I remember seeing this creature in a TV commercial during the Super Bowl 2 weeks ago. It is a bison-like robot that you can ride on. The commercial didn't catch my attention then since I didn't know what it was trying to convey. I saw the ad again earlier today and I still don't know what it was trying to convey. However, this time it did manage to spark my curiosity. From the commercial, it looks like people are getting into a rodeo ring to ride this mechanical beast as they would a bucking bronco. The ad ends with the narrator saying"Anybody can ride an Esuvee, but not everybody rides it right." For a moment, I honestly thought the narrator was asking me to test drive a mechanical wooly beast that I can ride on the road. So I went to the website to find out more about this new product. I was struggling to understand what the website is about. There is neither any product information in sight even nor background information about the Esuvee. Everything on the website is about SUV safety. It took me 20 minutes before I realize what the Esuvee is about. To my chagrin, Esuvee is pronounced as "SUV." The website is nothing more than a campaigning tool that is paid for by Ford Motor Company to educate SUV owners how to drive their vehicle safely. But I think behind all the fluff, it is also a good marketing campaign to convince people that they are not invulnerable when they get behind the wheel of a SUV. Alright to be fair, I think educating the public about car safety is a good service but I really think that the marketing strategy of featuring a product-like mascot is not only misleading but ineffective. People don't change their behavior just through education from an ad. What a waste of my 20 minutes? Can you say ASS-U-V?

2/21/2005 3:04:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

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