If you haven’t noticed, NBC’s The Office has really jumped the shark since Steve Carrell left the show at the end of last season. Or maybe the commencement of the end was Pam and Jim’s wedding during the sixth season. Regardless, the point is that the show is no longer very funny or edgy, nor does it ever make the hearing uncomfortable in the way the brilliant original BBC version did. Rather, as the main characters in the American version of the show have turn caricatures, The Office has grown predictable and formulaic.
And this is why Chevrolet can launch an ad campaign like its “Under The Blue Arch” series. Despite the brief, 30-second running times of the ads, the characters are instantly recognizable and the “plots” are easy to follow. Although the scenes set in a Chevy dealership play with the tropes created by the Emmy Award-winning series, they do so to little comic effect. Because comedy isn’t the point – these are ads, after all, full of ham-handed product information and designed to sell cars.
If anyone should understand that it’s Joel Ewanick, General Motors’ Chief Marketing Officer. Yet he told Automotive News at the New York Auto Show that GM has “talked around turning this into an real show because we’ve got so much material.”
Well, that Chevy product line isn’t nearly the joke it once was, but if you say so…
Let’s just chalk this one up to Ewanick being a bit starstruck. “Under The Blue Arch” was created by Randall Einhorn, one of the directors of The Office, and it “stars” Wayne Wilderson, who appeared on the NBC show in 2006.
Click past the jump, where you can watch a few of the ads.
General Motors casts quite a shadow over the yearly Detroit Auto Show. First of all, their Renaissance Center headquarters are right next to Cobo Hall where the show is held every year. But beyond that, GM never fails to take a big spread to its hometown expo. And this year looks to be no exception.
Some of the debuts slated for The General’s still-vast portfolio of divisions will be expected – like the Chevrolet Sonic RS and Cadillac ATS, the two production vehicles that are slated to debut at the show. But details on others we’ll have to wait for. For one, Buick will unveil a new production crossover utility vehicle. Sources expect it to be smaller than the Enclave (which shouldn’t be too difficult) and possibly bear the Encore name, which kind of gives us the jibblies.
Chevy is also slated to roll out two concept cars from the GM North Hollywood Design Center. We’ll be watching out for details on entirely the Detroit debuts, so watch this space for more.
General Motors Starts Production Of The Volt Electric Model
General Motors starts production the Volt Electric Model that marks the resurrection of the company. Equipped with electricity-powered engine, runs up to 80 km in this mode, from where it kicks in a generator fueled by propellant combustion, which results in a further 550 km. The automaker, however, did not say how many units will come from its plant in Detroit, USA.
Priced from $ 41,000 in their nation of origin, the Volt is also exported from the end of 2011. To do so, GM will open 1,000 new jobs for production and development. Again, the brand does not say how many models for export and which countries. We will see the electrification of cars in each segment and for each model over 10 years,” predicted Daniel Akerson, CEO of GM. The Volt Electric Model is commencement to be produced in the same month that the Nissan Leaf, arrives at U.S. stores.
