YES! I'm so glad you covered these horrible ads! Every time my boyfriend and I have seen these commercials, we've constantly groaned and yelled at the TV. You know, it's not as if the other boy's dad could have gotten laid off from his job or anything like that -- nope, he's just LAME-O.

I hate that sniveling brat and the fact that advertisers thought that this would actually make anyone want to buy a Highlander. Instead, I associate the Highlander with that ungrateful, ridiculing, little snot. Let's just hope this doesn't become a trend.

It's an interesting trend in general how car companies have targeted children as decision-makers in the purchase of family cars. I think that prior to the minivan boom, it would have been ludicrous to think that children could be the deciders in such a large purchase, but once several companies were on par in terms of seating and safety, the 'nag Mom and Dad for something cool' tactic took off.

Irritating ads indeed. I'd be far more embarrassed to be seen driving that gigantic pseudo-macho SUV that the brat is so excited by.

I remember reading many years ago that SUVs were created as the inane solution to the ridiculous "problem" of how to make minivans seem cool.

To make things worse, we are being faced with a generation of a-hole parents who actually think it is "appropriate" for their kids to be calling the shots on everything from the family groceries to the vacation to the car (in the name of self-esteem building and "empowerment", of course). We are raising a generation of little monsters; I should know, I teach them. If that isn't lame, I don't know what is.

I would NEVER buy this car, and Toyota just lost a lot of respect in my eyes. Grrrr....

And do you necessarily have to be poor not to afford it? Lookt at the ting: leather seats, lots of gadgets, and a size the implicates an absolutely ridiculous gas consumption. The reality is probably that even most middle class people couldn't buy, let alone keep a car like that.

Thanks for posting this. This is one of the most obnoxious ads on television. The child featured will hopefully go on to a long, happy life far away from the camera.

Somebody needs to bust that kids a%$!

http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/11/my-parents-drive-car-makes-me-look-poorrichmiddle-class.html

Marketers have long looked for ways to assure the nouveau riche that they're better than their former/would-be socioeconomic class peers and therefore deserve to live a particular lifestyle that includes owning things those would-be peers can't afford. This ad is interesting because it adds the element of disdain. But the ad execs know they couldn't pull that off if they put it in the mouths of adults, so they use a kid to give the nouveau riche target market a level of deniability about their own obnoxious disdain, while enabling them to laugh and feel smug anyway. There's an element of fear for those people that's also being played on. Not many people are more insecure about their station in life than the nouveau riche and the marketers definitely want to place a little worm of fear into their vacant little hearts that their kids (who have only known such a luxe lifestyle and peers with same) will think they're ridiculous if they don't conform.

Regardless of the validity of the point being made with this post, I do have to agree with the kid that cars with wood paneled exteriors look super lame.

This campaign makes their break problem look good...

"if you’re too poor to buy a brand new mid-range SUV, you suck."

Funny how I grew up with the attitude of if you buy a brand new mid-range SUV and don't have an outdoor lifestyle which requires you to take it off road, you're a lame poser and you seriously suck.

Well, not that these types of SUV are really anything but rebranded people-movers and poorly designed suburban shopping carts (that tend to back over pets and kids due to restricted visibility unless it has a rear camera!) in that the 4WD is optional and the disclaimer that it's not designed to be driven off road, and all the bells and whistles that obviously make it an urban vehicle. Now Sports Utility Vehicle = Poser Family People-Mover. It's perhaps just a pain for people who want to to buy an SUV and have to disambiguate real SUVs from PFPMs now, but seems absurd marketing to me.

What surprises me about these ads is that they've concentrated on the de-dorking the parents experience for the the kid, but haven't obviously gone for dad regaining his "manhood" from "domestication" with the "cool" SUV-alike vehicle that doesn't compromise family conscious features from the SUV image. Nor does appealing to mom feature in this, I'm sure that the empowering feeling of not being in the smallest vehicle on the road, would be a mom pleaser ploy. Those would seem like a better marketing ploys to get family men and women to want to buy these vehicles than an annoying brat whose superficial attitude is probably rubbing parents the wrong way across the country (I haven't checked our TV to see if these ads have reached our shores but I suspect we'd find that level of child over-entitlement too absurd to take seriously).

I'm sure if we were in the market for a new vehicle, Toyota would still be near, if not the top of the list as they do make good, reliable, affordable real 4WDs and this is a lifestyle feature we would value in a vehicle, despite the blunder with this marketing. I'm not cutting off my own nose to spite their face because of a US marketing dork.

