Did Chevrolet Have to Make America Cry
With Its New Christmas Ad
Red State,
by
Joe Cunningham
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
12/17/2021 4:06:37 AM
I am not sure who told Chevrolet that what we really needed this Christmas was to ugly cry over an ad they produced for the holidays, but whoever it was needs to go sit in the corner and think about what they’ve done.
You may have seen the shortened version of this ad, titled “Holiday Ride,” on TV. But you don’t get the full emotional impact without seeing the extended four-minute version, which is a tear-jerker and hit me harder than listening to my child ask me why Mufasa wasn’t waking up. [Video]
All the jokes aside, this ad is possibly one of the most needed
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Lala 12/17/2021 4:44:19 AM (No. 1009770)
Thanks so much for posting this. Still ugly crying as I type. My mom passed away two years ago this week, my dad 17 years ago this week. Sitting in their garage for years was their beloved 1955 Chevy BelAir hardtop, the only brand new car either of them had ever owned. My brother restored it some time ago, and my mom would drive it in local parades into her 70s until she became too frail to drive anything. She was always glowing with pride when she drove that car. I don’t know if there was anything that made her happier. After she passed, we had it put on a flatbed and shipped halfway across the country where my brother lives now. Seeing that car come out of the garage to be hauled away was more emotional for me than selling their house or, I’m embarrassed to say, even her funeral in some ways (probably too numb for that). But there was a finality I couldn’t ignore. I visited my brother a couple of months ago, first time since the car was now in his garage. Made me cry to see it there, but happy tears, knowing he still takes it out sometimes. If our loved ones can look down from heaven, I’m sure it makes my mom and dad so happy. Sorry for the long ramble, but it feels good to share a happy memory. Chevy was once synonymous to me with everything that was great about our country. This ad was a beautiful reminder. Kudos. And Merry Christmas to my friends at Lucianne.
84 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Jethro bo 12/17/2021 5:02:27 AM (No. 1009782)
Most offensive ad I have ever seen. Implies there is one religion and excludes Judaism, Islam, Kawanza, Maoism Taoism, Hindu and others for starters. No people of color, trans, bi, lesbian, homosexuals or other non binary genders. Alternative lifestyles are not included. And worst, it makes a white male seem like a human instead of an evil hate monger monster we all know white males to be. And maybe the worse is it glorified a non electric climate change accelerator car!
124 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
PChristopher 12/17/2021 5:06:17 AM (No. 1009787)
Yes....there were tears, and I'm not ashamed to say so!!! FJB. FAF.
Merry Christmas!!
35 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
chumley 12/17/2021 5:36:15 AM (No. 1009802)
Its a beautiful commercial. I'm just sorry now that I dont want a Chevrolet.
27 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
PageTurner 12/17/2021 5:59:32 AM (No. 1009805)
Good ad.
24 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
ussjimmycarter 12/17/2021 6:02:30 AM (No. 1009807)
Wow! Wonderfully emotional and positive message! Still wiping the tears away! Way to go Chevy!
30 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Standlow 12/17/2021 6:33:58 AM (No. 1009827)
Sure enough. Fox News JUST played the ad and my eyes stung. It is a wonderfully restored car, and the original design was darned near perfect, too.
Thank you, Chevrolet, for the memories.
34 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
F15 Gork 12/17/2021 7:20:40 AM (No. 1009843)
Reminds me a little bit of Clydesdale Horses and puppies......
28 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
joew9 12/17/2021 8:31:54 AM (No. 1009905)
Fixing up old gasoline cars will be our only choice in a few years as only the very rich will be able to drive the notoriously expensive EVs. Hang on to non-turbocharged cars.
16 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
MommaTeePee63 12/17/2021 8:41:39 AM (No. 1009918)
To OP & #1 - Thank you both for sharing. In my lifetime, I've said too-early goodbyes to my father, my child, and my sister - and each loss created a void that only Christ could fill. OP - I, too, have that sinking feeling when I reach for the phone to make calls...and have to remind myself that they won't answer. Sage advice to live for today, forgive often, and choose to love always. God bless.
29 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
pros7767 12/17/2021 8:45:15 AM (No. 1009919)
Thanks for posting OP! It's beautiful.
I'm very sorry for your losses this year. Rest comfortably knowing that they are together in God's Glory watching over you and your Dad. May God comfort you through the holiday and into the future.
#1, For me, it was a set of silly deer antlers my Dad found in the woods and had hanging in the garage with his hats all over them. As I was clearing out their house, my husband kept trying to take it down and I wouldn't let him. It was the finality of it all. On our last day there, he took them down, raced home and hung them in our laundry room (which was the door we always came through to get into our house) before I got home to surprise me. We still have them in our new home. It brings a sense of peace. Sorry for your loss as well.
27 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
franq 12/17/2021 9:03:17 AM (No. 1009931)
I thought it was a beautiful commercial. Made my eyes water the first time I saw it.
10 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
red1066 12/17/2021 9:39:19 AM (No. 1009986)
I've not seen this Chevy ad. I've also not seen the Mercedes Benz ad too many times this year. Perhaps it's because car dealerships are missing the cars. I have seen the Lincoln ad with Beverly Jenney singing about fifty times. I'll keep my eyes out for the chevy ad.
4 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
lakerman1 12/17/2021 10:10:44 AM (No. 1010018)
I agree- very nice ad.
Something similar happened back around 1970, where Kodak ran a commecial, using Green Green Grass of Home, no narratioon, no sales pitch.
It deleted the final verse of the song (about the man facing the executioner) and showed a young man, low ranking Army, in uniform, getting off a Greyhound bus in a rural area. It was at the peak of the Viet Nam war protests, by the way.
