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THE WILDERNESS — If you haven't noticed before, all SUV and truck commercials are the same.
Intense shots of vehicles navigating the muddiest tracks, the snowiest roads, and the steepest red rock prevail. Throw in some inclement weather (snow or rain will do) and a large amount of dust or water spinning out of tires, and you got yourself an SUV commercial. (Here's an example.)
The underlying message is that with any given SUV, you're free to roam where you wish. There are no limits. Nothing can stop you. Adventure awaits, so what are you waiting for?
A quick Google search shows that the sameness of car commercials is a long-standing practice of the auto industry. This probably is not a surprise to you. What may be a surprise is what "long-standing" means in this particular style of car commercials.
It means over 100 years.
This video shows a 1920s promotion of Ford's Model T. It starts with the voiceover saying, "A car that takes you anywhere you want to go" — a phrase that would fit comfortably into any modern SUV commercial.
The commercial continues with "intense" shots of the Model T navigating the rough and wild "wilderness" of the roads in 1920. The underlying message? You're free to roam where you wish. There are no limits. Nothing can stop you. Adventure awaits, so what are you waiting for?
The only difference throughout the decades is what counts as engaging music that awakens the viewers' sense of adventure. Let's face it, the staccato of a xylophone doesn't quite do in the 2020s what it did in the 1920s.
