Hamsters Driving Cars

The Kia Soul - A New Way To Roll. This is the new campaign for the very new and very hip Kia Soul. --Watch ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYOX5eYcViw

A couple of personal experiences have happened around this commercial that I'd like to share.

One, I am in my room doing important and smart things (finding the cure for the common cold or something) and my friend out in the living room calls me to come and look at a commercial. She says, "Look. Look. Aww." The cute, furry animals got her. That got me thinking. Why would they use little hamsters? I get the other ones are just running on their wheels and such, but there's other ways to get the same message across without hamsters. I wonder if the sole purpose of the hamsters is because they're cute and furry. It worked on my friend enough to where she wanted to pass it along to me.

Two, a bunch of us are hanging out with my friend in the hospital. Same hamster commercial comes on. One guy, the only guy in the room, says that it's a commercial for a Scion. (Uh-Oh!) I say, no it's Kia. He insists that it's Scion. Eventually I convince him that it's a Kia and he says, "Yeah, they had trouble ripping off stuff before. They got sued for using someone else's distinctive headlights shape." Careful, Kia!

So, two things learned. One little commercial. Moral of story one: cute, furry things sell. Moral of story two: if you're selling a cool-people car, make sure it's unique and original.