This isn’t exactly breaking news, but it did my disillusioned heart good to read about indie rockers saying No to Hummer’s filthy lucre:
GM’s brand of luxury SUVs may be one of the most fashionable modes of transportation in the world, but Hummer ad money is turned down like … well … like nothing else. That’s even more shocking when you consider many of the artists in line to benefit could double their yearly income by saying yes. The offers generally begin at $50 grand — a ton of money for relative unknowns.
Bah Hummer: Indie rockers reject big money from the king of gas guzzlers
[Via Aurgasm]
Sue says:
March 8th, 2006 at 3:36 pm ESTVisit Sue
Didn’t the Shins have a song in a McDonald’s commercial? I don’t get the big difference between shilling for Mickey D’s and shilling for Hummer. Lots of rock bands have also had their tunes used by beer companies, and even recorded “This Bud’s for you” jingles. If any of 125’s artists wanted to have a song featured in a Hummer ad, this Prius owner wouldn’t try to stop ‘em. Corporate America is all pretty much of a piece, if you ask me.
Ezra says:
March 8th, 2006 at 4:54 pm ESTVisit Ezra
I suspect that Hummer is like fur; there are probably equally egregious instances of animal cruelty, but fur has a much deeper symbolic resonance.
Also, Modernista!, the ad agency for Hummer (and lots of other shitty clients) are local shits. See
http://www.bostonist.com/archives/2006/03/08/local_ad_agency_wants_you_to_help_with_hype.php
and
http://www.weeklydig.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/article.view/issueID/a76dbf1d-6e73-4b91-a984-6eb14e3ad36e/articleID/cf8ca5fe-9675-46a1-bb0b-2d7f16e8680f/nodeID/4b1339d1-be3a-44a2-be8b-1484963a003a
2fs says:
March 8th, 2006 at 5:39 pm ESTVisit 2fs
Sue: I don’t particularly support McDonald’s - but (a) as Ezra says, the Hummer has a lot of symbolic weight, and for some of the same reasons as fur: it’s an overpriced, useless luxury item that spits contempt in the face of everyone else. In fact, that’s one of its main selling points. And an individual purchaser of a McDonald’s burger is doing nowhere near the harm to the planet that an individual purchaser of a Hummer is. (Not to mention it’s a lot likelier that the Shins guys were actual McD’s customers than Hummer drivers.)
FWIW, I wrote a slightly nasty but somewhat thoughtful e-mail to Modernista (and tell me they’re the sort of idiots who want to insist that the screamer’s part of their name…bet they lowercase it too…). Probably not a damned thing will come of it. Do they have a conscience left to prick?
Editrix says:
March 8th, 2006 at 5:47 pm ESTVisit Editrix
Ez, I’d just seen that Bostonist post, but I’m glad you included it as well as the Dig one. Tangent: the mini interview with the president of Wainwright Bank (our bank, which we lurve), has this to say:
I hope he knows that he (or one of his staff) has been remiss in turning off the flat-screen TV in the little coffee lounge at the Davis Square branch. Doug’s had to use his TV-B-Gone remote to turn it off on the weekend!
LLA says:
March 11th, 2006 at 4:22 pm ESTVisit LLA
I had not seen/heard any of this prior to coming across it here, but it did my heart good…