Chevy’s Tired Old Ways of Marketing

I was radio channel surfing on the commute this morning and heard a spot for Chevrolet that played out something like this (paraphrased):

“Do you really want to buy/drive a vehicle that’s just learning how to be a truck? We’ve been at this for years, and simply because of that, you should buy a Chevy Silverado.”

This is Chevy’s grand marketing strategy for not getting whipped by Toyota? Convince the consumer that there’s no way a NEW truck company could possibly be better than an ESTABLISHED truck company? Because obviously American consumers don’t like new things. Or change. Or better gas mileage. Or vehicles that typically go 300,000 miles with ease. And obviously American consumers are complete idiots. (At least we’re being treated that way.)

It feels so forced and desperate; as if Chevy is saying “nothing we’re doing is wrong or needs to change, people should just buy our trucks because they always have.” You’d think corporate America would know better than to try dealing with intense foreign competition through inaction and (light-hearted) negative ad campaigns.

Related: Toyota just opened a plant in San Antonio, Texas to produce Toyota Tundra trucks, so these are definitely targeted ads.