superbowl - so god made a farmer/paul harvey - commercial

[veeman]

do NOT want to get into any conservative/liberal or religious/atheist arguments here.

this was a very cool commercial.

Dodge Ram Trucks Super Bowl Commercial Farmer - God Made A Farmer

it made me look at the pizza i was stuffing my face with and think for a few minutes the labor it took to make it at its most basic ingredient level.

on the one hand it makes me want to buy a dodge truck.  on the other hand, however, it makes me feel like a poseur for wanting to buy the truck because i am no farmer.

[Raza]

I found it alienating and insulting, as I said before. 

[Galaxy]

I like it.

[CJ]

While it was a good ad, it was extremely loaded.

[SVT666]

I didn't find it insulting, but I did find it alienating.  I much prefer the Jeep commercial.

[CALL_911]

I liked this commercial a lot, actually.

[Secret Chimp]

It's a nice motivational speech for people with land-working jobs but I don't get wtf they're going at with regards to their trucks. "Yes, my dirty farm job has long sucky hours, I should buy a Dodge"?

"Yes, I love big boobies too, GMC for me"

[TurboDan]

It was heartwarming. And at the same time it made everyone watching who doesn't have a blue collar job feel like a piece of shit. 

I'm thinking this was an attempt to make Dodge/RAM seem more "American" now that they're owned by the Italians.

[Lebowski]

I don't find it insulting or alienating.

[GoCougs]

Great commercial.

[850CSi]

Cheap pandering. If I was a member of the target demographic I'd be somewhat offended.

[TurboDan]

Cheap pandering. If I was a member of the target demographic I'd be somewhat offended.

How many farmers do we even have left? I doubt enough to support an entire auto division.

[CALL_911]

I guess I can see alienating, but offensive? Come on, what is offensive about it?

[Raza]

I guess I can see alienating, but offensive? Come on, what is offensive about it?

I didn't say offensive, I said insulting.  Using the Bible reference immediately implies that anyone who doesn't believe in the 7 day creation story doesn't deserve or is not worthy of owning a Ram. 

[850CSi]

I guess I can see alienating, but offensive? Come on, what is offensive about it?

The 'cheap pandering' part. Not offensive to me, but if I was a farmer, I'd think Dodge was insulting my intelligence.

[Mustangfan2003]

Funny thing is Paul Harvey did Chevy ads on his radio show. 

[GoCougs]

Guys, "on the 8th day god created..." is a common epithet to express admiration. Just Google the phrase. It's so common that calling it "religious" is unfair. And pretty much most everyone understands the creation story is allegorical.

I watched it a few more times. This is absolutely brilliant.

[Raza]

Guys, "on the 8th day god created..." is a common epithet to express admiration. Just Google the phrase. It's so common that calling it "religious" is unfair. And pretty much most everyone understands the creation story is allegorical.

I watched it a few more times. This is absolutely brilliant.

It still references a Bible story.  The beginning of the Bible story, creation.  This isn't the innocuous underdog felling a giant David and Goliath story, this is invoking the Christian creation story. 

Also, I bet if you ask a great deal of true believers, you'll find more than a fair few who don't believe it's allegorical. 

[TurboDan]

It still references a Bible story.  The beginning of the Bible story, creation.  This isn't the innocuous underdog felling a giant David and Goliath story, this is invoking the Christian creation story. 

Also, I bet if you ask a great deal of true believers, you'll find more than a fair few who don't believe it's allegorical.

1) Most people even remotely interested in buying an American pickup truck believe in God.

2) The fact that the mere mention of something borderline religious, in a figurative context, on a TV commercial, insults anybody that much means atheists have way too much time on their hands and are far more whiny and oversensitive than the religious people they hold in so much ironic disdain.

[Mustangfan2003]

Ford is going to counter with an F150 with Darwin badges on it. 

[Laconian]

This commercial was transparent to the point of being insulting.

