the impossible dream
December 12, 2005 3:16 AM   Subscribe

Honda Adv A great adv with a pilot that use many old and new honda vehicles to follow his unreachable star singing the impossible dream.
posted by P.O.W. (50 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: dude. DUDE. dude.



 
Wow, a corporate promotion video. Interesting to see the history of Honda with all of those different vehicles, but in the end ... a corporate promotion video, and another co-op of a classic song used to move product.

Call me jaded, but this kind of video leaves me empty inside.
posted by Dag Maggot at 3:39 AM on December 12, 2005


I hope MeFi is getting paid to run this ad.

Boo.
posted by robcorr at 3:41 AM on December 12, 2005


oh, Garrison.
posted by boo_radley at 3:51 AM on December 12, 2005


so, matt. enjoying mefi these days?
posted by quonsar at 4:00 AM on December 12, 2005


Honda Blue
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:00 AM on December 12, 2005


flagged, moving on.
posted by phylum sinter at 4:03 AM on December 12, 2005


there is no such thing as a stupid post, only stupid people

in retrospect, comments like this one are also stupid. but upon further contemplation I feel it would be easier to just hit post rather than hit the backspace button or select all the text and hit delete. Which would be click, move mouse, hit delete key. posting is just moving and clicking once. choose post. choose life.
posted by tweak at 4:13 AM on December 12, 2005


I see it's POW's first link, so some slack should be given, but I would certainly recommend a re-reading of the posting guidelines before the next one.
posted by ciderwoman at 4:14 AM on December 12, 2005


I'm not going to bother trying to find it, but one of Honda's previous commercials ... the one with the rube goldberg setup ... was posted here on Metafilter to great acclaim. In fact, good commercials have been linked in metafilter dozens of times. There's a difference between a shill and linking to a cool and clever piece of media. Learn the difference before knee-jerking with a pepsi-blue call-out.
posted by crunchland at 4:38 AM on December 12, 2005


crunchland, you are confusing me.

Are you saying this is a cool and clever piece of media? And that we're a bunch of knee-jerks for thinking this is an unentertaining corporate cheesy, schlock, barf fest?
posted by Dag Maggot at 4:45 AM on December 12, 2005


Metafilter: a pilot that use many old and new honda vehicles
posted by wfrgms at 4:52 AM on December 12, 2005


Eh. You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. Retract.
posted by crunchland at 4:54 AM on December 12, 2005


Jesus loves it.
posted by swift at 4:57 AM on December 12, 2005


well, five minutes ago I was reading an article in the independent about Honda and its new adv..(wtf?) so this was an extremely brilliant post for me.
posted by Frasermoo at 4:58 AM on December 12, 2005


I liked this post. The linked video is a very pretty piece of film making in its own right. Just trying to figure out where the places were - which side of the road was he driving on - is keeping me entertained.

I don't begrudge Honda their three seconds of logo time at the end.
posted by thparkth at 5:08 AM on December 12, 2005


Good post.... there are some ads worth sharing. A lot of money goes into making commercials, and often more creative energy than we see in feature films...

Thanks for the link... ignore the pepsi blue knee jerk, it happens everytime there is a link with a logo on the flip side!
posted by HuronBob at 5:28 AM on December 12, 2005


I caught this twice on TV over the weekend, & that was once too many for me.
posted by misteraitch at 5:30 AM on December 12, 2005


The bottom line is that this is not art, it's not something done for creativity's sake.

It's a public relations campaign designed to make us feel good about a mega-corporation.

I resent the attempt at manipulation and I resent the use of a great old song to try and connect to me.

This ad wasn't made by some inspired creative geniuses, it was made by some money grubbing marketing pricks on Madison Ave because someone in Honda has decided they need to upgrade their image.

Just because a lot of money goes into something, it doesn't make it good, it doesn't make it "art" and it doesn't (in this case) even make it entertaining.
posted by Dag Maggot at 5:43 AM on December 12, 2005


The bottom line is that this is not art, it's not something done for creativity's sake.

why can't it be for more than one reason (commercial and creative)? who are you to say it's not art?

What of Renaissance artists who worked for patrons? They often were making the art simply as propaganda to glorify and emphasize the power and wealth of the ruler. It doesn't make it uncreative or without aesthetic mert.
posted by tweak at 5:47 AM on December 12, 2005


mert = merit
posted by tweak at 5:47 AM on December 12, 2005


Yes, I thought that was Garrison. Not sure I like that fact...but good commercial. Commercial? Pep video?
posted by ParisParamus at 5:55 AM on December 12, 2005


there are some ads worth sharing

Sure, and if you made a FPP that included a bunch of them, I bet there would be less complaining about it. A post to one ad, that amounts to giving a corporation a free ride here.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:01 AM on December 12, 2005


this is not art, it's not something done for creativity's sake

That's also true of 98% of all other media surely?

