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Save Us, Racist Superman!
Plucked from the sticky bowels of YouTube, this commercial for
an Illinois auto dealer has a certain resonance as Clinton and
Obama get ready for their (21st!) debate.
If you have trouble viewing the ad, here's a summary.
(Terrifying, bucktoothed sumo wrestler "Import Man" (representing "Asian capitalists") harasses nebbish woman.)
IMPORT MAN: Pay mo' fo' eeempot cahhhs from meeeeee! Hahahaha!
(Super Don, America's Doughiest Metahuman, flies into the scene.)
SUPER DON: I'm Super Don from South Oak Dodge in Matteson, and I can save you from the import car trap.
(He punches import man.)
IMPORT MAN: OOOOH!
(Import Man FLIES into the stratosphere, pursued for some reason by Super Don, as the hero READS a list of cheap cars.)
SUPER DON: Buy American from South Oak Dodge and Chryslers!
IMPORT MAN: Curse you, Super Don!
We now know why Lou Dobbs' show is uncancellable—nativists have powers.
Other Matt|4.16.08 @ 5:31PM|#
Save Us, Racist Superman!
Damn, I was thinking this would be joe's bio page or something with
the title.
|4.16.08 @ 5:34PM|#
Part of the reason I got out of the video production game is
because I didn't want to spend 8 hours a day sitting in front of a
computer, editing together this kind of moronic bullshit.
As a rule, the world would be a much better place if all car
salesmen and dealership owners were simply fed to a pit of ill
tempered alligators.
|4.16.08 @ 5:36PM|#
I often expressed my love and support capitalism and free
markets.
I never said it was always pretty.
Or intelligent.
Or tasteful.
Neil|4.16.08 @ 5:38PM|#
No doubt the liberal Democrat PC Police will want this banned, but I for one will stand up for free speech!!
|4.16.08 @ 5:41PM|#
BTW, nebbish is a noun. I had to look it up, but I will now gloat over my linguistic superiority.
|4.16.08 @ 5:41PM|#
1. I live in Chicago and I've never seen this commercial
before... Did it get pulled right away? It's no "Eagle Man," but
Bob Rohrman's getting a little stale, so I welcome the
competition.
2. Racist or not, you gotta love the touch at the end where the
sumo wrestler's voice is dubbed.
Fluffy|4.16.08 @ 5:42PM|#
Holy crap, is this a current ad?
Wow.
Shouldn't the people at DC be all over this infringement?
|4.16.08 @ 5:43PM|#
Neil, it's mouth-breathing, half-witted dolts like you that hold back the aesthetic.
Fluffy|4.16.08 @ 5:43PM|#
Mr. Eisner -
Perhaps Weigel is using nebbish not as an adjective, but as a noun
adjunct - like "police woman" or "mystery woman".
|4.16.08 @ 5:49PM|#
But which one is supposed to be Hillary and which one
Obama?
Oh, I get it, Super Don is McCain.
|4.16.08 @ 5:49PM|#
This is kinda like if Pat Buchanan was behind the Victory Auto Wreckers ad campaign(Chicagoans will get that).
Rimfax|4.16.08 @ 5:50PM|#
Of course it is never mentioned but IMPORT MAN has a superpower,
too: Chrysler quality.
Reminds me of an old joke about the standing order for German
bomber pilots during WWII not to bomb any Lucas Electric plants,
because "They're on our side."
|4.16.08 @ 5:56PM|#
In form, function and philosphy it's brilliant!
Take that pc purveyors and thought police.
|4.16.08 @ 5:59PM|#
[quote]In form, function and philosphy it's
brilliant![/quote]
I'm going to assume you're trolling. But I could spend about twenty
minutes explaining the shitty compositing, the boring camera
angles, and the utter stupidity of the concept.
|4.16.08 @ 6:05PM|#
ClubMedSux | April 16, 2008, 5:41pm | #
1. I live in Chicago and I've never seen this commercial before...
Did it get pulled right away? It's no "Eagle Man," but Bob
Rohrman's getting a little stale, so I welcome the
competition.
