Little babe-magnet

When I looked at this assignment and saw that we had to find the seven deadly sins in advertising, I immediately thought of car advertisements. Cars can be advertised demonstrating ANY of the seven deadly sins. This specific ad is hilariously interesting to me for many reasons.

This is an ad made in 1996 by Daihatsu Motor Co. in Japan for the Daihatsu Hijet MPV. Most of the ad is taken up by the words, "Picks up five times more women than a Lamborghini", and then pictures a Daihatsu Hijet MPV with a man sitting in the front seat and five other women in the car. 

It is most likely intended for an audience of men. Specifically men that don't really have a way with women, which can be inferred by the message and the image of the man in the car. He is wearing large glasses and a turtle-neck, which is not a very attractive combination, if I do say so myself. The intended male audience is probably that of the middle class, because it compares the cheaper car being presented to a much more expensive Lamborghini, inferring the audience cannot afford such an expensive car. The intended audience is also probably very small-minded and single men, who are fooled by the use of women as a persuasive method.

The ad uses black and white coloring and formatting to create contrast between the words and the background and make the words the focus of the ad. The car is also in a white color, the same as the background, to not bring as much attention to it as the words. The words read, "Picks up five times more women than a Lamborghini". This ad clearly uses lust as a method of persuasion. The main focus of the ad is a sentence that suggests that this cheap and unattractive car is better compared to a Lamborghini just because it has more space to pick up specifically women. Lamborghini is a car company that was extremely successful at the time, and comparing their crap car to Lambo was a big mistake in my point of view. Especially since it is suggesting that the only reason it is better than a Lambo is because of the amount of women it can hold. You should also read the fine print at the bottom that you probably assume are factual details about the car itself. The little paragraph begins with, "Forget your Italian racers. This little babe-magnet is the Daihatsu Hijet MPV. Don't laugh... Two sun roofs for when things get hot." I find it hilarious because its basing it's entire advertising methods on the subjugation of women and the assumption that the intended audience won't realize how crap of a car it is after being told it can hold five women. No wonder this ad and this car had no success whatsoever.