The stoic Van Damme
It’s become a trend for modern advertising to place more emphasis on grabbing the audience’s attention with computer graphics than demonstrating the actual use of a product. Just looking at commercials displayed during the Super Bowl, one of TV’s most expensive advertising slots, demonstrates how many companies are trying to fit as much eye-catching computer-animated flashiness into a 30-second TV spot as possible.
Car advertising in particular has suffered from this trend. Too often are exciting car commercials undermined by “DRAMATIZATION” disclaimers that break down any potential realism of the commercial.
Some car commercials, however, do not sacrifice the authenticity of their product for sensationalized make-believe. Here are five commercials that go above and beyond stunt advertising, using real demonstrations to show off the performance of their cars.
1. Volvo Trucks: “The Epic Split”
From the opening shot of action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme looking stoic and peaceful to the closing shot of the actor performing a split nine or so feet off the ground between two moving Volvo trucks, this 2013 commercial radiates calmness and stability. The authentic one minute, 16-second piece was performed in one shot to demonstrate the control of Volvo’s steering. This ad, which recently went viral online, is part of an ongoing series of Volvo stunt commercials, which includes a highline balancing act and a stunt in which a hamster steers a Volvo truck up a precarious cliff-lined path.
2. Chevy Sonic: “Stunt Anthem”
In addition to being treated to a New England Patriots loss at the hands of the New York Giants, viewers of the 2012 Super Bowl saw the debut of this impressive Chevrolet ad. Sonic, the Chevy model featured in all of the stunts, became the first car to play music, bungee jump, skydive and be “kickflipped” by a skateboarder, and actually holds world records for those first three feats.
3. Toyota Tundra: “Killer Heat”
The giant metal cylindrical structure seen in Toyota’s 2009 “Killer Heat” commercial looks plenty perilous with the full-size Tundra pickup truck lugging 10,000 pounds of trailing cargo up a steep grate track. But when the truck passes under a series of arches that burst with flames of more than 250 degrees Fahrenheit, the ad’s intensity gets kicked up a notch. The 80-foot colossus, which took eight weeks to build in the Mojave Desert, was designed to show off the Tundra’s performance under extreme heat and risky conditions.
4. Cadillac CTS: “Front to Back”
Cadillac’s 2012 “Front to Back” commercial has the feel of a typical car commercial, with dynamic footage of a sleek sports sedan flying effortlessly down a twisted countryside road — until the camera pans to reveal that one of the two cars featured in the 30-second ad is driving backward. To prove the seemingly surreal commercial’s authenticity, Cadillac released a video of all the stunt’s different camera angles played simultaneously. Though the video’s links have been disconnected, there are still traces of online articles that reference it.
5. Honda Accord: “Cog”
The oldest yet possibly most impressive entry in this list, Honda’s 2003 “Cog” ad does not use death-defying feats or dynamic camerawork to capture a viewer’s attention: the commercial’s charm is born of the audience’s curiosity. A two-minute Rube Goldberg machine built entirely out of parts from the Honda Accord, the commercial took 606 takes to get it right. It admittedly has a split second of CGI at the halfway mark, but this was only to join two one-minute clips together into the full two-minute piece. Though the commercial doesn’t do a ton to display the Accord’s performance, it did win the car manufacturer countless awards.
