You may remember I wrote about an obnoxious
advertising campaign for Cargiant a few months ago. It was about smug faced Chris and how he was managing to have an affair behind his wife's back. It was a cynical attempt to get people's backs up. It worked.
Now an apparently chastened and repentant Cargiant have updated the advert to be less offensive. Maybe I am cynical, but I suspect that this was their plan all along - publicity for being inappropriate, followed by publicity for learning their lesson and changing the ad. Well it's worked hasn't it? At least in the small scale of my blog. But I only write about it on the understanding that all of you will remember the name Cargiant and promise never, ever to give them any of your business and if you meet anyone who is thinking of doing so, you will dissuade them.
The funny thing is that although toned down, the new advert is still just as unpleasant as the last one, especially given we already have the information that Chris is cheating on his wife, or was doing a few months ago. He seems to have learned nothing and resents her and his own children just as much for getting in the way of his stupid selfish life. Here's what the advert says,
"Chris had a long face. 'The boss' had landed him with a big project that threatened the weekend's golf plan.
Research, testing, recommendation, finance - the full works.
... ad that was just buying the new family car. She also wanted him to do something with the kids and visit her mother... goodbye golf.
So he made an executive decision... took the kids to Cargiant, found a cracker, sealed the deal, saved a bundle... even managed to swing by grandma's on the way home in their lovely new car.
No car Friday, new car Saturday, golf swing Sunday.
Giant smiles!"
He is still an awful man, clearly, who considers taking his children to Cargiant counts as spending time with them, and in any case, sees the father/child relationship a chore that gets in the way of his "golf" (although they don't put golf in inverted commas, I am pretty sure that this is just his name for his girlfriend, who he swings with - just as his wife is his "boss"). He is still, thus, an objectionable twassock and Cargiant's attempt to ingratiate itself with the people it has offended, as well as trying to keep in with the laddish, women-hating men that they hope will buy their cars has fallen between two stools. I feel, however, there may be a film in the true life story of Chris, who I suspect might also turn out to be a serial killer, who uses Cargiant to offload vehicles that he has used in his crimes and to buy new ones without blood and hair in the boot. There's an idea for you Cargiant advertisers, who seem not to have taken my previous advice to kill themselves.
But if they do the serial killer idea then I might actually buy a car from the unpleasantly tainted idiots after all.