Subaru Car Commercial circa 1984
Thesis
The Subaru wagon will relieve your middle-class fears.
The Triune Brain
This commercial begins, steeped in fear, targeting the reptilian brain. The first sound you hear is thunder. The first image you see is a child running away from a flash to her father’s loving arms. The Subaru pulls quickly out of the driveway, which may prompt some to jump at the sight of his stop lights. A crescendo of panic is paired with the Doc speeding hastily towards the farm, through a myriad of obstacles. The family waits, and one of the girls asks, "Daddy, where is he?" again spiking the viewer's anxieties. Then, we see the car. It's climbing the hill! It's blitzing into the yard! And then, the climax is reached in the stable. Steeped in sweaty suspense, Doc wipes his face. We then see the result of another climax, being a baby calf, poised like a weak-kneed Bambi. In the limbic brain, the soundtrack of the clip and facial expressions of the actors changes our mood from panic to elation, made possible by the fact that there is a much more robust cocktail of emotions in said brain. Finally, captions prompt the neocortex to accept the Subaru wagon as a logical solution to the reflexive fears and emotional disturbances that were presented.
3 Shifts/Trends
Epistemological shift: Captions and well-spoken narration are important in this commercial. It is clean, concise language with enough story to develop characters, plot, setting, and themes. Its quintessential 1980s conservative advertising lacking much of the abstract humor that is typical of current advertising (e.g. Ylvis’ ‘The Fox’ being adapted to that wacky FOX television commercial.) This commercial is pragmatic in its simplicity.
Discursive shift: As the caption explicitly states, this is a true story! There can be no contention as this commercial creates an objective case in favor of the Subaru wagon. With vivid detail, we see that the Subaru is an infallible machine, as we it conveying Dr. Lippet through harsh landscape, conquering the elements. Its not an argument that might be made today by other products in which illusory concepts tickle our imagination, like the Lucky Charms motto (e.g. “They’re magically delicious!") or McDonaldesque slang (e.g. "I'm lovin' it!"). Instead, its no-nonsense fact.
Economic shift: Subaru is considered the unofficial vehicle of Vermont. I can't imagine that it was as popular then as it is today. This commercial came out in 1984. It was in the midst of the Reagan era, when deregulation was allowing companies to reap huge profits in an increasingly free market. This may be why the Subaru is shown against the backdrop of a tumultuous evening. This is a metaphor for the working-class family that relies less on the government and more on well-informed decisions for making ends meet, such as the purchase of a tool like a Subaru. Its also why Subaru mentions that it is “inexpensive” and “will stay that way.”
5 “Facts”
1) The first caption reads “Markesan, Wisconsin. A True Story.” Thus, this account is not simply a fiction made to persuade us. It really happened. We should think this is a fully credible advertisement.
2) There are no pickup trucks in the clip.
3) The Subaru wagon is a durable vehicle that can ford flooded sections of road, maintain traction on muddy tracts, and drives over fallen tree branches without issue.
4) The Subaru can transport everything that a professional doctor needs, as indicated by the narrator, that "when patients can't make it to Doctor Lippet...Doctor Lippet brings his office to his patients."
4) The Subaru can transport everything that a professional doctor needs, as indicated by the narrator, that "when patients can't make it to Doctor Lippet...Doctor Lippet brings his office to his patients."
5) The last caption reads “Subaru. Inexpensive and built to stay that way.” This means that I can afford the car now, and I will be able to afford future models.
3 Principles
Emotional Transfer: As I stated previously, this commercial targets primarily the reptilian brain. The sky is breeding hate! I remember being scared of lightning and thunder as a child. One time, I was standing near a window, and a streak of lighting cut a tree down in the yard, and I watched it topple over my mom's garden. As I watch this clip, that same anxiety is replaced by glee as the doctor, brow-beaten by the storm, arrives at the farm house. It was a cathartic feeling analogous to the heifer birthing her calf. We should consider that Subaru wants us to associate its product ultimately with that emotion: relief.
