Veloz "Kicking Gas" 3:38 (2019) (USA)

by: kidsleepy, Jun 27 2019 - 7:58pm

In this ad, Arnold Schwarzenegger goes "under cover," as a salesman to try and dissuade people from buying an electric car. Some of the persuasion techniques here are pretty funny. When a potential buyer says they can get a tax credit, from buying an EV he asks them "Do you want a tax credit? Or do you want street credit?"

Of course it's all for a good cause. And it's tongue-in-cheek, too. Let's face it, even if you dressed Arnie up in a tuxedo there's no mistaking his Teutonic and iconic voice.

This campaign is for Veloz, a non-profit whose mission, is to "educate the public regarding the state of electric car technology and its importance to a clean and healthy environment in a non-commercial manner."

Veloz always states that it "does not support or promote any particular car manufacturer and nothing on this website is intended as an endorsement," which is why at the end of this spot they are able to show the logos of different car manufacturers.

Kicking Gas” is part of Veloz’s “Electric For All” public awareness campaign, a multimillion-dollar effort uniting car manufacturers, utilities, clean air advocates, government and other stakeholders.

Clocking in at just over three and a half minutes, this spot would have benefitted from an edit, especially since the hidden-camera execution is so familiar by now. My mind started to wander halfway through, and I started asking questions like, why is there not a better infrastructure for electric cars, and how do you answer people who point out that if you live in an area where your electricity supplier runs on fossil fuels that you are still damaging the environment. It's also a bit disingenuous to tout the tax credit claim when a few states have caveats to it based on your income level like California, while other states like Colorado are phasing them out.

It's also important to note that you don't get any credit for leasing a car since the owner is still technically the dealer.

Either way, a noble if somewhat creatively lackluster effort.