A David & Goliath Fail

I understand that advertisers need to get our attention and that in the past some rather quirky ads have done just that, but I am so disgusted by the recent Kia campaign that I just had to blog about it. Especially because lots of other bloggers seem to think something along the lines of this: "... our collective heads heads have officially exploded due to the sheer awesomeness of this effort from Kia and its marketing firm." What!?!?! Are they being paid to say that? They must be, but I'm not.

First of all it's called the Kia Soul Rapping Hamsters. That alone should let you know this is traveling down a dangerous road. I wish I could have been at the meeting when a bunch of guys in rumpled hipster suits first tried to pitch this to the car company elders who probably just assumed that the fact that they didn't get it meant that it would appeal to the youth of this nation, when the truth is that it is just lame and borderline offensive. Why hamsters? They look like rats, which is not a compliment. It is not complimentary, nor funny, to compare people in the hip hop culture to rodents. They look so much like rats that the commercial even makes a point of saying they are hamsters with all sorts of bad hamster puns. It's like they knew they were treading a fine line and crossed it anyways. The song the characters are using is a classic rap by the Black Sheep, so again I ask, why hamsters? Why not sheep? Or people for fucks sake. Don't you remember your mother ever saying enough is enough; the point being, just because it was funny once doesn't mean it will be funny again.

Trendhunter magazine said, "The Kia Soul ‘Rapping Hamsters’ commercial is the perfect remedy for boring commercial breaks." USA Today says, "OK, this new Kia Soul commercial is summertime happiness on your screen." I say, no. No, it is not. How about just play the song with the company's logo displayed on the screen? That would be more appealing. And make more sense. But, let's say I am willing to suspend my disbelief and play along with the logic that hamsters have disposable income and the need for a vehicle... you lose me completely when you have the other hamsters driving down the street in a toaster. A toaster! In no logically coinsitent world does that make any sense! A hamster wheel, okay. But a toaster or a dryer, no. Just no, people. No.