The Green Police Commercial
I kinda knew that Joe Romm wouldn’t find the Super Bowl Audi commercial funny. He’s humor challenged. But David Roberts at Grist? Jesus, can’t you guys just chill and see past your environmentally correct navels for once? Dudes, it was satire! It worked. Hell, I bet Al Gore laughed. If you’ve ever seen him on late night shows, you know Gore has a wicked sense of humor. He knows how to poke fun at himself to good effect.
The world is full of stereotypes. Sometimes parody is the best way to deflate them.
UPDATE: Romm’s readers seem evenly split on the ad. Many are offended. Plenty others echo my thoughts and suggest that people lighten up.
UPDATE 2: The majority reax by libertarians over at Reason’s Hit & Run blog is notable for it’s antipathy towards environmentalists. They loved the commerical’s mockery of greens (taking it at face value), then felt betrayed at the end by the endorsement of a “green” car. But I think the libertarians at least figured out that they aren’t Audi’s target audience.
UPDATE 3: Okay, it’s official. I’m obsessed with the polarized reaction to this commercial in the green community. I’ve been scanning comments throughout the day on various sites where greenies congregate. Here’s the best damn comment I’ve read. It captures my sentiments precisely. So is the ad offensive?
I think this is pretty much the same question as asking if Chris Rock is funny or offensive. If you think his jokes reinforce stereotypes, then you probably don’t understand the audience. “Grandpa” isn’t going to become MORE racist after hearing a Chris Rock joke. Personally, growing up in a rural, almost exclusively white area, I think it was better that I got those stereotypes from Chris Rock on TV than a racist neighbor. The framing is important. Similarly, it’s better this idea is attached to a “greenwashing” car company than the crazy extremist who actually believes it’s going to happen and says, “we shouldn’t start down the slippery slope of environmentalism!”
Yeah, I laughed harder at this than at any other ad during the game (I’m not sure I laughed at any other ads). For a second I thought, “Oops, hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be laughing at this — is it detrimental to ‘the cause’?” But, like you, I think the audience is probably savvy enough to poke fun at themselves without deciding to pack in recycling, compact fluorescents and reusable shopping bags.
Some greens didn’t like the ad because they thought it reinforced the “eco-nazi” stereotype peddled by the Limbaugh/Inhofe wing of the American public. But those folks don’t need the Audi commercial for reinforcement.
Some greens didn’t like the ad because they thought it reinforced the “eco-nazi” stereotype peddled by the Limbaugh/Inhofe wing of the American public. But those folks don’t need the Audi commercial for reinforcement.
That’s the way it worked for me! And I found it funny too.
Found you through Hit & Run: http://reason.com/blog/2010/02/08/audis-green-police-super-bowl#comment_1562877
David Roberts lost me when he called the ads “ugly, misogynistic, and, worst of all, unfunny”, and then started ranting about “angry white men” using the crude sexual epithet “teabaggers.” If you want me to take your opinion seriously, show some class, Roberts.
So often our leaders tend to forget that the United States is the only country founded on a tax revolt, and that the 2nd Amendment was put in the Constitution specifically to keep our leaders in tow!
Should the US be energy self sufficient? Of course. Has the environmental movement stymied the production of any and all types of practical power implementation for 30 years? Of course.
The hijacking of the legal process by environmentalists has left us with an energy fiasco we now have to deal with; sadly the killing of the economy in the process will make us more dependent on older forms of energy production as there’s no capital for improvements. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
Any boob with a calculator can figure out solar and wind generation provide KiloWatts, when our metropolitan areas require GigaWatts. A solar farm to power Los Angeles would be about the same size as Los Angeles is now, or larger. Cities with less sun would be many times times larger, and there’s no technology (other than pumps and dams) to store it when needed.
Clean turbodiesel is a great technology for cars (think Europeans= clean diesel, Japanese= hybrid) and one of the many solutions that we as a society will gravitate to over time. That ad, however, was not.
Self appointed “czars” accountable to no one will never fly in the USA. No doubt you’ll see Obama’s drop one by one over time.
We’re on our third Audi right now, and whether that was a spoof or not- it did not endear me towards buying another. To that end, it was a very stupid and shortsighted ad.
Who could think those ads were misogynistic? Most of them portrayed men as neutered, unappealing wimps.
The ad was designed to be controversial and is generating massive amounts of free publicity today… mission accomplished.
Best Superbowl ad that I have seen in a long time. Also great song. Composting violation might be my favorite part. The whole ad was white men, some of whom almost looked interchangable. To me the ad was saying that you can avoid some of the ridiculousness of the “green police” by driving this car. It is a get-out-of-jail-free-card, and yet you still get to drive the vehicle of your choice. This car = some degree of freedom from oppression. I think that in the US that having and driving a car is viewed as freedom on many different levels.
It appears David Roberts’ humorectomy was successful.
As a Libertarian (and obviously a consumer who appreciates a good business), I’d consider buying a “green” Audi. But never a Prius, I wouldn’t be caught dead in that. I make fun of greenies because they are so easy… and probably because I do more than what most of them do to “save the earth” without even making the effort. (The best was when a sworn greenie friend and self avowed commie told me that it was okay to use extra tin foil to bake with, then throw it away because foil is biodegradable… but I digress.) The difference between you and me is that I don’t preach doom and gloom (backed by fraudulent “science”) and wag my finger at people. It’s quite simple… now have a laugh- on Audi- who appears to be much more in touch with the real world than so many today…
Laura,
You got the wrong guy if you think I preach doom and gloom. Fear mongering is something I’ve been very critical of on this blog. By the same token, I don’t believe the evidence for AGW is “fraudulent.”
I’m not even sure what your beef is with my post. But it’s nice to hear you’re doing your part to “save the earth.”
It seems like environmentalists want to have their cake and eat it, too.