If my kid started acting like that, I'd find an old Chrysler K-Car just to drive him to school in, and use a brush to paint it orange with a white roof. And put a "My Little Pony" sticker on the bumper.

All I can say is that my daughter had better be OK with our tiny Subaru. This mamma wouldn't be caught dead in a highlander. THAT'S a lame ride.

These ads always rubbed me the wrong way. Partially because of the classism, and partially because I feel the presentation is just bizarre. For these commercials, and many similar ones that aren't quite as classist, the focus seems to be on children under the age of 9. First off, that is a demographic that typically doesn't care much about cars. Those that do aren't typically concerned with SUVs and minivans, but would probably prefer that their parents drove limousines, racecars, or fire engines than fuel-efficient, safe SUVs in grey or beige. I recall being in grade school, and no one took notice of what car everyone else's drove (from beat-up junkers to nice new SUVs) aside from the girl who did get picked up in a limo. Second, even if kids did care about air bags, MPGs, horsepower, or cup holders, kids still can't buy cars. Most parents don't base their car buying on what elementary aged kids think is neat (though some would consider buying the backseat TV if they had easily bored children, that's an add-on, and doesn't much affect the particular car being purchased). While I understand the SUV commercials with the whole family going on a trip, including the kids watching the DVD player in the back, the focus being entirely on what a boy who's like 7 thinks about what the car looks like is just strange.

As others have commented, I think the child-centrism (in particular, a bratty, privileged child-centrism) is more remarkable than the classism. Of course, it's also interesting to see the strong reactions to the character (myself included - I loathe these commercials). New commercials in this series are still running though. I wonder what the figures are for Highlander sales? Is it actually working for a targeted niche audience or is Toyota's marketing department really this tone-deaf? It seems like perhaps the latter since the first page of Google results for "love highlander commercials" all predominantly express disgust for the commercial.

Those commercials drive me crazy, too. When did people start making major decisions based on what some ad agency tells them that their children think is cool? However, I feel like I should mention that the Highlander is one of the few SUVs built on a car-base and not a truck-base. It actually gets decent gas mileage (20/25), and is also available as a Hybrid. As SUVs go, it's one of the better ones out there. Too bad that ad campaign is so awful.

Thanks for posting this! I really hate this commercial- I hate that some little kid is trying to convey to parents/adults that if they want to be "cool" to their kid they need to buy an expensive new car. I feel like so many people go into debt so that outwardly they seem to have it all, when in their personal life they are struggling to make ends meet.

I'm surprised no one is commenting on the kid's use of the term 'lame'. At least he's not saying that the other car is 'gay', but that doesn't make it any less offensive or obnoxious.

Hey...can we tone down the usage of 'lame'? I know it's all cutting-edge hipster to be transgressive via word-choice, but here on a soc blog where most people try really hard to not use exploitive language? It's really freakin' ableist, and that's really obnoxious, especially in a 'safer' place (calling any internet site a 'safe' place seems a little iffy, but here commenters attempt to avoid outright cruddy language) for sociological discussion. Because, you know...words mean something.
I lvoe to come here and read the comments, I learn a lot. This thread is disappointing in the amounts of ableism displayed. I'm not trying to be the PC-Police, but it's excessive and annoying.

Sincerely,
an irked reader with disabilities

Could the boy hiding in the bushes be running and diving through the window of his home - the old station wagon? Where is the compassion and understanding of what it must be like to be poor and perhaps homeless?

I was also disgusted with the Sienna van commercial last year where the father had taken the time, money and energy to build his son a tree house and when he wanted to show the end result to his son, the son who was sitting in their van with a friend playing video games, blew his father off?

WHAT KIND OF A MESSAGE(S)ARE WE SENDING TO OUR CHILDREN AND SOCIETY IN GENERAL. BEING MEAN SPIRITED IS WRONG AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

I'm so glad you posted this - I hate these commercials as well. Parents should buy this car in order to seem "cool" to their kids? As if parents can ever really be cool, anyway...

Also, the kid's use of the word "lame" is completely incensing. I know kids talk that way, and when I was that age we called people "fags" and "retards," but it's a scripted ad. Script something else.

Actually make a different ad altogether. I know it's not really on topic, but those SUVs don't even look cool to me. If I wanted to be cool, that's not what I would buy.

So why is this add still running on TV?!?

Anyone else notice the newer version of this commercial has changed the stationwagon to a new model-looking sedan?