Vindication!

by

as seen on Slate today:

SUVs for Hippies? Hummer courts the tofu set.
By Seth Stevenson

While the vehicles have grown less imposing over time, the brand's reputation hasn't quite kept pace. According to Hummer spokeswoman Dayna Hart, there was a sense among Hummer's marketing brain trust that the brand felt "expensive, too big, and out of reach" for many consumers. What's more, recent Hummer ads have been a little lofty: They've featured cool visuals of the trucks romping through dramatic landscapes but have lacked everyday scenes of people enjoying their Hummers.

Enter this new H3 ad, which tries to make the brand feel a bit less intimidating. It shows an ordinary dude (and not, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger) going to a Hummer dealership, making a purchase, and driving out in a new truck. Which may seem basic, but showing the transaction (and portraying it as lightning-quick and painless—the guy points at a Hummer on the showroom floor, and a moment later he's the proud owner) helps make the H3 seem more like a realistic option and less like a blingtastic pipe dream. And the text that appears at the end of the ad touts the truck's 20-miles-per-gallon performance and its $29,500 price tag, which further drags the brand back toward the sphere of affordability and normalcy.

Hart says the spot aims to make the H3 a more "approachable vehicle that will appeal to introverts, extroverts, vegans, and carnivores." She's right that we wouldn't expect a tofu eater to buy a Hummer. But at the same time, the spot reinforces the central, classic stereotype about Hummer drivers: They buy big cars because they have small … egos.