Car Commercial

One thing that I have been told more than once by Japanese people living in Canada is that commercials are boring on Canadian TV. I always found that quite a funny comment to make. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that back home, I change channels as soon as commercials start. So I never saw the point of such comments… Until I got to Japan and watched TV!

Commercials are anything but boring here. Well, some are but in general, they are pretty entertaining. I think many people are familiar with the ones featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tommy Lee Jones or more recently Jean Reno, Orlando Bloom or Leonardo DiCaprio. If not, definitely check them out. Especially the Boss Coffee series with Tommy Lee Jones and the Toyota~Doraemon series with Jean Reno! They’re worth a look.

Today, I’m going to introduce one that’s on TV recently (not featuring foreign actors, though). It’s a commercial for the Move by Daihatsu about the ‘smart assist’ function that includes false start control and can help avoid collisions under 15 km/h. The commercial is basically about how the car compensates for mistakes by the driver: in this case, if you suddenly press on the accelerator pedal from a parked state, the car won’t budge. But it’s funny in its form and in the acting.

First, it takes place in a court room where they’re using absurd testimonies like in those bad soap operas! Then, the self-confidence with which the lawyer makes his case is priceless. “If you step on the tiger’s tail, you’re done for. But look how nothing happen when you activate ‘smart assist’.” And that fierce look the ‘tiger’ gives at the end! Like saying “you can’t beat our case!”

Let’s watch it here. (The movie is in the upper right corner.)

And there’s a whole series with these characters and this concept. They’re all pretty funny!