctness. Jonah Goldberg put it this way.
[T]he moral of the story is that we should welcome our new green overlords and, if we know what's good for us, surrender to the New Green Order.Funny, but that's kind of the take overall around my house when we watched the commercial live.
The casa Vulture is a place where libertarianism is the de facto political belief system, from papa Vulture on down to Baby Vulture (if one can call an almost 21-year-old "baby"). Oldest son stated emphatically, "Well, I'll never buy an Audi."
And, in truth, who would? Why would anyone who believes in the freedoms espoused by the Founders EVER dignify such a dehumanized portrait of what we should be? Is that what Audi sees as the future, the US as a nation of sheeple who meekly submit to Das Überwachenden constantly in your business?
Bad move, Audi. Bad move indeed.
