KIA Commercial – Helping on a Rainy Day

KIA has embarked on a new ad campaign showing people doing good in the world. One of these ads seemed to backfire (according to reviews on YouTube, Twitter, etc) as it showed a guy driving rather swiftly around a beach collecting trash with a homemade rake attached to his KIA. Here’s my recap on that ad. Their latest commercial shows a bi-racial couple (which Joe Biden would be shocked to see!) strategically leaving raincoats around town during a rainstorm. Take a look…

The ad is clearly saying more about the type of person who buys a KIA rather than the Sportage SUV itself. We see that a lot with Subaru, too. Neither brand gets into the nitty grits about a vehicle but instead show people doing charitable or fun or adventurous or kind things and they just so happen to drive that particular brand of vehicle. In this case, the KIA people are delivering jackets to wet people. Realists would say that anyone with an SUV (or a car with a big trunk) could do this jacket dispersement deed. Doesn’t need to be a KIA. A few comments point out the fact that the jackets are hanging out in the rain, so they’re most likely already soaked, which wouldn’t really help someone who’s also already soaked.

I came up with a few other reasons this ad may not go over well. 1. You know people who DON’T need those jackets will be snatching them right up… because they’re free. Exhibit A, Goodwill shoppers. 2. Bridges. Why not hang them under a bridge or somewhere they won’t get so wet? Not to mention, most of the people needing those jackets should be under cover (like a bridge?) when a storm as brutal as the one shown in the ad! 3. The day to donate jackets to people who need them is NOT the day of the storm. How about do this in the days or weeks before the rain hits?

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How do you feel about the ad? Does it make you want to go out and by a KIA, even with their new poorly designed logo?

Thanks for dropping in!

-Out of the Wilderness