It's Bob ROOOOAAAAARRRR-man.
|4.16.08 @ 6:07PM|#
AWESOME.
I love cable commercials, WGN and TNT were the first two cable
channels to come to my small town - I grew up singing 588-2300
Empire! So I've always known where to get carpet in Chicago, and
now I know where to get a Chrysler.
|4.16.08 @ 6:08PM|#
Reminds me of a great T-shirt I saw in Greenwich Village a few years ago: BUY AMERICAN - FUCK PRICE AND QUALITY
|4.16.08 @ 6:12PM|#
1. I live in Chicago and I've never seen this commercial
before... Did it get pulled right away? It's no "Eagle Man," but
Bob Rohrman's getting a little stale, so I welcome the
competition.
I haven't seen this ad either, although I would imagine it runs
normally during daytime TV. Just like the majority of the Eagle Man
commercials!
My favorite Eagle man commercial was the one that had Mancow in
it.
It's Bob ROOOOAAAAARRRR-man.
What's worse, to me, is that Howard Pontiac, Elmhurst - "On
Graaaaaaaaaand Avenue" - is still trotting out Howard's
"grandmother" and the bitch is STILL making cookies for each car he
sells. She's been baking cookies for the past decade...you'd think
she'd be diabetic by now or died of an obesity related heart
attack.
I do miss the Celozzi-Ettleson Chevrolet guys -- "Where you always
save more money" - I think one of them died recently.
|4.16.08 @ 6:15PM|#
I grew up singing 588-2300
The old joke, when I was growing up, was whenever someone wanted
your phone number, you would give them the Empire phone number, one
digit at a time, and slowly and see if they would catch on.
I am also STILL a bit disturbed by the weird addition of "800" in
front of the 588-2300 number. I don't remmeber exactly when they
added it, but it is one of the shittiest editing jobs ever.
Full Disclosure, we have empire carpeting at home
|4.16.08 @ 6:24PM|#
What's worse, to me, is that Howard Pontiac, Elmhurst - "On
Graaaaaaaaaand Avenue" - is still trotting out Howard's
"grandmother" and the bitch is STILL making cookies for each car he
sells.
Every time I pass Grand Ave. (including the one up near Gurnee
which isn't even the right one), I turn to my wife and say "On
Graaaaaaaaaaaaand Avenue," and it drives her nuts. I think it's
hilarious. She thinks... well, she reads H&R too. I'll let her
speak for herself.
Oh, and definitely buy Empire over Luna. I play softball (16" of
course) against the Luna Carpet team, and they're a bunch of
dicks.
tesseract|4.16.08 @ 6:32PM|#
I once saw a Chevy dealer's ad which featured an animation of a waving US flag for most of the duration of the commercial, and the voice-over: "Buy American - American cars are as good as, or in some cases better than, Japanese cars."
|4.16.08 @ 6:33PM|#
I turn to my wife and say "On Graaaaaaaaaaaaand Avenue," and
it drives her nuts.
HILARIOUS!!
Sadly, my wife isn't from the ChicagoLand area and wouldn't
appreciate that.
One day when I saw the updated Howard's grandma commercial I
started laughing and shaking my head that he was still using the
old shtick -- she didn't get it at all.
Leah|4.16.08 @ 6:40PM|#
Every time I pass Grand Ave. (including the one up near Gurnee
which isn't even the right one), I turn to my wife and say "On
Graaaaaaaaaaaaand Avenue," and it drives her nuts. I think it's
hilarious. She thinks... well, she reads H&R too. I'll let her
speak for herself.
Oh, and definitely buy Empire over Luna. I play softball (16" of
course) against the Luna Carpet team, and they're a bunch of
dicks.
It was really annoying the first 100 or so times. Now it's gotten
kind of funny. I guess we really can get used to anything...
|4.16.08 @ 6:53PM|#
Come for the racism ... stick around for the
protectionism!
Why are car dealers the only businesses that insist on making their
own homemade commercials? They're just gawdawful. There was an ad
for MasterBuilt Motors in Birmingham some years back that was just
some 70 year old gas bag saying "MasterBuilt Motors" 3 times fast.
