Do you hate, “Our Country,” the John Mellencamp song that Chevy uses to promote their line of trucks? You’re not alone. Everyone hates it, according to Newsweek.
Chevy doesn’t care, though. They’re glad you hate it and that you scream and mute the TV whenever it comes on. (Or maybe that’s just me.) They think the campaign has been a success, and are actually making more “Our Country” commercials, despite heavy criticism from people who are sick of the song.
Newsweek says:
“By any measure,” says Chevy spokesman Terry Rhadigan, “this campaign has been a success.” (That’s relative, though: Chevy Silverado sales have been flat over the life of the song–and the overall pickup-truck market is off 2 percent.) Rhadigan says Chevy is aware of the negative buzz but has no plans to throttle back.
I don’t know about you, and I’m sure this isn’t healthy, but I’ve never experienced such pure and intense hatred for anything as I feel for that “Our Country” song. I hate it. I actually miss Bob Seger.
Apparently, I’m not completely alone in this:
ESPN columnist Bill Simmons has made a crusade of lampooning the ads, and his readers are backing him up with postings like this: Mellencamp “needs to go into the witness protection program because I am ready to snap and go OJ on him … for ruining another postseason.”
A quick search through Simmons’ columns reveals this observation: “it’s the only commercial that causes Stockholm Syndrome.”
Do you hate this song, too?
Dear John: We Beg You, Make It Stop [Newsweek]
There’s only one October diary [ESPN]
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John Cougar Mellenhead. Him and Bob Segar, and Journey for that matter, midwest pablum. they should play this stuff in Gitmo if they want real torture.
@Skiffer: Yeah, that’s the one song out there that I hate more than “This is Our Country.” Now, given that I suffered through the Chevy ads being played (at least) once an ad break during the baseball playoffs, and I’ve only seen that iPod ad a dozen times or so, that makes me realize how much more inherently annoying it is.
Well everyone finds the usual songs of these car commercials annoying. So far that Chevy song is a little old-fashioned and kinda redneck.
I hated that Zoom zoom song by another car company. I also started hating that woman who is in all the mercury car commercials.
Oh GOD, zoom zoom zoom!
The one that I hated almost as much as “Like a Rock” and “This is Our Country” was the Terri Clark, “Bigger in the Southwest! Better in a DODGE!” I think they changed the Southwest part depending on the region, but GAWD, I hate that commercial. And they put the name of the artist and name of the song at the beginning like someone’s really gonna say, “Hey, that’s a catchy little ditty. I don’t hear it near often enough on TV, I think I’ll buy the single!”
I think some of you might want to put your money where your mouth is and check out a Chevy. The auto rags are raving about the new Malibu, the Volt is almost ready to begin production and their Trucks are some of the best.
Better yet, know what you’re talking about or don’t say anything at all.
Oh and you Toyota fans out there might want to ask you’re company why the Camry transmission is failing. Toyota recognizes this, yet refuses to fix it. They call it a “teething” issue.
@mandarin: I hate the Zoom Zoom Zoom song for probably a completly different reason than you. That is a bastardization of a Capoeira song. Translated it goes something like this: “Zoom zoom zoom capoeira kills one / kills two, kills three / if all of you attack me at once / I will kill you all” soooo um yeah nice song Mazada. Probably one person saw an a late night viewing of “Only the Strong” (for those that don’t know here ya go [www.imdb.com] ) and said oooo me likey that.
Gee, those people should work together with Macy’s! Two tone deaf companies who don’t give a damn what consumers say they want. Brilliant strategy.
And all the while, Toyota’s new V-8 truck is eating up market share.
Good job GM. Close your ears and eyes tighter.
Manipulation with a big dollop of jingoism. Yay!
Personally I also hate Toby Keith and Ford.
Im glad that many share my opinion that the “Our Country” commercials suck. When they first came out, I felt the racist or even xenophobic — because the underlying message is “this is not YOUR country.”
@hoosier45678:
Right there with you on that one, man. Right there with you. I HATE this commercial for that very reason. THEY’RE SELLING TRUCKS. But their commercial basically says, “If you don’t buy a Chevy, you’re probably a freedom-hating, Taliban-supporting, HIppie-lovin’ communist. Bastard.”
Sorry, but driving a chevy doesn’t make you american.
F-U CHEVY. DIE.
I hate “Our Country” because Mellencamp wrote it for the commercial, and didn’t release it as a song until after they figured out maybe they could hook the Toby Keith demographic. It’s not just “this is our country, you filthy immigrants stay out,” it’s “this is our country because we’re the blue-collar lifeblood of the nation, all you latte-swilling baby-killin libruls should go move to Canada.” As a great man once said, “I don’t need this working-class hero crap.”
John Mellencamp is just a poor man’s Bruce Springsteen anyway.
@Skiffer:
Cansei de Ser Sexy rules. Are they really using “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” to sell iPods?
First of all – you people at Consumersist are genrally haters to begin with. Second – an ad you hate is usually more successful than one you like. Think about it. You just got everyone thinking about and talking about GM. When it comes to marketing, you’re not the sharpest sticks.
One concept you guys miss on a daily basis its that its up to the consumer to make a choice and take care of themselves. Don’t like GM’s commercial. Don’t buy GM.
Just look at the hate in all the comments above… Is that what you like, festering the hate in people? These people are bigots and class-ists.
