Monday, February 3, 2014

What I think of the Audi "Doberhuahua" Superbowl Commercial

I'm sure you've seen the Audi "Doberhuahua" commercial by now. I saw it before the Superbowl. I didn't even see the Superbowl (go team!). It's caused discussion in the dog and Doberman world, as one might assume. Interesting discussion, interesting thoughts. There are of course many ways to look at it.


(it's also not summer yet)



Well. Neither breed is well represented here. We Doberman people get a little edgy when people portray our breed, even as a misbegotten halfbreed, as vicious and unbalanced and a loose cannon. Of course, Chihuahua people could very well the same way. I've never personally met a well bred Chihuahua of appropriate temperament; I'm sure they exist, but they're a breed that's suffered dearly as well, due to movie popularity, negligence, and overbreeding.

I've never taken Elka to a dog park, nor will I, but the peoples' extreme SAVE YOURSELVES! reaction is an exaggeration of something I'll see just walking her down the street. They cross the street. They lock their car doors. They get back into cars, or go back inside. I haven't seen (heard?) anybody scream at least, but it's really very strange, to me. But there's no accounting for what a stranger and their dog may or may not do, breed notwithstanding.

Then there's the salesperson who's all "LOL, designer breeds! Golly, it's the ticket for when you can't choose!" Personally, I don't think people are going to take dog advice from a car commercial (and if they do, it should be from those Subaru commercials where the dogs have seat belts. Srsly.) They aren't going to run out and slap two breeds together because "why didn't I think of that?", from the pet store or otherwise, and I really hope I'm not wrong. But really? I have to give people some credit. They're not that easily influenced. Dog breeding might sound easy (put a boy and a girl together!), but the mechanics of it are involved, expensive, and gross. And if you're going to be a responsible breeder who titles and health tests....well, you know the commercial's "advice" is bull anyway.

I can say "Okay, it's kind of funny. That's clearly a freaky not-real dog. The couple clearly decides it's really not a good idea, and they clearly rescue a dog from the shelter in their swag Audi with the clearly spelled out message COMPROMISE IS BAD. The end." Really, I think Audi dropped the ball in not using "German engineering" in conjunction with the Doberman, but did VW do that already?

Bottom line: don't buy dogs from pet stores, don't randomly create designer breeds, rescue if you want, get a car you're happy with.

10 comments:

  1. I saw the commercial and I didn't watch the superbowl either. It made me uncomfortable. :\ Though obviously a joke, it still reinforces the vicious doberman stereotypes for people who DON'T know enough about dogs, even if just subconsciously.

    About your experiences, people still get inside and lock their car doors from Elka??? It's unfortunate that ridding the stereotypes still hasn't come as far as I thought, even though American show lines have been aiming for more docile temperaments for the past few decades.

    ~Fiona
    http://lancerandrara.blogspot.com/

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    1. Yup, I've seen people lock doors, shield, their children, etc. But I think people like that have already made their decision; a badly CG'ed car commercial isn't a place one gets educated about dogs.

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  2. In a weird way they are saying it is a bad idea, but the whole idea is slightly disturbing.

    My Dad had a friend at the airport that had a Doberman - one of the nicest dogs I ever met. He used to hang out in the hanger with all the guys, and loved to go flying with his owner.

    Monty and Harlow

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    1. The whole commercial was bizarre and kind of backwards, that is true.

      Hah, did the flying Doberman have his own goggles for in the plane? ;)

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  3. I'm not easily offended but the advertising message seems skewed. I am left with an ugly, vicious image and the idea that they don't compromise but i don't know what compromises they avoid in making their medium priced, rather mediocre car.

    But the ad did draw attention

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    1. The ad drew attention, that is true!

      I actually really don't have an opinion on Audi. My dad had one, and it's the first car I encountered that had "clutchless shifting", which was really cool. But they don't have a corner on that, certainly.

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  4. Replies
    1. Especially the over-the-top "SAVE YOURSELVES", I felt. And the apocalypse-esque ending.

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  5. You were the first person I thought of when I saw that commercial. The only good thing about the depiction of dobermans is that maybe it will keep them from being overbred due to popularity. Of course, depicting a dobie hybrid as a monstrous creation is probably just the thing to cause some morons to look for one.

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    1. Popularity doesn't do ANY breed favors, it wouldn't seem. I felt it did a reasonable job depicting "don't do this", but perhaps for the wrong reasons? Obviously, I don't like seeing a "bad" Doberman in any context, even a fake designer breed one.

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