Bratty kids are everywhere, but why, Toyota, why broadcast such a scripted beast hawking a family-friendly vehicle? I can (almost-but-not-really) forgive the questionable brake recall, but this? I don’t think so.
Does this brat bug me because as kids, my sisters and I were carted in a 4 door 3 door Corvair that started with a fork jammed in the ignition? Or a Datsun pick-up truck where we squeezed like groceries behind the driver’s seat? I was that other kid, the one he mocks. But, nope, that’s not it.
Is it because my family is currently vehicularly challenged? Nissan was a lemon. Fabulous Dodge Caravans driven into oblivion not once, but twice. Transmission and recession killed the Saturn. Honda Pilot in a recall.
Is it because the Toyota spokesbrat looks eerily like my own kid, the Boy? And when this kid talks, I am horrified I might have possibly spawned such a monster?
Or is it because as a marketing copywriting do-gooder, I don’t understand how evolving Toyota’s image could ever include invoking a first-class juvenile snot to bully parents and belittle friends? The campaign is wrong on every level.
Selling $27k+ automobiles by a bratty little kid reeking of attitude alienates this potential customer. He is not a teenager, whose hormonal outbursts might also include a major case of keeping up with the Jones Kardashian’s; behavior somewhat expected, if not acceptable.
But a little bratty elementary school kid, too young to ride in the front seat? In fact, isn’t he still in a booster, the little shit? How cool can you be in a booster seat?
I want to slap him. Hard.
This kid’s a brat. Sure, he’s an actor, surrounded by creative adults dictating his every move, writing his every word. Fingers crossed he’s a really, really good actor.
Where was the focus group on this?
And what about the loyal families that drive Toyotas and are now associated with, quite frankly, bratty kids and bad parenting? Did no one recognize how pissed off, turned off, and disgusted parents would be? Or am I the only one?
I couldn’t agree more. At his age my mother drove a giant powder blue Lincoln that had to be 20 years old. I was so in love with that car. When it died, I cried and sat on those white leather seats listening to the radio pretending she was mine.
Also, I’d tell that kid the same thing as I tell mine, we can have whatever car you want the moment you get a job and pay for it.
My oldest kid bought her first car: a friggin’ toyota from grandma! Kid2 is saving like crazy right now. But if my 11yo ever demanded me to up the cool factor??? I’d strap his ass to the roof of the car or jam him into the Thule!
I agree. I think Toyota has had a series of insulting commercials. One a couple of months back had a commercial knocking American construction workers.
I couldn’t agree more. I want to reach through the TV and slap the snot not only out of the kid but the parents for sitting there like robots and not doing anything.
And all the oldfarts at Cracker Barrel are nodding in agreement…’damn youth of today…why when i was a kid, i’d be taken behind the woodshed’ I’d like that agency taken behind a woodshed or two!
please…has not that child heard of vintage cars.
Not the only one. When I first saw this “ad” I thought it was an SNL-esque joke. Really. It’s appalling for so many reasons. I’ve tried to figure this out. Were they trying to draw a parallel b/t all the bells and whistles this kid apparently has to “power” those around him with the ones the car may have? So wrong. Market research that yielded this ad content? What does that imply?!
Seething.
I do love the wood paneled vehicles in the ad though!