Individual Meaning: I am an eighth-generation Vermonter, and my family has made its living by farming. I’ve never been a patient of a house call. However, I once assisted in the breech birth of a calf, being one that is born hooves-first instead of head-first. I didn't just see a clean, wobbly, healthy calf like we do in this commercial. It was a tense, messy ordeal, as if Spielberg had taken that film from health class, The Miracle of Life, and made it into 3D. What I remember best, besides the writhing limbs, blood and amniotic sac fluid pouring out, was the relief once it slid out of its mother and its breathing was confirmed. Thus, I know what is involved in birthing a calf, which allowed me to sympathize for the Doc.
Production Techniques: Like American Graffiti, this film is dark. The story begins at night. There are no fancy computer graphics employed. Short scenes with a fixed zoom and clean, cut transitions are used to keep the story moving along quickly. It also makes the film seem more real because its less stylized. There is one fade-in transition at the beginning and end, but interestingly, there is a diffuse transition used to mark the climax. It happens between the scene where Dr. Lippet’s Subaru arrives at the farm and when we see him wiping sweat from his face indoors. Zooming out at the end, our attention is drawn from the Subaru and to the farm that surrounds it. These techniques seem to be saying that Subaru can be part of farm life.
5 Persuasive Techniques
Warm Fuzzies: In terms of things that warm one’s heart, the birth of the calf is the epitome of warm fuzzy. The little girls gripping their father's chest and leg at the strike of thunder makes you want to reach out to protect them, too.
Nostalgia: This film pivots around the theme of physician house calls, and it evokes memories of the past. Some may say, “Ah, I remember the day when we gave our doc a dozen eggs and some bread for stopping by the home” which is a story that my mother has shared with me about goings-on in Berkshire, Vermont. In fact, the film does not seem to be period-specific. The only exception is the shiny Subaru.
Plain Folks: In the same vein of persuasion as nostalgia, this film appeals to the masses because it showcases rural farmers and doctors. We’re seeing a cross-section of plain folk life in this commercial about late-night veterinary care of farm animals. Commutatively, if they are like me, and they own a Subaru, then I should own a Subaru.
Testimonial: Dr. Lippet is endorsing Subaru wagons. This commercial showcases him using it to complete an important. In fact, the Subaru and Dr. Lippet are only separated in two scenes: when Dr. Lippet is sleeping and when he is in the stable. Yet, we know its close because it brings him where he needs to be. Therefore, this Subaru goes where Dr. Lippet goes, like an omnipresent being (an angel of sorts.) We also give huge amounts of credibility to doctors because we often depend on them to survive.
Humor: Its a trying time for a farmer and the doctor who is dispatched to help said farmer with the delivery of a baby. The twist, that its not the farmer’s wife (who was never seen in the commercial) but a pregnant heifer needing assistance, is humorous because we are duped by our sensibility. The narrator knows this and pauses when saying that Dr. Lippet delivered a “72 pound...calf.” Then, everything returns to normal.
3 S.E.P.R.I.T.E. Themes
Social Structure: Dr. Lippet is an older gentleman, and the family is young, given the father and childrens’ relative ages (though we never see the mother.) Both parties are white Americans. I suspect they both occupy the social strata, given that Doc is a veterinarian who services the family’s cows. The manner in which they exchange social niceties, specifically the wave at the commercial’s end, implies that Doc’s services are underwritten with rapport. The children have a friendly disposition framed by an impoverished look. However, the home in which they reside is well-kept. Thus, they are members of the working class, somewhere in the middle to lower-middle class.
Economics: As previously stated, these are white, rural, middle-class Americans of the 1980s. I had to do some research on the time*, but I was startled to discover that farm land had lost 60% of its value in the 1980s, during a time when Reaganomics allowed less government intervention, subjecting farmers to the whims of the market. I wonder if the cow being born is a metaphor for this reality: a small burden that will only get bigger, and for which the old Doc and poor farmer, as analogs of the middle-class, are responsible.
Environments: Wisconsin is known for its cheese, meaning that it has many dairy farms. Clearly, Wisconsin also has severe rain at the most inopportune of times. Maybe this was unintended by the marketing minds, but I noticed a marked correlation between Doc’s Subaru wagon and the chariot of Helios, the sun god, as it pushed back the grim night and ushered in a new dawn. Maybe this bit of mythology was unintentional. Wisconsinites struggle with intermittent weather and questionable topography, so they need something rugged to handle it, those flooded roads that need to be forded or tree branches that get in the way. Subaru can take on many types of treacherous terrain!
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