Hatin' on Ad's just for being Ad's is lazy. If it's a particularly insipid piece, fair enough... bring the noise - otherwise it's predictable hot-air.
posted by stumcg at 6:03 AM on December 12, 2005


I'm not so snobby as to be above watching a good ad. Some of our most creative people work in ads...it's where the money is. Duh.

That said, I'm confused. This guy's dream is to burn fossil fuels in as many ways as humanly possible?
posted by fungible at 6:04 AM on December 12, 2005


Just because a lot of money goes into something, it doesn't make it good, it doesn't make it "art" and it doesn't (in this case) even make it entertaining.

But just because a lot of money goes into something, it doesn't make it bad, it doesn't disqualify it as "art," and it doesn't limit the piece to mere "entertainment."

I liked it, and I think it is cool to see the evolution from a little local motorcycle company to a global innovator.
posted by AgentRocket at 6:10 AM on December 12, 2005


The next time you hear "Impossible Dream" on the oldy's radio station, will you possibly think of Honda? Is that a good thing?

What does promoting a bunch of petrol consuming boxes have to do with the Impossible Dream? Anyone who thinks this piece of crap product placement is art can go back to watching American Idol and it's 20 or so "art pieces" interspersed within the program.

AgentRocket: "Global Innovator" ... oh please ... what PowerPoint presentation did you just crawl out of?
posted by Dag Maggot at 6:23 AM on December 12, 2005


I don't like this nearly as much as the Rube Goldberg ad Honda released last yearish (which, as others have pointed out, was also posted to MeFi, and people, including me, loved it). Like with the previous commercial though, this could have used some shoring up as a post. There were apparently newspaper articles about it, links to those might be interesting.

It is a pretty commercial, though. Is the last scene at Foz d'Iguacu?
posted by jacquilynne at 6:57 AM on December 12, 2005


this is not art, it's not something done for creativity's sake.

Art doesn't hinge on the artist having snow-white motivations.

POW liked the ad, and called it an ad for Honda in the post. As for "giving a corporation a free ride here," mefites are capable of a critical viewing.

If POW had hidden what it was about, I'd understand the madness, but as is I'm with stumcg-- no sense in being mad just because it's an ad.
posted by ibmcginty at 7:30 AM on December 12, 2005


I liked the ad, esp. the boat over the falls bit at the end. It's no rube goldberg commercial, but it's pretty good. I'll give POW a pass on this one.

The reactions against commercial art and fossil fuels make the post worth it though. Unclench, people!
posted by mathowie at 7:58 AM on December 12, 2005


Fact is, it's not that good an ad. It's retro styling is a bit passe, it's nicely shot, but what would expect. I get no great new insight from this ad, either culturally or of the product. It's not terrible, not by a long shot, but I very much doubt we'll still be talking about this ad in even a couple of years, the way that we still remember ads from ten years ago.

As for posting it, I dislike one link posts full stop. Give me a second link, whether it gives more info, back up, critics or just gives another example.
posted by ciderwoman at 8:00 AM on December 12, 2005


*sits on hands to avoid posting 'Honda sucks'-type web sites*
posted by mediareport at 8:32 AM on December 12, 2005


Well, I'm glad to see some criticism of the op, since I'd surely hate to see a flood of adorable adds on the MeFi frontpage.

Still, this ad is pretty cool. It raises some interesting questions of branding and the US auto market. One often hears about labor troubles at Ford and GM or, alternately, of their lack of technical innovation.

But, I have to admit, part of the reason I'm sort of averse to buying a car from Ford or GM is the sheer quantity of enormously stupid advertising those companies have managed to get into my brain over the past thirty years. I mean, when I consider how many "guys washing their cars" ads I've seen I feel I must claw out my eyes.

Cheers to Honda for making ads that don't make me want to die. And also for making cars less likely to kill me, once I'm wanting to stick around.
posted by washburn at 8:32 AM on December 12, 2005


Dag Maggot are you seriously putting up a fight in favour of preserving the artistic integrity of "Impossible Dream"?
posted by theinsectsarewaiting at 8:44 AM on December 12, 2005


Honda: intelligent design or evolution?
posted by Dukebloo at 9:18 AM on December 12, 2005


Why is it a linkshard.com link rather than the ads website The Power Of dreams, I wonder? .... could be lots of reasons. Linkshard gains cred asa a good place to seed advertising virals now tho, with all these pretty MefI hits to brag about, I'm sure.