He joins up with his family, and in the final scene, he is pushing his really cute girlfriend as she sat on a swing.
I called my best friend, an anti-viet nam war protester, to see what he thought of the ad.
He grunted and said, 'Kodak is honoring killing.'
I hung up the phone.
14 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
lakerman1 12/17/2021 10:12:56 AM (No. 1010021)
Oops! I forget to say the Kodak commercial played during the Academy Awards of that year. And it ran about 3 or 4 minutes long. And there was no sales pitch from Kodak, just their name at the end of the commercial.
10 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Birddog 12/17/2021 10:21:22 AM (No. 1010031)
"How DARE you!"
That car is toooo old to be allowed on the streets, it doesn't have ANY pollution controls, consumes three times the carbon inducing fuels per mile as "Modern" cars, has none of the airbags, rollover protection, abs, skid control, automatic collision avoidance technology everyone NEEDS to be safe...and safe to be around on the roads. Fer Cripes sake...it doesn't even have 5mph bumpers. If it was a Semi Truck, it would already be outlawed in Calif.
7 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
jasmine 12/17/2021 10:36:46 AM (No. 1010053)
Thank you, OP, and to everyone who shared their own stories of loss. Until now, I had not seen the four minute version of this beautiful message. Watching the whole story unfold, celebrating love, commitment and sensitivity toward one another touched my heart, as did the comments that followed.
At a time when major corporations have taken it upon themselves to instruct Americans on their many flaws, I appreciated the refreshing re-interpretation of middle Americans as the kind, grateful, and generous folks most of us were raised to be.
15 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 12/17/2021 10:42:29 AM (No. 1010062)
Cried buckets (and still crying). Like previous posters, it made me think of lost loved ones and how their cherished possessions still have meaning for those of us left behind. My mom and loved MIL died around the holiday season (near Thanksgiving and Christmas), so the holidays have an element of melancholy for me. This ad brought it out. Kudos to Chevrolet.
7 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 12/17/2021 10:54:25 AM (No. 1010078)
I've not seen the ad. I try to avoid anything associated with the UAW.
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 12/17/2021 10:56:02 AM (No. 1010081)
I'll still never buy one of their cars or trucks.
3 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
Lucky5 12/17/2021 11:07:07 AM (No. 1010101)
That was lovely.
5 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
cor-vet 12/17/2021 11:37:50 AM (No. 1010124)
Loved the ad. I was always a General Motors person, since my dad sold them and we always drove them. Dad died at 8am on Christmas morning in 1996, and that holiday has never been the same. So, thanks, Chevy, for a great ad.
8 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
DVC 12/17/2021 12:02:27 PM (No. 1010155)
And....future cars, we are told by our iron fisted diktator WILL have electric motors and batteries and electronic nannies in the dash to decide if we are fit, sober and attentive enough to drive. Can a political test in that electro-nanny be far behind?
In a number of TV reality shows, the point is to restore an old family heirloom car as tribute to the memory of the original owners, and it is often a very emotional time. In some cases the owner is alive, more often the owner is gone and the family is doing the restoration in honor of their memory. Powerful stuff. Cars have been 'totems' for several generations.
And electric nanny cars just won't cut it. And sadly, huge swaths of younger folks care just as much about their car as they do for their washing machine or refrigerator, which is to say they care nothing about it. So many young people (not all of them!) are just entirely uninterested in automobiles and the great freedom that they give us that ten thousand generations before us did not have, and which is being removed from our future by our overlords. Hunger Games is taken as a blueprint by the chattering classes.
6 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
privateer 12/17/2021 1:01:13 PM (No. 1010199)
Gee, I'm gettin' a little misty, Dobe! A beautiful ad, with a fine sentimental message. Their ad agency did them a big favor.
3 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
Avikingman 12/17/2021 4:35:05 PM (No. 1010330)
No props for the leading actors. Can't find them anywhere; that's a shame.
1 person likes this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
kono 12/17/2021 4:36:36 PM (No. 1010331)
Loved the ad. Loved the classic GM cars, pre-1974. Thanks for the post.
"My uncle has a country place that no one knows about
He says it used to be a farm before the motor law ..."
1 person likes this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 12/17/2021 5:39:53 PM (No. 1010363)
Wonderful. TY. I started crying just reading the ad description before I'd even viewed it!! (And, thanks, #2 for the 'ugly laugh'!!) I'm old enough to remember those cars....they were beautiful.
Was out in my driveway a few months back, and an interested fellow walking by surprisingly asked me if I wanted to sell my old Wrangler. NO WAY! In my family we love our classic cars almost as much as each other, LOL!
2 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
msavalla 12/17/2021 11:56:32 PM (No. 1010517)
A shout out for the company. Its good to know that at this unstable time in USA history, there is still some hope that Corporations have some leaders with dignity.
1 person likes this.
Still won’t buy an Government Motors car. Too little too late.
1 person likes this.
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My mom passed away in March of this year and my sister, former poster vttwinmom, just passed on Black Friday from cancer. My dad is clearly struggling this Christmas. My mom's crèche, which has been set out for decades, sits in its box on the top shelf of my dad's closet. He could not bring himself to set it up. Perhaps next year . . . As for me, I keep catching myself wanting to call my sister up for this or that, or send her photos of our Christmas tree as we have done each year since smart phones came out for sale. Most difficult of all was realizing that my Christmas list was missing three beloved names this year. Ads like this ought to remind all of us to call our family members, heal that rift, forgive and forget, tell them that you love them. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and you might not get another chance.