brian's version of car talk - 1 of ?

i noticed more closely today while glancing at a full ad taken out in the wall street journal by general motors (GM) how much their marketing has turned away from price, performance, luxury, etc. & is completely focused on miles per gallon (MPG).

the advertising was clever because it only include MPG for highway miles - always read the fine print. according to GM's ad all of their trucks/suburbans are right at 20 MPG for highway excluding the escalade which falls just below the 20 MPG mark at 19 MPG. their saturn aura & pontiac G6 were the only two cars listed in the ad that were reported to get 30 MPG which for highway mileage isn't all that great considering what some models from toyota & honda offer.

it shouldn't shock anyone that GM is hurting right now. i heard a story on NPR last week discussing GM's move to cut insurance coverage for retirees. the article jokingly referred to GM as generous motors.

GM isn't going to get themselves out of this hole that they've dug for themselves with some clever ads. they need to begin building sensible vehicles that offer solid quality all around which includes good gas mileage. it's time for GM to remember what engineering & not marketing is all about.

lover's day

over the past few week’s my e-mail account has been flooded with advertisements from various vendors from whom i subscribe & many that i do not subscribe with ads promoting valentine’s day “deals.” restaurants in the area, flemings, vespaio, asti, fino, & roy’s for example, have sent me their menus & prices for Vday, 800flowers & proflowers have both sent me at least 10 e-mails saying order now, last chance to get flowers there on time, special savings, etc., grapevine market e-mailed me on special “savings” on wines, even apple e-mailed me with an ad for a Vday iPod (color red) or iPhone gift idea, & to top things off good old hugh hefner sent me ad titled “make any of these playmates your valentine.”

so you tell me, is this the day of love or just another BID day for business to take advantage of folks by bullying them into making purchases & spending cash on dinners/flowers/etc to show their “love” for one another? kristin & i have always joked that Vday is the day for “lovers” who have yet to have or will never have an anniversary to go out & celebrate their “love.” as if it wasn’t difficult enough to get good dinner reservations on a friday & saturday night… do you really think i want to head out tonight when all the other “lovers” who never go out & tonight who will be out – most of whom will be playing it up big in comparison to their normal dinner for two at olive garden or chili’s?

anyone who is in love knows that love is not made of money, it is not wrapped in a box, nor does it appear in a vase. love has no face – it’s an emotion that lives deep within us & is expressed in so many different ways. love isn’t a material, it’s expressed with actions.

do as you will today/tonight – but do it because you truly want to do it – not because of what the ads in your e-mail tells you to do or what the commercials on TV suggest you do. when you are in love, you’ll know what the right thing to do is – trust me, because i am in love.