Make Mine a Lexus

It's funny how some companies tote out Holiday commercials (and play them endlessly) for what has to be a miniscule market. I'm speaking today about the current Lexus commercials.

In one, the model from the "All About the O", commercials (see note below) is obviously having a hard time trying to figure out what to give her hubby for Christmas. You can tell from her pouty perplexed expression that time is running short and those Internet pages she's perusing are all dead-ends. Luckily, she happens to look out her window and sees a Lexus sporting a big red bow (choirs of angels begin to sing "Allelujah" - in my version). The Lexus she's looking at pulls away revealing that the big red bow is really a decoration in the yard across the street. HA HA HA we were so fooled - the first few dozen times we saw that spot. So anyway, to make a short story shorter, in the next scene we see our heroine presenting a brand new Lexus to her model husband. Could he be a doctor maybe? Corporate exec? High-powered attorney? What ever he does for a living he must also play a lot of golf 'cause he just has that look.

We have a little ritual at my house that whenever that commercial comes on I say to my wife: "Hey, I know what you can get me for Christmas this year." (She no longer thinks it's funny btw). Of course, most of us aren't doctors, lawyers, corporate execs - or models in Lexus commercials for that matter- we also don't have that look that says we play a lot of golf (and I'm going to guess that means 99% of the schlubs watching TV at that time - and yes, I'm including myself) so we can't pop down to our Lexus dealership and drop $50K on a new Lexus.

But logic tells me that Lexus isn't going to spend the kind of dough necessary to hire the models, produce the spots and buy the expensive holiday television time unless they expect some kind of return. Which means that the 1% of the non-schlub population that COULD afford to make a snap decision to buy a new Lexus and might Just Do It. So now the rest of us all feel bad about our crappy lives. Why God, why can't I just put on my Nike golf jacket, jump into my 20 year-old Pontiac, drive down to my Lexus dealership and drive home in a brand new Lexus? It aint fair I tells ya!

If you're driving your 20 year old car down the street on Christmas morning and are passed by a beautiful couple in a brand new Lexus, remember: God likes them better.

Note: What the heck did we ever do before the Internet? I did a Google search for "overstock.com model and came up with this: The Sabine Ehrenfeld Internet Fan Page
Who would have thunk it? One minute Sabine (it's pronouced Sa-BEAN-uh fyi) is just a nameless (albeit gorgeous) face on TV and the next minute, I know more about her than I know about many of my co-workers.