Hooniverse Asks: What’s the most far-fetched automotive marketing slogan of all time?

Ross Ballot

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icOKehR1Q0w

On Sunday I was watching the Giants/Jets game and a commercial came on for Ford’s newest crossover. It started out with a pseudo space-theme, showcasing a near-sci-fi sequence of shots showing a man dressed in space attire. And then it turned into traditional commercial-isms, relating “space” to a car on sale today. But towards the end they pitched a line that I can’t get over:

“The all-new 2020 Ford Explorer. It’s the greatest exploration vehicle of all time.”

Given, I haven’t driven the new Explorer yet, but it most certainly is not the greatest exploration vehicle of all time. The Wrangler, 4Runner, G-Wagen, Land Cruiser, HiLux, Range Rovers, and so on would like to have a word with Ford’s marketing division. So would, you know, everything that’s ever been to actual space.

All-in-all it’s a decent commercial with a comically awful tagline. I like the theme and that it shows a dad doing normal, non-heroic dad things, but I can’t get past the laughably high-reaching claim about the vehicle’s merits. Which got me thinking: What’s the most far-fetched marketing slogan of all time?

About

Ross Ballot

Ross Ballot

4WD and four-wheeling enthusiast and shamelessly self-proclaimed expert. Off the Road Again Podcast host, Formula 1 fanatic, and Writer for Hooniverse, AutoGuide, and ATV.com. Former contributor to Everyday Driver, ATVRider, and UTVDriver. Can usually be found getting a vehicle stuck in the mud or on the rocks and loving every second of it.

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25 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What’s the most far-fetched automotive marketing slogan of all time?”

  1. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    Not true in 1957 and not true today.

    https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2648/4240132485_9f70d395a2_z.jpg

    Reply
  2. caltemus Avatar
    caltemus

    Cadillac’s “Dare Greatly”. It’s literally a meaningless phrase

    Reply
  3. 0A5599 Avatar
    0A5599

    Foshizzle Iacoccajizzle.

    Reply
  4. onrails Avatar
    onrails

    That this might work.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4a0b98ba29b95a75d1fa4ac621811ec450646d3532f66ae03e12302ef106f773.png

    Reply
    1. Batshitbox Avatar
      Batshitbox

      Everyone knows actors aren’t real people.

      Reply
  5. Vairship Avatar
    Vairship

    The fact that he goes to pick up his kids and goes grocery shopping in his space suit tells me the Explorer is for posers. You know, the kind of people that think they need “ground clearance” to go to the mall.

    Also, if 0:27 is meant to pretend to be an active airport ramp area, they have a serious FOD problem. 😉

    Reply
  6. smalleyxb122 Avatar
    smalleyxb122

    Is the next Hooniverse Asks going to be the most modest automotive marketing slogan? I can think of a few candidates.

    Reply
  7. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    I remember when this was fresh and sparked nothing but eyerolls:

    https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/en/corporate/pressrelease/contents/newsrelease/200806181791/2008061817911.jpg

    Seriously, first someone found this to make sense, then some committee signed it off. Drugs may or may not have been involved.

    Reply
    1. Number_Six Avatar
      Number_Six

      Wow, I’m picturing something hostile to the earth, like some kind of awful boring machine

      Reply
    2. P161911 Avatar
      P161911

      They used to make these. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f7c760d10ee085e84efbf79de50639a66bec76371e56d63bc9aadc743beb9ce.jpg

      Reply
    3. Tiller188 Avatar
      Tiller188

      I’ve never seen that one before! (I’m thinking there’s probably a reason for that…)

      Reply
    4. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      To say nothing of their aircraft more typically being driven at seaborne targets.

      Reply
  8. mdharrell Avatar
    mdharrell

    Not true in 1957 and not true today.

    https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2648/4240132485_9f70d395a2_z.jpg

    Reply
    1. Tiller188 Avatar
      Tiller188

      “…the ONLY car that dares to break the time barrier!”

      DMC would like a word…

      Reply
      1. mdharrell Avatar
        mdharrell

        Yeah, but at least Plymouth got there first… Oh, wait.

        Reply
        1. Tiller188 Avatar
          Tiller188

          Now there’s a wrinkle I’d never thought of. As soon as time travel becomes a reality, more than a few patent lawyers’ heads are going to explode. Or…would it have already happened, if it was going to…? …my head hurts.

          Reply
  9. caltemus Avatar
    caltemus

    Cadillac’s “Dare Greatly”. It’s literally a meaningless phrase

    Reply
    1. Number_Six Avatar
      Number_Six

      It’s a perfectly cromulent slogan

      Reply
  10. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    Regarding the tag line at the bottom, does “accurate in completely unintended ways” count? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/83553ebb179dbe3cada182b6f175805473386aabe002e108d91936ee646e9265.jpg

    Reply
  11. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    I too thought the Explorer commercial was ridiculous until the shoe store scene, when I realized it was all tongue-in-cheek. When it was obvious that they were playing on the word in a joking way, it made more sense.

    The commercials that show people pretending to be genuinely enthusiastic about buying Chevrolets are far more difficult to swallow.

    Reply
  12. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    Well…. I’m not saying that this very advertisement killed Oldsmobile but there’s a good argument to be made for that idea.

    Reply
    1. Tomsk Avatar
      Tomsk

      They may not have been building your father’s Oldsmobiles, but they were still building ones that still appealed to him…
      https://www.conceptcarz.com/images/Oldsmobile/90-Olds-98-Regeney-DV-14-GM_01.jpg

      https://consumerguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/91128201990106.jpg

      Reply
    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      Oh, I’m sure GM learned from that mistake!

      Or not, with the whole ‘That’s not a Buick, because Buicks are old/boring/forgettable’ thing: https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2019/07/buicks-mistaken-identity-commercial-seems-to-mock-the-brands-own-terribly-unpopular-cars/

      Reply
  13. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    Regarding the tag line at the bottom, does “accurate in completely unintended ways” count? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/83553ebb179dbe3cada182b6f175805473386aabe002e108d91936ee646e9265.jpg

    Reply
    1. neight428 Avatar
      neight428

      Accurate, to be sure. Maybe exchange “could “ for “would” to get to what everyone was thinking when they first saw it.

      Reply