It was just odd.
|4.16.08 @ 6:54PM|#
@ChicagoTom
The old joke, when I was growing up, was whenever someone
wanted your phone number, you would give them the Empire phone
number, one digit at a time, and slowly and see if they would catch
on.
And who could forget Timmy from Long
Chevrolet?
I remember there was a going joke at the time: "I have good news
and bad news. The bad news is that John Gacy has escaped from
prison. The good news is that Timmy from Long Chevrolet has
disappeared."
|4.16.08 @ 6:54PM|#
"Headon, apply directly to the forehead."
"Headon, apply directly to the forehead."
"Headon, apply directly to the forehead."
|4.16.08 @ 6:59PM|#
Trivia contest: who said this to an alliance of
western-Pennsylvania manufacturers yesterday:
The truth is, trade is here to stay. We live in a global
economy. For America's future to be as bright as our past, we have
to compete. We have to win.
Not every job that has left is coming back. And not every job lost
is due to trade -automation has made plants more efficient so they
can make the same amount of steel with few workers. These are the
realities.
I also don't oppose all trade deals. I voted for two of them
because they have the worker and environmental agreements I believe
in. Some of you disagreed with me on this but I did what I thought
was right.
|4.16.08 @ 7:04PM|#
"Why are car dealers the only businesses that insist on making
their own homemade commercials"
Don't forget furniture stores - possibly even more obnoxious.
Chamdar|4.16.08 @ 7:05PM|#
Whoever made this bit of genius must also be behind
"Neil".
And unsursprisingly, Neil's defending this racist garbage. It's
even worse and more hypcoritical than, say, Lou Dobbs since his
"Freedom's Watch" site claims to support free markets, but I guess
they don't like it when those uppity foreigners (i.e., Asian
automakers) get better at capitalism than Americans.
And who still bashes Japanese cars these days? It's 2008, not 1985.
Besides, aren't most Toyotas and Hondas made in the U.S. now?
|4.16.08 @ 7:08PM|#
Trivia contest: who said this to an alliance of western-Pennsylvania manufacturers yesterday:
Super Don?
lunchstealer|4.16.08 @ 7:12PM|#
Oh, I get it, Super Don is McCain.
Yeah, but the writers made it too subtle, and it went over most
peoples' heads. If they'd wanted people to get the McCain thing,
they'd have had him call the sumo-guy "Import Gook".
(In fairness, McCain hasn't publicly called anybody a gook in,
like, a couple of years.)
|4.16.08 @ 7:13PM|#
And who could forget Timmy from Long Chevrolet?
Pig Mannix
Wow.
I hadn't seen that one -- but that was terrible!
"OVER 200 CHEVETTES!!" - until 10PM --
Wow
alan|4.16.08 @ 7:32PM|#
W. Eisner | April 16, 2008, 7:17pm | #
I can't hear you, Fluffy. I'm too busy being smug.
If there is anyone who deserves to be smug about this, it is me. I
have been using nebbish, and doing so correctly, for a few weeks
now in post in the hope that that word would
catch on and it is all part of a diabolical scheme I have that will
unfurl in the next few months.
Apaulogist|4.16.08 @ 7:47PM|#
It's free speech, baby. If you don't like his adds, don't do business with him or organize a boycott.
|4.16.08 @ 7:48PM|#
The funny thing, of course, is that the Japanese cars are mostly made in the US, and the American cars are more and more being made in Mexico.
|4.16.08 @ 7:54PM|#
Hey Super-Don:
Two words: FUCK. YOU.
You can kiss my American nut-sac.
Who let these goddamn racists into my country?
|4.16.08 @ 8:01PM|#
Apaulogist--I don't think anyone is suggesting otherwise.
Trailer-trash shit like this just deserves to be savagely
mocked.
|4.16.08 @ 8:02PM|#
It's free speech, baby. If you don't like his adds, don't do business with him or organize a boycott.
Despite being in the market for some furniture, I absolutely refuse
to buy anything from American Furniture Warehouse because the
television commercials Jake Jabs produces are almost as bad as eye
cancer.
|4.16.08 @ 8:07PM|#
Nobody bother me | April 16, 2008, 7:11pm | #
Nobody bother me, either.
