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Lexus: Every piece is a masterpiece?
From such a bold advertising strap line you would honestly expect better from Andy Warhol. I mean, honestly, he doesn’t even know a thing about cars does he? I bet he doesn’t even own a toolbox.
Ok, so we know it wasn’t Andy, Van Gogh or Dali themselves who came up with this range of ‘arty’ advertising profiles for the current Lexus model but it may as well have been someone as equally unqualified.
Perhaps a little harsh, I guess, but more than fair. I can only suggest that the creative director had perhaps nipped out to get the office foccacias and mocca-latte-double espresso-frothy coffees (extra sugar for Marjorie remember!) on the day of the Lexus brief and left his fresh-faced college intern to complete the task.
This delivery is lazy to say the least and at best it can almost be classed as a weak parody. When I first saw the artwork I didn’t even realise which product it represented due to it’s unfamiliar technical subject. For the at-a-glance person on the street they’ll also be wondering why Lexus have moved into the photocopier/printing market. So it’s an engine thingy that makes the whole car go whizz and broom-broom at the delight of its owner – however it still doesn’t disguise the sheer lack of an over used gimmick.
It surely must be the last resort in the biscuit barrel for the frustrated or mentally dry creative team, like picking up the crumbs of a desperate campaign for a product we really would expect better from. We can clearly see the intent of the campaign, don’t get me wrong, but it’s almost too clever for its own good.
A symbol of motoring supremacy being underlined by it’s artistic classic stance as if created by the new generation of expressionists or contempories. But essentially the delivery or the intent is far too subtle for it to reach a wider demographic.
Let’s face it, it’s more subtle than tickling a butterfly with a feather and then feeding it cotton candy. Surely only these images would be better suited for the swanky boardroom of Lexus head office or a charming, delicate piece of art for the receptionist to dust occasionally in between transferring calls on the switchboard.
“Good morning Lexus…how may I direct your call? {short pause} Yes, well why don’t you ask Saatchi & Saatchi about that one”.
My thoughts precisely.
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As a car fanatic and trained automotive technician, these ads still don’t work.
Only the first picture has *anything* to do with Lexus, I am left struggling to identify anything remotely Lexus in the last two.
As for the first one, the only thing that says Lexus to me is the plastic engine cover that actually says Lexus (otherwise that plastic bit looks like the front-end of the new Ford pickup.)
So, Lexus thinks that I will admire their design . . . of a piece of plastic that covers their engine. The engine that already has a cover, that nobody opens. (Anybody with a need to open the hood, such as myself, finds the cover a ridiculous nuisance that is not only in the way of the engine, but in poor taste. Almost universally engine covers feature fuax intake runners that look nothing like the actual ones. Sometimes even to the point that they attempt to make it look like the engine is turned 90° in the engine bay, this of course is silly as the engine belts and crank would then be coming out the side of the block, and so fools no-one.)
Comment by Miles — 2 April, 2009 @ 3:22 am