TOD 03.19.08

I find TV ads fascinating, especially the ones where they show a car or a truck doing some stunning feat with the added emphasis that this trick is so amazing that only a professional on a closed track may perform it. Thrilling stuff, indeed.

But here’s my concern. Although I find these exotic demonstrations impressive, I don’t actually know how impressive they are. And I always have the sense that they are probably just compellingly packaged presentations by a better-dressed carnival barker. Could other trucks stop that quickly? Could other cars make that turn? Would the champagne glasses tumble off another vehicle’s hood? I just don’t know. And that’s the point.

The feats in these ads impress me, not because of my vast knowledge of automotive capacities, but because of my vast ignorance of them. And this makes me suspicious. If Consumers Reports doesn’t use these tests, why not? Perhaps because for all their flair, they prove nothing…other than how easy it is to impress us who know so little.