[PARAGON]

July 10, 2006
Hummer-- the Big Car for Big Losers
By Rob Kall
For a long time, I've found my forehead frowning when I see Hummers. I've developed what I thought was a reflex, just assuming that the people driving them were losers with money-- people with poor self esteem, feelings of penis inadequacy, penis envy, etc.-- who drove these monuments to anti-environmental moronic idiocy. I feel a natural contempt response to Hummer owners and drivers, be they man or woman.

Then I just saw a new ad for Hummer that made it crystal clear that I was dead on. The ad shows a wimpy women who is frustrated and embarassed when a pushy woman butts in front of the line she is in with her child-- it looks like a line to go on a sliding board.

What does this wimpy woman do? She buys a Hummer. The ad shows her feeling bigger and stronger than someone driving a smaller car.

General Motors is flailing, drowning in red ink, laying off tens of thousands, losing billions. Part of their problem is they have spent hundreds of millions building a market for gas guzzling cars for these pathetic losers, even running ads that clearly target them.

The thing is, this ad is appealing to the worst aspects of human nature-- nasty people, revenge, power. Maybe GM ought to start a new playbook and study what the successful Asian companies are doing-- appealing to people's desire to be good, responsible citizens and stewards of the earth.

What's good for GM is clearly NOT good for the USA and GM is experiencing the payback for its failure to care about what's good for the USA. It's tragic, because so many US workers jobs are being lost. There are probably a handful of execs and marketing people who have made these stupid, foolish decisions. They certainly should not be working at GM any more, whoever they are.



Authors Bio: Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, and organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. He is a frequent Speaker on a wide range of subjects. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.