Jaguar Ad

This advertisement from Jaguar is another one that is geared towards the "higher class".  The scene of the commercial is at an airport where a wealthy British man is getting off of his private jet and headed towards his Jaguar.  The people depicted in this ad all have British accents and are discussing why villains in movies typically have British accents, and some of the reasons thrown out are their eye for detail and their distinct style, comparing it to the car but also to the perspective drivers of the vehicle.  The car is trying to show its upper class style by comparing it to the depiction of Brits that Americans see in movies.  They are shown as incredibly wealthy and powerful, and drive cars such as this one.  So the classism here shows rich British white men having all the power in society and they are driving around in these Jaguars.

Dancing Chicken Ad

This commercial that I chose is the second one that I picked that shows classism by displaying aspects or tendencies from the "lower class".  This commercial is extremely old, but still relevant and its also quite comical due to the fact that there is a ridiculous dancing chicken trying to sell cars.  The first thing that I notice that brings this commercial down to classism and that "lower class" feel is the simpleness of the ad.  It is just giving the message that you only have to put a small amount of money down to buy one of these cars.  It is also giving the impression that they have cheap used cars.  Now of course this ad seems about 30 years old, so it seems like all if these cars are super dumpy for todays models, but you can tell that they are still older at the time when this was filmed and that these cars are not exactly the top of the line models.  Now to touch on the point of the dancing chicken.  There would never ever be such a thing in a luxury or higher class auto commercial because it is something extremely cheesy and distasteful for luxury.  But for someone in the "lower class" looking to buy a cheaper car, they might find this dancing chicken amusing, and remember "Wayne's Auto Sales" and know that they only have to put $400 down because it was flashing obnoxiously on the screen at them.

Ram Truck Commercial

The commercial portrayed here can show classism because the target market for this truck is a rugged hard working man.  Through the whole commercial, the truck is shown as being able to handle hard work by running through various tests towing cargo, a horse trailer, and carrying large amounts of working supplies in the bed.  The classist approach here is that it only shows a middle class working man out in the mid west.  Overall, the company is trying to market to the working class, because generally people who need trucks are those who's jobs rely on them.  Other people who buy trucks are people who have money because trucks are expensive, so a higher class person is looking for a truck to make them appear tougher and more rugged instead of more luxurious and less tough.  But for the most part, people who do manual labor for their every day jobs will need trucks to assist in their work.  So the company shows the driver and owner of the truck doing tough work and making it look cool at the same time so people viewing the commercial can think that if they buy this truck they will be just as good at the work and just as efficient as the guy in this advertisement.  Its also something thats geared towards just men because theres only men in the commercial and typically men drive trucks for work or just their own pleasure if they desire driving a truck.  It is considered out of the ordinary if a woman drives a truck, even if she fits into the middle class labor force.

Cadillac Commercial

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum from the used car commercial is this Cadillac commercial.  Cadillac is generally a more expensive and luxurious automobile brand and obviously gears their ads towards the higher class.  So seen in this commercial, a middle aged, high class white man is showing the viewer around his very nice home, which is clearly in the million dollar range and  he is possibly part of the extremely rich 1%.  While touring the guys house, the man is explaining how in America we work harder than any country out there and that is why he can have all the "stuff" that he has.  Cadillac, being a division of General Motors is an American company and branding Americans as extraordinarily hard working is the point here because they are showing off an electric car that is for the "Higher Class".  Once the man gets in the car, the car is clearly superior in terms of shininess, excessive bells and whistles and its owned by the guy who has lots of "stuff" and a nice house and is dressed up in a nice suit.

Used Car Commercial

To be specific, I think that one of the most interesting commercials that I have compiled from the auto industry would be the one titled “July Used Car Commercial”.  This advertisement aired in July of 2014 in the Tacoma, Washington area from a car dealership called Car Pros Kia.  In the ad, the actor or salesman is selling cheap cars that would generally be in the range of a "lower class" individuals and to get his message across he is speaking slowly and gently.  Almost to come across gentler to someone of the lower class, reassuring the customer that the company will finance and doesn't need to do a credit check.  It is also important to point out the simple jingle at the end of the commercial that is very soft and seemingly is trying to be something that anyone could remember by getting it in their head by singing the jingle.  The ad really subjects the lower class by targeting them in ways that make them seem uneducated and in need of a less expensive vehicle.

General thoughts

Classism in the media is a very big issue that society seems to turn a blind eye on.  Classism is seen everywhere, from movies to TV shows, to magazine ads and billboards.  But one outlet that it is seen basically daily is in television commercials.  A particular industry has a spot in my mind that I know tends to come across as classist every time that I see one of these ads on TV.  That particular industry is the automobile industry.  I find there to be just three target audiences to a car commercial, and of course it depends on the car company doing the branding that determines what class the ad is portraying and marketing to.  As one would expect, car brands such as Lexus, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and Jaguar all portray a very high-class lifestyle and a stereotypical upper class person in their ads.  On the contrary, I was able to find a used car ad with a dancing chicken, which in a way displays a lower class car buying situation.   And as for the middle spectrum, there are the brands that you would expect such as Ford, Toyota, Hyundai and Chevrolet marketing their products to the middle class.  The ads that I find most interesting are those of the “higher class” brands, because they try so hard to be sophisticated and sometimes humorous to try and make the wealthy people watching that they would fit in with their brand.   The flip side of this would be that the “lower class” used car ads show two types, a humorous person yelling at you that they have low prices, or a compassionate person telling you that they have cars with low prices and that they are willing to finance and will not check your credit.