2013 Nissan Altima Spot: The Horn Drives You Nuts, But It Grabs You Doesn’t It? [The Ad Section]

Award-winning ad man-cum-auto journalist Don Klein knows a good (or bad) car commercial when he sees one; the Ad Section is his space to tell you what he thinks of the latest spots. The ad's rating is depicted via the shift pattern at the bottom, but everyone has an opinion when it comes to advertising, so hit Backfires below and tell us what you think, too. By now you've seen it a million times: The spot for the 2013 Nissan Altima with the dorky-looking guy who just doesn't know when to quit. He gets a new job and almost loses it before the congratulatory handshake is over. While prepping for a date, he almost squirts a shot of cologne down the front of his trousers. (You've never done that? Come on, we're all friends here.) After almost risking all his chips on a single bet, he almost sticks his tongue down his date's throat when she offers a tender good-night kiss. But luckily for Mr. Clueless, he's always saved by the bell. Well, actually, it's a horn. A horn that's triggered by the Easy-Fill alert feature of his Altima's tire-pressure monitoring system. It's also the horn that makes watching this commercial incredibly annoying. Audio technology works in strange ways. Even with my top-of-the-line Bose surround system, I usually know which sounds are coming from the TV set. When a car explodes, I don't jump off the couch and take cover. When a bad guy gets shot, I don't for a microsecond think a gun went off somewhere in the house. But when a cell phone rings on Homeland or a text alert goes off in an AT&T commercial, I hit the pause button and grab my iPhone—even if I've seen the commercial a hundred times before. The same trump l'ear applies to car horns. The Altima spot isn't the only offender, but it's definitely the worst. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so. A whole bunch of people with nothing better to do have taken to the internet to complain that the commercial makes their dog (cat, baby, parrot, etc.) crazy, causes them to think their neighbor's car is being stolen, or just plain pisses them off. Comparison Test: 2013 Accord vs. 2013 Altima, 2013 Fusion, 2012 VW Passat Instrumented Test: 2013 Nissan Altima 3.5 V6 SV Instrumented Test: 2013 Nissan Altima 2.5 SL So does that make this a terrible commercial? No. In fact it's a pretty good commercial, and here's why: Tire-pressure monitoring systems are hardly new. Porsche started putting them on the 959 supercar in the '80s. By the mid-2000s, they were common in the U.S., and by '08 they were mandatory for every car or light truck sold in America. True, the 2013 Altima's goes above and beyond by actually letting you know when you've reached the recommended tire pressure, and that's nice, but it's nothing a good tire gauge can't tell you. So the Altima creative team had to figure out a way to make essentially old news seem exciting, or at least noteworthy. In the absence of something truly important (or cool) to talk about, they decided to manufacture some interest. Hence the goofy dude and the over-the-top vignettes, which, I must admit, are kind of amusing. Well, the casino scene misses the mark (why does everyone give him the evil eye when he starts to bet the ranch?), but don't tell me the nether-cologne or aborted French kiss scenes don't make you chuckle. Or groan. Or otherwise take notice. And if any non-car buddies or buddettes ever ask you if any cars automatically tell you when you've properly inflated your tires—odds are you've been asked dumber or more obscure car questions that that before)—chances are you'll say, "Yeah. Nissan Altima." And this commercial is the reason why. So yes, the horn's annoying. But the commercial catches your attention and makes its point. And isn't that what good advertising is supposed to do? from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com

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