you all know the guy. that guy with the spiky hair and the sunglasses worn backwards. that guy with the really hot girlfriend (and by hot i mean she has the intelligence of a box of rocks). its that guy, that one who drives the jacked up dodge with the loud exhaust. don't get me wrong, big trucks are cool, but i think you know the difference between ford guy (or chevy guy, or even toyota guy for that matter) and dodge guy. and if you haven't noticed the difference then you should pay more attention. dodge guy is inevitably insecure about something (height, weight, hair loss, umm..."size", etc) and drives the vehicle that he does to help compensate for any "area" where he might "come up short".

some of you reading right now might be confused because this idea is not really worth writing about. in fact, once you graduate high school (which i have...duh) it is really not even relevant enough to think about. what makes this concept worth my time (and maybe yours) is how incredibly fitting it is that dodge's marketing group has elected to release a set of ads that conceptually, bring absolutely nothing to the table. in fact, these two ads (both of which i found on youtube and posted below) can be taken as direct ripoffs of marketing campaigns introduced by ford and toyota (which i also posted, as found on youtube).

the first ad, where the "rock 'em sock 'em robot" (apparently some sort of toy from the 60's) is punching the grill of a dodge truck (to no avail) is clearly a direct attack at toyota's most recent marketing campaign where their trucks are shown to be invincible despite being hit by meteors or attacked by fictional lake dwelling monsters. on a more subtle level, the two robots in the dodge commercial are indirectly assigned brand identities based on their "chevy orange" and "ford blue" colors. as far as the second set of ads is concerned, the connection to ford's most recent ad campaign (if this is even possible) is actually a little less inconspicuous than in the first one. (keep in mind dodge guy is not usually known for his ability to pick up on subtleties). at the end of each of the dodge ads it simply states that "bold is not enough", which if you don't think is aimed directly at the ford "bold moves" campaign you should not be allowed to leave the house without adult supervision.

i'm pretty sure that i don't have to review the typical behavior of an insecure individual but in case you missed it along the way people with insecurity issues like to compare themselves directly to others to make themselves look/feel better. with that said, i think these commercials indicate one of two things (or perhaps both). a) dodge executives are aware of their customers "shortcomings" and are using them to sell automobiles. or (and perhaps more concerning) b) dodge marketing executives are unaware of their customers mindset and are simply insecure themselves, leading them to create advertising campaigns which bring down other car companies so that they feel better about themselves and the cars they sell. i tend to think that it is in fact a little of both...you can disagree if you want but only if you do so in the form of a comment. otherwise i will assume you agree.

ps i cant wait to find out which one of my friends i am forgetting drives a jacked up dodge.