As far as advertising goes, it's just advertising. How is it (the submarine ad) any sillier than Toyota driving a Tundra up a flaming ramp?
Not really any different (or the Frontier ad where it is climbing the sand dune...)
But my issue with this GM ad: it is preaching the benefit of one particular feature (in this case, steel bed). Anyone who is paying attention to the truck market knows that Ford is moving to aluminum, so this is an (indirect) swipe at Ford. But then the next month, GM quietly admits that it, too, will be going aluminum-intensive on their next redesign. So what's really the benefit of that rolled steel again?? It's just hypocritical is all.
It's like the Silverado ad from a few years ago where Howie Long makes fun of the guy using the "man step" in his F150 (when that feature first came out on the F150). Then next redesign - GM has its own version of the man-step! I just find it distasteful that GM takes these shots at competitors in their ads, knowing full well they will be copying them on their next model. Is it any worse than Ford's almost-but-not-quite-outright lying about their towing capacity in previous years? No...like you say, it's just advertising. But if the idea is to improve my perception of the brand, to me these truck ads fail.
Still, the worst offender to me was Hyundai's "save the asterisk" ad campaign. Real classy - take shots at your competitors for their fuel economy advertising....then a couple months later mail out a bunch of cheques to consumers because your engineers couldn't figure out how to properly apply/interpret the fuel economy testing standards. Hyundai should be thankful Ford/Honda/GM didn't come up with their own advertising campaign about that little SNAFU!
I actually think the submarine ad is a good one...even with the hypocrisy. If I'm working for GM I'd think like this...
Holly cow Ford is beating us to the aluminum punch, what are we going to do?
Make one ourselves in case the market likes them
In the meantime, let's fan the flames of doubt by implying steel is stronger and better than aluminum – it's the old, "bash it if you can't match" approach
OK, how can we symbolize the strength of steel? Think, think...Got it! What about a steel submarine smashing up through ice?
Brilliant Mad Man, here's $40 million dollars, you're super awesome. Let's have a drink.
(I embellished this part a little)Oh, what do we do if the market likes aluminum trucks?
Duh, promote it like it's the best thing since sliced bread
Right. How can we symbolize the light weight strength of aluminium...?