(For those who like adstuffs, this entire print campaign and film+story is posted here on Adland where all ad posts are welcomed. disclosure: my site, not my post. Ta.)
posted by dabitch at 10:04 AM on December 12, 2005


The Honda website linked at the end of that video is far more interesting than this short advert. We take for granted that Honda is a very successful company, but when you think about how far/fast Japan has come since the end of WWII (just 60 years ago) one realizes why "The Impossible Dream" may have some resonance within the corporation.
posted by spock at 10:11 AM on December 12, 2005


The ad makes more sense if you understand that, along with racing, Soichiro Honda dreamed of flying. (I expected Honda's new little jet to whoosh out of those clouds of water vapor rather than that slowly rising baloon.) It also helps if you know that Honda Motors' first product was a little motorcycle named "Dream."

It's still just an ad, however. But that's OK with me.
posted by notyou at 10:17 AM on December 12, 2005


some money grubbing marketing pricks

No, ads are made by advertising professionals, many of whom went to art school, but wanted to make a living to support their family or whatever. Everyone has a job to do, just because it involves advertising doesn't mean someone is 'money grubbing' or a 'prick'.
posted by cell divide at 10:19 AM on December 12, 2005


I miss my CRX...
posted by Samizdata at 10:23 AM on December 12, 2005


cell divide has a point. "Money grubbing"is just about anybody doing his or her job for a paycheck; "prick" is just a useless invective. I should say, though, that in the context of the ongoing war on the poor and ignorant, advertising professionals virtually always align themselves with the corporate interests that are counter to the needs of the people. I say this as a former advertiser. To work in that industry is to make a professional pact to say and imply things that you know aren't true, and that don't necessarily serve the interests of the people they're directed at. Not every advertiser makes this pact, but the profession as a whole has earned its reputation for dishonesty and underhandedness.

This FPP is garbage, by the way. Matt ought to make posters submit their first few FPPs for approval. Viral marketing is real and growing.
posted by squirrel at 10:52 AM on December 12, 2005


the profession as a whole has earned its reputation for dishonesty and underhandedness.
Just as long as they aren't pricks . . .
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:12 AM on December 12, 2005


I went to the launch of this ad in London a couple of weeks ago. Nice bunch of people (Wieden + Kennedy), but the launch of an ad is a pretty ridiculous thing: free breakfast, then 15 minute 'Honda are great' talk, then 15 minute 'making of' video, then we watched the 2 minute spot. Then we watched it again - in case we missed anything the first time.

Then we left.
posted by runkelfinker at 11:18 AM on December 12, 2005


I see it's POW's first link, so some slack should be given, but I would certainly recommend a re-reading of the posting guidelines before the next one.
posted by ciderwoman at 7:14 AM EST on December 12 [!]


Make sure you post this in all the Apple Macintosh/iPod/iTunes/iXXXX FPPs.
posted by juiceCake at 12:06 PM on December 12, 2005


squirrel wins. this is crap. also, i figured it was an embedded video of some sort, but you should note that in the post. if I saw (QT) in there, i never would have clicked (and crashed my browser).

i watched in on the pod site (flash video). still crap. sorry.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:15 PM on December 12, 2005


I pinch.
posted by mhh5 at 1:30 PM on December 12, 2005


theinsectsarewaiting: Dag Maggot are you seriously putting up a fight in favour of preserving the artistic integrity of "Impossible Dream"?

It may not be your cup of chai, but you have to respect it as a classic song of American culture that does (did) not represent anything about selling Japanese cars.

Corporations trolling through back catalogs to find songs that resonate emotionally with people reall pisses me off.

It pissed me off when Carly Simon's Anticipation was sold to promoote ketchup. I'm sure a lot of money changed hands, and the world became a little more sordid and sad.
posted by Dag Maggot at 2:05 PM on December 12, 2005


Impossible Dream, Dag, was itself produced and distributed for sad and sordid money-hands-changing purposes.
posted by notyou at 2:32 PM on December 12, 2005


spock - JINX! :)
yep, odd that the actual ad-site wasn't linked instead of this.. I dunno.... seeding site thingie? squirrel seems to hint at what I'm thinking here - POW might be a viral seeder. First FPP and all, it just strikes me as a bit suspect. Then again, I have seen a few viral seeders around here before, so maybe I'm just paranoid.
posted by dabitch at 3:18 PM on December 12, 2005


Um, dabitch, I suspect POW (of POWzone.com) fame linked Linkshard because he likely owns the site...
posted by runkelfinker at 4:08 PM on December 12, 2005


"cheat at online poker"?
posted by matteo at 4:30 PM on December 12, 2005


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