And by the way to you class-ist-bigots “red-necks” are unionized working people from the 1920s. Look it up.
Hey, like George Carlin said, if you don’t buy a car the terrorists win.
I don’t really mind the song, but I seriously object to the way it’s being used. Consumption’s gotten us into this mess. I’m happy to be unpatriotic if I can be out of consumer debt and making serious headway on the mortgage. I’ll never buy Chevy anyhow, and this didn’t help.
@lightaugust: Did you mean “Built Ford Tough?”
I vaguely recall a number of years ago a Ford commercial took a swipe at Chevy and their (painfully) long-running “Like A Rock” campaign. In touting the F-150, the ad stated you could not find a better truck, even if you “looked under a rock.” Touché!
This one really doesn’t bother me. The one that makes me insane is Ipod’s 1234 commercial. The only thing that keeps me from throwing a shoe at the TV is that it’s a new plasma HD and it’s my baby. I would never hurt my baby.
All the tv i watch comes form bittorrent… the only commercials I see are the product placements.
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: Wait… So my dislike for seeing the same ad twenty or more times over a few hours makes me a bigot and a “class-ist”?
Get me some tobaccy, my hound and a six pack
Those damn Chevy and Ford redneck pickup commercials piss me off to no end (not that I watch much TV anymore). I remember when I lived in Oklahoma several years ago, they were saturating the local TV with these provincialistic “Oklahoma knows Ford’s the best” ads. We moved to Austin, and local TV was saturated with the same ads except it was “Texas knows Ford’s the best”. My household not only became polarized against Ford and Chevy, but against pickups in general. Give me a low-key Honda commercial any day.
And Chevy and Ford suck, anyway, unless you like subsidizing your local mechanic.
I live in Indiana, there is no place safe here from the looming threat of John Melloncamp. My friends have muted, changed the channel, even thrown things whilst screaming at the TV when the “Our Country” commercials come on. Trust me, we don’t like him much here either unless you happen to be a baby boomer.
@Skiffer: Really? I like that song though. Doesnt make me wanna spend couple hundred on a mp3 player, but enough to buy that song
@velocipenguin: Thank you for giving the song a name and artist… *Off to the iTunes to purchase*
And the new Ford commercials rock, especially the ones where they dead lift a steel container. That’s how commercials should work, by showing me how the damn thing works
Tired of hokey flag-waving patriotic heartbeat of America songs in car ads. If they want to sell their crappy cars, they need to get some hip music and slick imagery, like the Japanese cars.
Stop hiring Young Republicans and guys in cowboy hats to sell your ugly gas guzzling poorly built boats on wheels.
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: Obvious Troll is obvious.
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: Don’t like GM’s commercial. Don’t buy GM.
I haven’t bought a Chevy or any other car since this plague first struck, yet somehow this omnipresent jingle still manages to assault my ears and annoy me. Your theory fails.
The commercial that drives me absolutely NUTS is the Enzyte “male enhancement ad” Bob idiot. This commercial is seriously disturbing! Everytime I see his vapid turd-eating grin staring into the ether I have an overpowering urge to take a baseball bat to his face. In fact I would PAY money to never see this commercial ever again.
Everytime I see the commercial, I immediately change the channel and watch a different program.
One of these days I’ll setup mythTV just to escape commercials, in reality I hate them all but mostly Enzyte Bob.
apparently “my country” is a place where everyone is white, Christian, goes to rodeos, does construction or some other type of masculine manual labor, walks around in cowboy boots and a cowboy hat, and has the Dubya’s moral fiber leaking out his ass
I don’t hate it as much as I hate McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” commercials. “Duh, duh, duh, duh-duuuuuuhh, Go Fuck Yourself.”
I’m almost tempted, if I meet Bill Simmons, to ask him “hey Bill, whose country is this?” just to see if he curls up into the fetal position and starts foaming at the mouth.
@MyCokesBiggerThanYours: You forgot “and another thing, Consumerist readers, (INSERT LOCAL SPORTS TEAM) sucks!” Other than that, you’re still the worst heel I’ve seen.
@Kishi: Must mean I am, too.Along with damn near everyone else in the known universe.
I like the commercials. I like the song. I have own 6 Silverados and find them as comfortable and reliable as anything out there. We end up putting alot of miles on them so we buy every 2 to 4 years.
And no, they don’t need to advertise Corvettes. Even at 60K, those suckers sell themselves. We sold our last one last year to someone in Sweden and will probably buy another.
@mandarin: Ha, yeah! That “zoom zoom” bit made me want to punch a puppy whenever it came on.
This Chevy song isn’t great, but I find it easy to ignore.
@ry81984: Did you accidentally type “consumerist.com” instead of “kkkonsumerist.com”?
Chevy is keeping the campaign because it resonates with its target market. If you hate the commercial, you’re not part of the target market, so Chevy doesn’t care.
I don’t miss Bob Seger one bit. Truck commercials are where washed-up musicians go to die.
I don’t hate this song. Of course, I skip over the commercials anyway, thanks to my DVR.
Now, if you could write a post about that fucking annoying woman in the Comcast ads, THEN I could go off!
I don’t hate or like the song, it is just a commercial. DVR gets me past it nicely on the rare occasion I actually have time to watch TV.
I’m buying used truck next year, likely it will be a Ford because I’ve had bad luck with other makes of truck. Anyone easily influenced by commericals really needs to take a breather and grow a brain.