Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Presidents Day and Kia

Do current and former Presidents get to celebrate on Presidents Day? Do they get a card? It would appear to be an unattractive market for a Greeting Card company, as it is pretty small.

In any event, the rest of us get a day off and that is good. But there is one thing I hate about it - the Kia car commercials.

These commercials start with the line - "Do not ask what you can do for Kia. Ask what Kia can do for you". This is just terrible. It is an attempt to market to Presidents Day using the words of President Kennedy - "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". Now, I get the point - it sounds all presidential and blah, blah, but it insults our intelligence. I just hate it.

It implies that we might, for some reason, be looking to do something "for Kia", like we are volunteering for a Kia Army or something. What? It is a freaking multinational company. The most likely thing I would do "for them" is picket their labor practices in a third world country.

It also mocks one of the most memorable lines from a Presidential Inaugural speech. I wonder if some children today would hear the original line and thinks of Kia. That line belongs to history, not to a tagline to a third rate minivan.

Funny how commercials work - generally, if you remember the product it has made its point. I will not forget Kia, that is for sure.

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