First let me say this: I like electric cars for city use. I own and drive one. That said, this has got to be the stupidest professionally produced commercial I’ve seen in quite some time. The ad agency that serves Nissan (as does Nissan management) deserves a smack upside the head for promoting the idea that you can hug a polar bear. Some people are actually stupid enough to try it.
Watch the video of the Nissan Leaf commercial below, then have a look at some of the polar bear attacks on people.
Here’s a few comments gathered in this article at the New York Times:
The ad garnered mixed reviews online. “As subtle as a box of hammers to the face,” a writer for the Web site Autoblog opined.
The advertising blog Copyranter was even less charitable, calling the spot “outrageously manipulative” and “hubristic,” and pointing out that the millions of non-electric cars that Nissan continues to produce each year were “helping to destroy the bear’s ice pack.”
Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic posted the commercial on his blog with the headline “Smug Alert.”
Now let’s have a look at what polar bears actually do to people given the chance:
here’s another:
and another:
Even in sealed captivity they’ll try, though this person was asking for it:
So if you are so inclined by the Nissan commercial “huggy” portrayal, go ahead, hug a polar bear. Win yourself a Darwin Award.
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Stupid is as stupid does. This goes for those involved in producing this travesty.
Shame on us! Sorry………..
I may not like the tune, but they played it very well.
Propaganda analysis, like Mr. Fuller has been posting on too, is very interesting.
They sure know all the book larnin’ on it. I don’t think they’ve caught on that such a large portion of everybody else is cognizant of it, too.
One of our polar bear neighbors saying, “Hi!” Won’t somebody please save the cuddly polar bears?
You’re an idiot.
Anyone who thinks the actor is actually hugging a polar bear, and tries to emulate it, is too stupid to live. Social Darwinism at its finest.
Awww. I don’t see the great harm. This was hyperbole in the service of humor.
If it help rid the planets of the worst treehuggers that is only an added benefit, but don’t count on it.
I would rather say it co-opts polar bear imagery and makes it less effective as a credible meme for the climate change promoters.
Nissan of course speaks metaphorically: Pedaling our greenie-weenie ooze-mobile is like embracing charismatic mega-fauna, who will be pathetically grateful for your smarmy, self-righteous driveling on their behalf. Especially at lunch time.
I actually saw this commercial earlier today and thought to myself, give it up with the polar bears already. I liked the polar bears dropping from the sky commercial better. I was also wondering how good polar bear meat is to eat? I was hungry at the time.
No, no. It’s so utterly tasteless but I’m going to make the gag anyway;
After filming advert out take;
Director to Polar Bear: “There was no need to bite his head off!”
Remember the “Grizzly Man”? He ended up as bear scat in the Alaska woods. Polar bears make grizzlies look tame by comparison. They are top predators for crying out loud. A polar bear could quite easily kill and eat and adult male African lion. All bears can attack and kill but I’ve read that only the polar bear will actually hunt humans. Other than man they have virtually no predators although Orca have been known to kill them in the water…but I suspect the whales prefer to avoid such encounters.
Another site recently ran a photo of a polar bear on a little ice floe. It had killed a seal. The small ice floe was about 2/3 stained bright red with blood. All I could think was…Ahhhh…that’s poor little polar bear is trapped on an ice floe that has been stained red by global warming.
Ah. So, can we presume you are going to get stuck into all ads that use animals in a way that ignores their real likely behaviour? You know, John West, Bundy Bear, 1 billion ads with chimps and monkeys?
Come on. Get a life.
And you guys accuse others of being sanctimonious.
Michael says:
September 10, 2010 at 8:38 pm
“…I was also wondering how good polar bear meat is to eat? I was hungry at the time.”
______________________________________________________
It tastes about the same as Giant Panda.
Note to those that wish to play with large carnivores:
1) The big cats, will tear your arm off, only because it couldn’t get your whole body through the bars, …
Still want to play?
One of my ranger friends from my National Park Service days told of a couple who came to park headquarters wanting the Park Service to pay for the damage to the interior of their car. They had coaxed a bear into the back seat with food in their attempt at getting a ‘cool’ picture of a bear in their car…and they lived to tell about it.
Anthony,
thanks for this rebuttal to such an inane ad. I groaned when first seeing it and realized that Nissan will do anything to sell cars. Bears are surely not cuddly “teddys” that we all had as tots…as seen in recent attacks in national parks.
Apparently polar bears are dropping in size as their populations increase in Hudson Bay,the southern limit of their range. This could be due to a shortage of easily available protein in their diet.So its logical ,free train tickets for those who want to hug a polar bear. This could be a boon for the local economy, save the bears body mass, provide savage darwinism TV and endless amusement for cynics and social scientist. I cannot find a down side to encouraging the hugging of polar bears. Of course I doubt I will every own a Nissan/Datsun again either, if they think their potential buyers are this stupid.
“Some people are actually stupid enough to try it.” But they will all be gullible lefties, so what’s the harm?
Darwin’s law says……
Stupid people are SUPPOSED to be eaten by polar bears before they have stupid children. That way, the species ends up smarter and more likely to survive.
(Well, it must say that somewhere anyway.)
Hey, can I help it if that’s the scientific theory that most people subscribe to???
Oh, and
****************
Michael says:
September 10, 2010 at 8:38 pm
******************
Polar Bears carry trichinosis. Cook it well done before you eat it. The disease has been eliminated from commercial hog production in the US, but I wouldn’t trust no-name production or wild hogs. They may still carry it.
http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic2-2-98.pdf
Regards,
Steamboat Jack (Jon Jewett’s evil twin)
I just got back from Yellowstone and actually saw people dumb enough to walk up to rutting Bison. I have no doubts they would walk up to a polar bear.
Oh, lighten up. It’s funny, and wonderfully effective propaganda. I also think Tor Hansson has a point that using this to sell cars could weaken it’s effectiveness for scaremongering.
People also got upset at Volkswagen for their “shoot the gap” commercial, thinking it might entice someone to try it. I say, if someone is stupid to shoot the gap, or hug a polar bear, just because they saw it in a commercial, then we should strive to put that idea in their heads as soon as possible. Before they procreate.
Of course, equally stupid through ignorance is that they think that polar bears are in danger (Strike One!) and also think that CO2 by man warms the climate. Strike Two!
The electric car has to be charged using extra energy conversion steps starting at the power plant, making the entire train of energy conversions more than likely less efficient than gasoline and releasing more CO2 in the end than gasoline. Three strikes, yoouu’rre out!
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Dr. Dave,
There is no cooler animal than the panda. I would have to be very hungry to eat panda meat. I’m just glad they don’t live in the arctic. Can you imagine all the warmists commercials with pandas in them, They might have won using them.
Is there such a thing as a super darwin?
Dr. Dave says:
September 10, 2010 at 8:46 pm
All bears can attack and kill but I’ve read that only the polar bear will actually hunt humans.
That is exactly what I have heard from people who lived in Alaska.
They also said it is a most dangerous game, because it knows when it is being hunted, and is out to get you before you get it.
I am now just eagerly waiting for the Coke polar bears to bring about an uprising against these upstart ursine usurpers. I mean if not for CO2 they would just be miserable, unable to enjoy all their carbonated beverages. It would certainly make the Christmas commercials more entertaining when they start running them 2 weeks before Halloween.
JM