[GoCougs]

It still references a Bible story.  The beginning of the Bible story, creation.  This isn't the innocuous underdog felling a giant David and Goliath story, this is invoking the Christian creation story. 

Also, I bet if you ask a great deal of true believers, you'll find more than a fair few who don't believe it's allegorical. 

Meh. I'm neither a fan of Dodge nor gods and I think it was fantastic.

[850CSi]

This commercial was transparent to the point of being insulting.

This is pretty much my point.

[Rupert]

I didn't say offensive, I said insulting.  Using the Bible reference immediately implies that anyone who doesn't believe in the 7 day creation story doesn't deserve or is not worthy of owning a Ram.

I look at it like anyone who doesn't believe in the Jeebus is too smart to want to own such a stupid truck. 

[Rupert]

This commercial was transparent to the point of being insulting.

x2

[veeman]

didn't want to get into any religious/atheist arguments here.  never discuss religion or politics...

i thought the commercial was cool.  chrysler deleted some of the more male chauvinist lines and some of the more religious lines from the original speech given in 1978 by Paul Harvey to the Future Farmers of America Convention:




And on the 8th day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board." So God made a farmer.

"I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife's done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon -- and mean it." So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, 'Maybe next year.' I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain'n from 'tractor back,' put in another seventy-two hours." So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So God made a farmer.

God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week's work with a five-mile drive to church.

"Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life 'doing what dad does.'" So God made a farmer.



while the allegory is not nearly as true today due to most farming being done by factory farms, i don't think most farmers found it insulting based on internet chatter.  it's paying homage to them.  the ad is clearly polarizing and i can see why some people don't like being "preached" to. 

[Raza]

1) Most people even remotely interested in buying an American pickup truck believe in God.

2) The fact that the mere mention of something borderline religious, in a figurative context, on a TV commercial, insults anybody that much means atheists have way too much time on their hands and are far more whiny and oversensitive than the religious people they hold in so much ironic disdain.

Some statistics show that only 20-40% of Americans go to church regularly.  That immediately alienates 60-80% of Americans who do not.

And you definitely didn't grow up where I did, because there are a lot of people who drive big trucks who aren't farmers and aren't Christians and have worked in an office their whole lives.  It was targeted to people who aren't farmers, obviously.  It's targeted at people who work in offices and keep their trucks clean. 

This ad was alienating, definitely.  A little insulting, yes, but no, not the worst thing I've ever seen (and definitely insulting to actual farmers, as Farris mentioned).  But it read like a damn Sarah Palin for President ad.  I'm not surprised to see so many "America for Real Americans" proponents on this board have swooned over it. 

[Raza]

I look at it like anyone who doesn't believe in the Jeebus is too smart to want to own such a stupid truck. 

That may very well be true, but that's not going to be their advertising strategy.   

[Lebowski]

Some statistics show that only 20-40% of Americans go to church regularly.  That immediately alienates 60-80% of Americans who do not.

And you definitely didn't grow up where I did, because there are a lot of people who drive big trucks who aren't farmers and aren't Christians and have worked in an office their whole lives.  It was targeted to people who aren't farmers, obviously.  It's targeted at people who work in offices and keep their trucks clean. 

This ad was alienating, definitely.  A little insulting, yes, but no, not the worst thing I've ever seen (and definitely insulting to actual farmers, as Farris mentioned).  But it read like a damn Sarah Palin for President ad.  I'm not surprised to see so many "America for Real Americans" proponents on this board have swooned over it. 

Who cares?

I'm an atheist and was not the least bit put off by it. Get over yourself.  There's more important things in life then running around looking for shit to be insulted by.

[SVT666]

Guys, "on the 8th day god created..." is a common epithet to express admiration."..in the Bible belt."

I've never heard it used that way except by religious folk.

Just Google the phrase. It's so common that calling it "religious" is unfair.

Really?  Unfair?  Nice CougSPIN, but you're wrong.

And pretty much most everyone understands the creation story is allegorical.

Obviously you have never met too many religious folk.