Well, if I was being a cynic (who? me?) I might suggest that this is a case of a self-important agency person convincing a client with too little knowledge, and too much money to spend in the ad budget, that this is "cute" or "impressive" or "a great idea".

It might be interesting to find out if the agency responsible ever submitted this ad for on of those "best ad" competitions. But then, that would be cynical, so, of course I would never say that!

Except the ads are even more asinine than they need to be. The one that comes to mind is the one where the whole neighborhood comes out into a winter wonderland scene to see the look on the lucky new Lexus owner's face.

My only guess is that these assholes think that, by putting their car in a fairy tale scene, they can make the entire audience feel like Cinderella and if we all feel like Cinderella a few of us will bite the bullet and lease a goddamned Lexus in hopes that doing so will get us invited to the ball to dance with the kinds of people who buy each other cars for Christmas.

David, I am certainly not more sophisticated than you, but I can attest to the fact that you can sell ANYTHING with TV advertsing. I spent 20 years in the photo equipment industry and saw truly amazing stuff happen with 35mm cameras. Japanese manufacturers started a trend by divorcing themselves from their U.S. distributors in the 1970s and "going direct" meaning they would distribute their own products here.

When they put the products on TV, sales went through the roof. One company I worked for sold $26 million in product during its best year ever under American distributorship. The following year our quota was $47 million under the Japanese leadership. We couldn't believe it, but we made the quota. The year after that our Japanese managers gave us an $86 million quota, and we made that. One year later the quota was $120 million, and we darn near made that one as well.

The 35mm SLR market went from a specialty market to a mass market in about three years time. It was amazing to watch it from within the industry, and it happened because of TV advertising.

Will

David -- only a tiny percentage of the population might be able to act on what the ad evokes in their heads -- but it creates lust and envy in the rest of us -- reinforcing those wannabe conspicuous consumption genes for the future.

FYI, I drive a 2002 Honda Accord. I don't lust after a Lexus. I lust after an Acura with a GPS and rear video camera so you can see what's behind you when you back up. But the Lexus ads are better.

So, Glynn, you actually admire these ads? You think they position Lexus as the ultimate cool thing to have?

I want a Garmin and a Wii in my stocking even though they're both mystery products to me. Their ads are genuis.

Or genius. Whatev.

Oh my. Actually I think these ads only affect kids who have a license to drive. They either don't have a car, have to drive their parent's car (which means running errands) or, have a "hand-me-down". They see such ads and dream that a car will show up in their driveway for them on Christmas Day. Unfortunately the odds of that really happening are slim to none. I have a neighbor whose teenager honestly believes a Mini Cooper is going to show up on December 25. I know for a fact it won't happen.

I won't get on the other topic regarding when kids began to feel it is their right to own a car at 16.

The Lexus ads make me think the same things I think every time I drive past mansions and towers of million-dollar apartments:
1. There are a lot more really, really rich people than you think.
2. Advertisers exist to exploit our fears (usually that we're buying the wrong gift) and to make us want mansions.
3. There might be something screwy with capitalism.

"There are a lot more really, really rich people than you think."

Rebecca, this is something that slaps me in the face so often. People talk about the "hidden poor." They aren't hidden, to me at least; my wife teaches in the city and I live in a neighborhood full of working poor Mexicans.

It's the "hidden rich" that I'm always shocked by, and just as you say, it's always when I find myself driving through these neighborhoods--and those are only the ones (as opposed to the gated communities) that I'm ALLOWED to drive through.

So maybe there ARE enough of these peeps that a few hundred or a even a few thousand are saying, "Hey, that's a good idea. I WILL buy my wife a Lexus."

Possible??

Absolutely possible. And now that I've lived in a small town for 10 years, I think we're a hotbed for these hidden rich. We have so many multi-millionaires living here (in a town of 20,000 with ample trailer parks as well) that it's amazing to me. We had two neighbors pass away this last year only to discover that they were sitting on millions upon millions of dollars each. They lived fairly simply, drove simple cars, but they were single and widowed. If their wives were alive, however, they may very well have sprung for a Lexus. I don't know.

Well my God, we may be creeping up on a demographic discovery on this blog that will change us all forever. I've heard of "wisdom of the crowd," but not "sociological genius of the crowd."

Latest research pegs the U.S. market as having 8.9 million individuals worth more than $1 million. At $40,000 a piece, how many of these prospects do you think you need to convert customers to make it a realistic marketing expenditure?

Converting just 1/10 of 1 percent (0.001) gets Toyota 8,900 new customer customers, or $356,000,000 in new revenue.

So, yes, there most definitely is a method to this madness, which is why big company marketing execs make the big bucks.

Latest research pegs the U.S. market as having 8.9 million individuals worth more than $1 million. At $40,000 a piece, how many of these prospects do you think you need to convert customers to make it a realistic marketing expenditure?

Converting just 1/10 of 1 percent (0.001) gets Toyota 8,900 new customer customers, or $356,000,000 in new revenue.

So, yes, there most definitely is a method to this madness, which is why big company marketing execs make the big bucks.

Every day's a school day when you have a blog and smart readers. Craig thanks for this.

Of course, the $64,000 question is, how many of those big marketing jobs are available and how many people are lined up wanting them? Those statistics work in the opposite direction, unfortunately.