I am pretty jaded about advertising. Only the surprising and clever (and possibly the downright wierd) adverts even et my attention. And very few of them even entice me to part with my cash. So, maybe I’m not the best commentator on the advertising industry. Or, maybe I’m their best case study. I don’t know.
But either way, I was seriously impressed with Isuzu just a few days ago.
Background info 1: Isuzu is a brand of SUV – what we in South Africa call a “bakkie”, and what might be called a “pick up truck” in some parts of the USA. They’re sold as touch, rugged, dependable vehicles.
Background info 2: A few years ago, a strange fad hit the Net. It was “The Hoff” – David Hasselhoff of Knight Rider and Baywatch fame, spoofed and lampooned in a variety of different rip offs (Just Google “The Hoff” or do the search on our own blog site and see what I mean). This spawned a few similar ones, including the very latest…
Background info 3: Chuck Norris is now appearing everywhere, as a rip off endorser of all sorts of products. OK, not Chuck himself, but people claiming Chuck is involved in everything from international arms dealing to SA’s cricket win over Australia. Its fun, a complete spoof, and totally illogical.
But, Isuzu gets it.
Driving down the highway north of Joburg last week, I saw a simple billboard. Red background, plain white text: “Chuck drives an Isuzu”. That was it. Nothing more.
Brilliant! Most people who saw it wouldn’t know what it was about, but for those who did, and do, it was superb. Thanks Isuzu, for making my day.
Luckily Isuzu’s are Japanese vehicles. If they were German, we would have a problem. You see, Chuck Norris does not believe in Germany. That would mean that Chuck Norris would drive a car made in a country that he does not believe in. But wait, that’s OK – I am sure that Chuck is not constrained by such trivialities as mutual exclsivity: If paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper, what beats all 3 at the same time? Answer: Chuck Norris.
http://www.thechucknorrisfacts.com/
Oh, I could keep going . . .
Here’s a pic:
http://www.joblog.co.za/2006/03/its-still-funny
Hey, but while Chuck can divide by zero, can he beat ‘the Hof’? I don’t think so.
And if they were to ever get in the ring together, it’d surely be called the ‘Great ChuckHoff’. And for those who went to watch, a natural gut response after leaving would be to ‘HoffChuck’.