One of the ugliest vehicles ever manufactured.
The Cutlass 442 was a classic.
Posted on 11/30/2022 4:33:12 PM PST by Rummyfan
The "Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" marketing effort alienated people of all ages with strange nepotism.
When Ransom E. Olds lent his moniker to one of America's first automakers all the way back in 1897, he couldn't have known that 90 years into the future the Oldsmobile brand would make an ill-fated attempt to distance itself from the geriatric associations of the Olds surname. At the end of the 1980s, Oldsmobile was determined to shake the image that it built boring cars for sleepy seniors. The end result was the indelible "This Is Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" catchphrase, birthed from one of the strangest publicity campaigns to ever emanate from Detroit.
Key to the entire enterprise was an absurd set of television commercials that paired past-their-prime celebrities with their decidedly not-famous children. Described as 'silly' even by their original copywriter, Steffan Postaer, the TV spots seemed determined to both shame Oldsmobile's existing buyer base of dads and grand-dads while also confusing prospective new customers being pitched by people they'd never heard of.
Instead of bridging generations, the "Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" effort alienated people of all ages, and has been be blamed for hastening Oldsmobile's irrelevance and eventual death a decade down the road from the marketing campaign's kickoff. Before that happened, however, things got weird. How weird? Like, "Leonard Nimoy's daughter" weird.
(Excerpt) Read more at motortrend.com ...
One of the ugliest vehicles ever manufactured.
The Cutlass 442 was a classic.
I miss the 1970s
Yes it is all cars now look like cartoon cars Mopar tried to save style but it’s getting phased out.
grumble grumble grumble
And because both cars were made by Plymouth, did they both come in metallic mint green paint?
I said something similar to my wife. All cars today look they were designed by a 12 year old Korean tomboy.
Even this TV ad couldn’t save Oldsmobile.
“Steady as she goes.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wy_WL-bZ4k
I have a theory that most engineers or coders never actually use the products they create.
Sometimes, they do, such as when we bought a newer Ford truck and discovered that the 1/2-door opened 180 degrees rather than the annoying 90 degrees of our prior truck, my wife and I looked at each other and splurted, “They actually used their own truck!”
With marketers, it’s often the same problem of putting the cart before the horse, i.e, changing, pushing, messaging a desired perception without considering the audience. But that’s how GM and its committee organization led Oldsmobile and Pontiac into their slow deaths.
Btw, if Buick hadn’t stuck in Chiner, it would have been dropped in the US, too. GM is setting the brand up to die by announcing that it will be 100% EV by 2030.
Stupid is as stupid does.
I never owned an Olds but this would have been the one I would have liked for sure.
Always loved Pontiac, sibling in the GM auto family.
The two youts...
The two what?...
I love muscle cars. Cool looking and you could actually work on them yourself.
Until two hippies in an Ford Econoline van rear-ended
him while he was stopped at a traffic light.
They never even slowed down - because they were stoned out
of their minds.
Thankfully my dad was okay - but the Olds - not so much...
.
My drivers education car, Olds 442.
But the Silhouette featured the lowest co-efficient drag of any van ever…
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