That's "no-bah-dy bod-er me eideh" Get it right, will ya?
And with that, I bring you The Trunk
Monkey.
Yeah, I know you've already seen it, but it's never too late for
monkeys.
|4.16.08 @ 8:24PM|#
I am guessing that Emppppiiiire ( today) has the 800 in front because its not just a local Chicago place. If I want to order DOminos pizza in Nebraska, I don't call the one in Ypsilanti Michigan with no area code ( also where I am from area code is required for all local calls- so I get weirded out when I see ads anywhere with no area code).
|4.16.08 @ 9:07PM|#
As a rule, the world would be a much better place if all car
salesmen and dealership owners were simply fed to a pit of ill
tempered alligators.
I don't know. I kind of like the Midget Cannon and the
Sumo
Wrestler.
Chamdar|4.16.08 @ 10:17PM|#
It's free speech, baby. If you don't like his adds, don't do
business with him or organize a boycott.
That's precisely my point.
Orange Line Special|4.17.08 @ 12:23AM|#
Is there any way to lock the crack staff of Reason in a room with about 20 or so UAW workers? That'd make a great video.
BakedPenguin|4.17.08 @ 12:37AM|#
Sure, Lonewacko, right after you go into the room with 20 Mexicans.
Chamdar|4.17.08 @ 12:40AM|#
Is there any way to lock the crack staff of Reason in a room
with about 20 or so UAW workers? That'd make a great
video.
Leave it up to a vile scumfuck like you to support racism and
violence.
Chamdar|4.17.08 @ 12:43AM|#
I wonder if Lonewacko thought beating Vincent Chin to death was totally justified? Sure, he was actually of Chinese descent, but hey, they're "all the same" anyway, right?
|4.17.08 @ 1:21AM|#
Orange Line Special | April 17, 2008, 12:23am | #
Is there any way to lock the crack staff of Reason in a room
with about 20 or so UAW workers? That'd make a great
video.
What exactly are you saying here? That UAW workers are buffoons who
would beat the reason writers because their political views are
different? It was a foolish comment.
|4.17.08 @ 1:50AM|#
Chrysler and Nissan just announced a partnership to build cars..
so are we going to see a new commercial where Super Don and Import
Man make up?
Nissan and Chrysler
SaveTheCorporations|4.17.08 @ 2:44AM|#
I realize this is difficult to understand, but Reason is
engaging in a LogicalFallacy, trying to claim that because someone
created an apparently questionable commercial (sorry, didn't watch
it) then we should just let the U.S. AutoIndustry twist in the
wind.
And, while unions are reknowned for thuggery, it wouldn't have to
be that way! Reason's crack staff could simply engage in a spirited
discussion with the union members, with the latter suggesting that
Reason either act like Americans or leave the country. They'd make
the point that the U.S. AutoIndustry is vital and cannot be allowed
to fail. They'd help Reason stop acting like tranzis and start
supporting U.S. interests. That certainly doesn't have to involve
useless gestures like a BuyAmerican sticker or just words of
encouragement, but might involve a plan and/or argumentation
designed to make the U.S. AutoIndustry more efficient and
competitive. That would be the patriotic libertarian approach, not
the tranzi/different-kind-of-patriotism approach favored by
Reason.
|4.17.08 @ 5:15AM|#
Reason is engaging in a LogicalFallacy
They were engaging in making fun of an idiot. I can see how that is
in your blind spot, though.
we should just let the U.S. AutoIndustry twist in the
wind
"twist in the wind" = compete. Wah.
|4.17.08 @ 5:52AM|#
•
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
(TEMA).
• Honda
Manufacturing Facilities In North America.
shminky|4.17.08 @ 6:03AM|#
What's Weigel's point, besides that he's a hip
anti-racist?
I have no interest in watching this commercial, I assume it's just
goofy, but I don't find it "racist" to use a Sumo wrestler to
represent Japanese imports. And if the guy specializes in American
cars, then it's his right to try to make imports look bad, no
matter how inaccurate that may be.
