August 24, 2014 by David K. Sutton
Does Cadillac ‘Fame’ Commercial Show Contempt For Customers?
General Motors’ Cadillac division has played this commercial for the past few months, and I’m just as confused over its messaging now as the first time I saw it.
The commercial features the indulgences of fame and adulation through various thematic historical depictions, and then cuts to a modern couple driving their brand new Cadillac Escalade. All of this is accompanied by David Bowie’s “Fame” from his 1975 album, Young Americans.
Did Cadillac not listen to the lyrical content of this song, or did they just not care? Or in other words, is Cadillac showing willful antipathy for their target demographic? Make no mistake, the message of this commercial and other Cadillac commercials running this year is likely an appealing message to the rich asshole demographic. But, let’s look at the lyrics of the song “Fame” as heard during the run of this commercial.
Fame, makes a man take things over
Fame, lets him loose, hard to swallow
Fame, puts you there where things are hollow
“Makes a man take things over”? Okay, I guess Cadillac’s target demographic has no problem with that.
“Let’s him loose, hard to swallow”? Okay, this is getting interesting.
“Puts you there where things are hollow”? Okay, I’m thinking at this point Cadillac is showing full-on contempt for their customers. Because they are banking on their customers not even getting this message. Really, I think they expect their target demographic to pretty much tune out everything after the word “fame.”
What do you think?
