Honda ~ hold on tight to everybody else’s dreams

Have you seen the latest Honda commercial with the car driving through the tunnel with the images rolling up around it? The Honda is the ultimate medium to paradise in this ad. Here it is:

I think the idea of the vision tunnel is pretty cool, but the tunnel vision of just rolling through common images of "dreamy" places like briny flamingo lagoons, fish-filled scuba worlds, and fields of sunflowers could have been evolved more. I wish they had taken us on some other journey that had real transitions that changed with the speed at which the car is moving and the distance it has traveled. Or what if the sunflowers and other nature-full objects really helped to propel the car, which could play off on Honda’s push to portray themselves as a greener car company.

There are so many cool visual transitions they could have made, but didn’t. They also missed an opportunity to sum up the overall experience by showing us what was at the end of the tunnel. To many Americans a light at the end of the tunnel that we follow on our way through clouds is not a sign of having survived whatever it was that the light was attached to. Not good for a car commercial.

I found some additional information about the ad here at splendAD. The lyrics being sung behind Kevin Spacey’s voice are:

Hey, hold on tight to your dream
Yeah, hold on tight to your dream
When you see your ship go sailing
When you feel your heart is breaking
Hold on tight to your dream

My yawns yawn for sailing ships and broken hearts. But, hey, it sells. So why not? I think that the rhythm of the song probably made the commercial more memorable than the visuals.

Overall, the ad has an interesting premise that I like, but the hot factor tapers off with the stock imagery and cliche song lyrics.

Apart from Honda, if you were watching NBC on Monday night, you may have also seen the large number of Nissan ads, including the one in which the pool spills from the top of the skyscraper. I’m still trying to comprehend what that one was about. Sorry, Nissan, Honda wins for today.

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Posted on September 25, 2007
Filed Under Advertising, Automobiles, Commercials, Medium to Paradise |

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