Barry|4.17.08 @ 6:43AM|#
if you like crappy local ads, look up some of the gems that came out of New Orleans on youtube; I esp. recommend SEAFOOD CITY and FRANKIE AND JONNIE'S FURNITURE...
Phil D|4.17.08 @ 8:23AM|#
while we're on the subject of bad local tv commercials, who can forget the montgomery flea market rap?
|4.17.08 @ 8:54AM|#
I grew up singing 588-2300 Empire!
Wow... flashback! I lived in Stevensville and St. Joseph, Michigan,
for two years in the mid-80s, and we got the Chicago channels.
Despite the fact that I remember nothing about the commercials (or
even that they had anything to do with carpeting), that tune is
indelibly printed in my brain, right next to the song for the
Spider-Man shorts from the Electric Company.
Damian P.|4.17.08 @ 9:08AM|#
Lee Iacocca is still running Chrysler?
Speaking of badly-made car-dealer ads, can anyone from Detroit tell
me if Mel Farr is still wearing his Superman cape?
dhex|4.17.08 @ 9:35AM|#
the montgomery flea market is so much better in so many
ways.
i do have a weird love of shitty compositing in bad commercials. i
can't explain it. it's like when i see seven or eight layers of
lens flare on a club flyer. it just makes me happy.
|4.17.08 @ 10:05AM|#
I grew up singing 588-2300 Empire!
I had finally gotten that out of my head 10 years after living in
Chicagoland, and now its back.
Thanks. Thanks a lot.
T|4.17.08 @ 11:58AM|#
Why are car dealers the only businesses that insist on
making their own homemade commercials?
Watch more late night cable. I have a twisted love of the inane
commercials I get for local businesses. Of course, the biggest
offender down here is Mattress Mac and his goddamned ubiquitous
furniture commercials.
|4.17.08 @ 12:36PM|#
Why are car dealers the only businesses that insist on
making their own homemade commercials?
And let's not forget local attorneys. My personal favorite in
Chicago is Isadore Bernstein, who looks like he's about to keel
over and die in his somewhat obscure but classic late-night
commercial. During my two years in Colorado, I grew quite fond of
Frank Azar, "The Strong Arm."
Russ 2000|4.17.08 @ 1:53PM|#
I am also STILL a bit disturbed by the weird addition of
"800" in front of the 588-2300 number. I don't remmeber exactly
when they added it, but it is one of the shittiest editing jobs
ever.
I was visiting family in Boston a couple years ago and a local
station there was running the same ad. You can't get away from the
creepy Empire Carpet guy. He's bad AND nationwide!
Still, I sorta miss the creepy Fencl-Tufo puppets and Harry
Schmerler you singing Ford dealer. At least Al Piemonte is still
sterotyping Italian hand gestures.
Guy Montag|4.17.08 @ 11:41PM|#
And some of you thought I was making up this town, where I lived
as a kid, and it's wall-to-wall racism!
I left in 1975 and this is the first I have heard of that car
dealership. The closest Dodge dealer I remember was in Park Forest,
or close to there. First time I saw a 1969 Charger Daytona was in
their showroom.
I wonder how close to Lincoln Mall and the Cracker Barrel (was
there in 1998 when I visited last) this dealership sat?
Guy Montag|4.17.08 @ 11:43PM|#
Why are car dealers the only businesses that insist on
making their own homemade commercials?
Just kiss my bumper, just kiss it!
Senate Insurance!
Guy Montag|4.17.08 @ 11:45PM|#
RCD,
What about that Ferrel Hicks car dealer commercial from 4747 South
Ashland Avenue?
Guy Montag|4.17.08 @ 11:50PM|#
Chrysler and Nissan just announced a partnership to build
cars.. so are we going to see a new commercial where Super Don and
Import Man make up?
Or how about that MOPAR/Mitsubishi hookup in the 1970s/1980s?
Nothing new under the sun.
Oh, for that UAW vs. Reason staff, I have my money on the Reason
crew if there are any microwave ovens nearby.
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