Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Ad Nauseam

Ad Nauseam: Use Any App You Want While Driving — Because Safety!

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 10, 2014 | No Comments

Here’s the latest in wishful thinking about distracted driving. A new application called “Drivemode” wants to make it easier for you to use all your mobile apps while you’re behind the wheel — but don’t worry it’s safe! Because, at least theoretically, you don’t actually have to look at your phone. That’s the marketing message […]

Chevy: What Better Way to Explore the Divisadero “Microhood” Than by Car?

By Aaron Bialick | Apr 11, 2014 | 23 Comments

The marketers at Chevy totally have this urban millennial thing nailed down. The car manufacturer sponsored this promotional video for a Divisadero Microhood Art Walk held last week, along with the website The Bold Italic. In this virtual tour of the microhood, local business owner Erin Fong gets into one of Chevy’s electric Volts, driving an […]

Nissan to Millennials: If You Really Want to Get Around, Don’t Drive

By Brad Aaron | Jan 6, 2014 | No Comments

This Nissan ad, in heavy rotation during the NFL playoffs, smacks of 21st century carmaker desperation. In “Commute,” a young motorist, stuck with colleagues in city traffic and watching cyclists pass her by, speeds onto a conveniently located ramp and launches her Nissan Rogue on top of a passing train. Now they can get where […]

Is This the Best Transit Ad Ever?

By Brad Aaron | Sep 14, 2012 | No Comments

SF editor’s note: I can personally vouch for the speed, reliability and comfort of Midttrafik, as I relied on it during my semester in Denmark. The idea of investing in transit is popular with Americans, even among those who don’t depend on it. But trains and buses, buses in particular, have always had an image […]

Truffula Buffs Rebuff Mazda: The Lorax Selling Cars? Enough Is Enough!

By Ben Fried | Feb 28, 2012 | No Comments

If you read Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax growing up or you read it to your kids today, then the sight of Mazda trotting out the protector of Truffula trees to hawk cars may have stirred deep feelings of revulsion. Our friend the Zozo has a petition on Change.org for you: In these advertisements Mazda and Universal claim that a new automobile […]

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Ad Nauseam 2010: The Year in Car Commercials

By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez | Dec 13, 2010 | No Comments

Car sales are up, auto shows are packing them in, and the GM IPO was oversubscribed, but there may be no surer indicator of the auto industry’s recovery than the renewed avalanche of car ads rumbling across every medium. And there’s no better way to get a glimpse of what a born-again car culture might […]

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