Inflation at the car dealersihps...

I remember growing up in St. John’s, Newfoundland… how I’d love driving down Kenmount Road at night seeing all of the wonderfully decorated car dealerships. The sparkly metallic streamers in the dealership’s colors criss crossing back and forth between strings of light bulbs hanging brightly. Streamers and balloons highlighting new cars with prices written in what appeared to be white chalk on the car’s windshields. It was like a festival of pretty colors and sparkly things.

I’ve always been attracted to sparkly things.

Today I drove down Kempt Road and as I passed one dealership after another interspersed with one construction site after the next, I was amazed at the modern addition to car advertising… GIANT INFLATABLE CARTOON CHARACTERS!

Frankly… I think they’re stupid. In my short trek down Kempt I saw a duck, a palm tree, a massively giant teddy bear holding a dinky car and a gun wielding, hat wearing rodeo cowboy!

Seriously? Are they marketing to three year olds? First of all, when shopping for a car would you bring your toddler with you and secondly… would you even consider purchasing a car based on “MOMMY STOP!!! I SEE A GIANT YELLOW DUCK WEARING SUNGLASSES!”

Me… I’m drawn to a well manicured lawn with large containers of flowers and trees with pretty lights sparkling at night… shiny, clean cars lined in perfect formation leaving you to wonder about the talented individual who can park so precisely… throw in strings of metallic streamers and a few advertising banners… a little more classy and a bit less tacky.

I get grossed out by those inflatable characters… they’re dirty… like filthy dirty. I passed the rodeo cowboy and was yucked out by the filth of his large yellow pants. I admit, it’s possible he was dragged through the mud and dust while trying to stay atop his inflatable bull at the stampede causing his clothes to get dirty but in my opinion, if he’s been hired to stand attention waving the youngsters into the car dealership with his inflatable guns stuck to the sides of his inflatable pants… he should at the very least be clean! Maybe it’s the dust and debris from the multiple construction sites causing his pants to get filthy but either way… he’s looking a tad bit messy.

Understandably, if you’re running a marketing campaign requiring the use of a giant sunglass wearing duck… then far be it for me to judge you for the inflatable duck tethered to the lawn in front of your car dealership but as I drove down Kempt Road today and saw one inflatable character after the next, I just didn’t get it.

It’s probably a good thing I’m not in the market to purchase a new car.