Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Mollie Hemingway, Ed. ·
February 8, 2012 at 1:45am
Earlier today, Peter led a discussion on that Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad. The ad left me cold. But I love this parody of it by Remy for Reason:
And member Samuel Amaral has one more you may like.
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Why is it I keep wishing that Hank Williams Jr. would do a song about "Halftime in America?"
Apr '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
That's simply brilliant, although I'm not sure I'm down with the implicitly conceded fight against protectionism.
There's a shameful scandal (in the sense that it's shameful that it's a scandal) in the UK at the moment because the Olympics gave a ticket printing contract to an Arkansas company. The BBC this evening felt that this was more important than anything happening today outside Syria, largely because, they claimed, that ticket printing is one of the most prestigious contracts associated with the games.
Other than James Lileks, how many of us have felt iffy about going to a concert, only to be persuaded when they found out how impressively type-set the tickets would be?
Mar '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
James, one of the things that they have to take into consideration is the possibility of counterfeit tickets being produced. There's a lot of hidden technology going into printing things for an event that is that big.
Of course, if a bunch of people start showing up at most of the event shouting "suuuuuEY PIG!" then maybe things didn't work out like the Olympics Committee planned.
(I'm not implying that folks in Arkansas aren't honest. I just have some family that relocated down there and became big-time Razorback fans.)
Oct '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Remy is funny.
Apr '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Percival: James, one of the things that they have to take into consideration is the possibility of counterfeit tickets being produced....
Of course, if a bunch of people start showing up at most of the event shouting "suuuuuEY PIG!" then maybe things didn't work out like the Olympics Committee planned.
I agree that the ticketing is non-trivial, but I don't believe that it's a significant question of national prestige. Had there been arguments that Americans were unable to do the job well, I'd have deferred to them; it's not like I know much about the ticket printing business. No such concerns were raised; it was entirely about xenophobia and nationalism. Combined with the terrible ticketing sales system (you can't buy tickets for the teams you want to watch, instead getting tickets for the events (sport/ date/ time) before teams are allocated to them, due to BBC pressure to avoid a price mechanism, and the serious phobias of sporting guns (as if athletes might hold up stores while they're here), I'm kinda ticked off.
I do get that you were joking, btw, and laughed. Sorry for letting my grumpiness dominate.
May '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
As may have been mentioned elsewhere, I did find it interesting that there were two ads from corporations (Chrysler & GE) that have big political and financial connections to the Obama administration, telling us how things are getting better, are on the way back....it's morning in America.
I am sure that the tenor of those ads is purely a coincidence, and nothing to do with trying to set a mood for an election year....absolutely nothing.
Can they be considered an in-kind donation to the President's re-election fund?
Mar '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
That's ok, James. I've been trying to josh my way out from under an Evil Cloud for a couple of weeks.
Dec '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
This parody at least has the virtue of feeling more honest and candid than the actual Chrysler spot (see my comment #41 on Peter's posting).
As Charles Allen said directly above, the commercial seems to want us to believe that, for Chrysler (and by extension, the U.S.), it's "morning in America" again. What Chrysler apparently doesn't get is that people were persuaded by Reagan's "Morning in America" spot not because they were told that a resurgence was happening but because they believed it was happening.
Big difference.
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Aug '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Thanks Mollie! This overpriced ad is going be in the campaign, in one form or the other. Clint will be hiding out before long. Parody is the best weapon. And seeing that the Onion has jumped the shark, there's plenty of space for something new.
Oct '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
That eastwood ad was one of the best political ads of the year.
Jan '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
The Clint Eastwood Chrysler ad was pure Hollywood fantasy - say it with a serious face and voice - and, voila! the emotion rings true!
But this one turned out to be a cartoon...
Dec '11
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
"One of the best political ads of the year"? Far from it. See my comment #8 above.
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
Mollie,
Between 1977 and 1981 I was a Analytical Instrument and Process Control Salesman. In 1979 I moved to the Detroit area, just outside of Ann Arbor to cover the State of Michigan for the company. I and the company considered Michigan the Jewel in the Crown for us.
It was an old rep firm. The big boss who had founded it had been the captain of a destroyer in WWII. I was the brash rooky salesman par excellance. I was 24 in 1977. I can't really remember what it felt like to be twenty-four now. I do remember doing things physically that I couldn't possibly do now.
My job involved seeing the Car Companies directly. All big industrial firms like Analytical Instruments and buy a lot. Research is the big buyer. Of course, it finally gets down to the plant and that's where the Process Control part comes in.(cont.)
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
(cont. from #14)
I visited the GM Tech Center and the GM Proving Grounds often. Also, I spent a lot of time at Ford Research. I almost never went to Chrysler as it was a waste of time. Chrysler would just wait for GM and Ford to do something and then copy one of the two.
We were representing small scientific instrument companies. They couldn't afford a world wide direct sales force so we provided an important service to them at a price they could afford.
By the way, often the best instrument companies in the world are very small. The PHD who did the fundemental research owns the company outright. He owns the patent on the instrument too.
One such company, I remember well. The PHD had done all the fundemental research on particulate. He was world known. The EPA was waiting for Dr. X to tell them just how the accurate measurement of particulate should be done. (cont.)
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
(cont. from #15)
We used to joke around the office that Dr. X held the patent on particulate. Of course, you can't patent a Natural Phenomenon. He did hold the patent on a very advanced particulate sampler. The EPA relized that Dr. X's new sampler was much more accurate. In fact the data that the EPA had accepted for years was nearly worthless and everybody knew it.
What I was doing was going to the car companies Research facilities and selling them a few of these new samplers so they could get a preview of what the new standard would be like v. the old false standard.
At the GM Tech Center they wanted a quote for two of the more expensive automatic particulate samplers. Dr. X wasn't the only game in town. Another old line large intrument company had designed an instrument around Dr. X's fundemental published research work. It was an awful design. Mechanically unreliable and less accurate. They would bid against us. (cont.)
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
(cont. from #16)
At Ford they just wanted a quote on one of the manual samplers. The quote came to less then a third of the GM quote. Of course, Chrysler, as usual, was just going to sit this out and wait for GM and Ford to pass judgement.
The GM guy snaked me! What I mean is he led me to believe that GM was definitely going to buy Dr. X's two automatic samplers. He did such a good job on me that I reported the sale as a done deal in my sales forcast back to the principle. I was dumbstruck when the order went to the other company. It was a lousy design, everybody knew it. Dr. X was the guy that would be calling the shots with EPA, everybody knew it. Why would they want to buy that garbage?
My tail was really between my legs. Luckily Ford came through and bought the one manual sampler. The order was small but something is always better then nothing. (cont.)
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
(cont. from #17)
For the next couple years Ford got a lot of miles out of that one sampler. They moved it all over the place to get an idea of what a really accurate measurement of particulate would be like.
Later, I found out what had happened at GM. The guy who was making the decision knew the guy at the old line instrument company really well. The old line rep had bought the GM guy an outdoor Barbecue.
Yep, you guessed it. The GM guy had made a decision that could effect the design of all the vehicles and plants of the largest industrial corporation in the world on the basis of being bribed to the tune of a backyard Barbecue!!! (cont.)
Dec '10
Re: Oh It's Halftime, All Right
It's been 33 years since I got snaked at GM. Ford was tight with a buck but was a straight arrow right down the line. Odd how one's memory works. Some events stand out even if they never effected your own life that much one way or the other. These events usually reveal a truth that is very surprising.
Boy, was I surprised! But you know, most of what has happened recently in the American Car Industry, hasn't surprised me one bit!
Regards,
Jim