Audi Commercials Offend Me

I caught this commercial during The Office tonight, and was quite turned off by the message it seemed to send. The spot shows a bunch of children emerging from their school, only to be confronted by an endless line of champagne-colored Lexus SUVs. "Identity theft affects everyone," the spot says. The confusing copy notwithstanding, I find the premise of the spot completely unappealing. True, Lexus RX300 SUVs are quite popular among a certain upper middle class demographic. But to market the Audi Q5 solely to snobby private school parents seems pretentious at best and offensive at worst.

It reminded me of another Audi commercial, below, that I also found in bad taste. This one shows a house changing through time, and ends with the tag "Progress is Beautiful," implying that antiques and retro design are not beautiful. I, as well as many interior designers and style mavens would have to disagree.



Though I dislike Audi advertising, I do very much like the headlights on the new A4. Very very cool.