Green Police

1. 
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Thesis: If you drive an Audi A3 TDI you will help save the environment

   
   

   Triune Brain:

   Limbic- Definitely the music in this piece, a parody of Cheap Tricks 70’s song The Dream Police, it adds to the excitement and thrill to the plot of the police chase. It’s certainly a humorous parody which triggers that emotional sense of laughter. 

   Neocortex - I think the neocortex is certainly triggered here as it essentially goes thorough various environmental concerns and tells the viewer essentially ways of saving the environment, allowing for a thoughtful experience, and reflection on one’s own actions. 

   Reptilian - Perhaps the reptilian is fitting as it is essentially a police chase. It’s not necessarily an action packed thrilling chase, but I think fight or flight is depicted here 

   
   

   3 shifts/ trends:

   Epistemological Shift: This video is off Youtube, tells a story through the combination of words and images,  the images tell a comical story of the environmental movement

   Technological Shift: This commercial accurately demonstrates a technological shift because of the media platform that is used to access this commercial, originally the media platform I presume was via television, and now it is accessible through the media platform of Youtube. Through the advancement of technologies we are able to continuously access information through different digital forms.

   Personal Shift: I think that personal shift is demonstrated here because Youtube is a media platform that allows for participatory action, viewers can respond and react to the videos we view, and essentially have a conversation with fellow viewers. 

   
   

   5 facts:

   You should use paper instead of plastic

   Old batteries should not be thrown away

   Orange rinds are compostable, you should compost.

   You should not use incandescent light bulbs

   42 miles per gallon on the highway and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%.

   
   

   3 principles:

   Value Messages: The value message is essentially to live a conscious environmentally friendly lifestyle by practicing the various measures they suggest. It ties into practicing an environmentally conscious way of living, from the simple things like composting to the bigger things like choice in cars. 

   Individual Meaning:  After reading some responses and reactions to this commercial, I realized that people interpreted it differently. On its website, Audi says its fictional green police are "caricatures" of the environmental movement. It said that humorous ad are most apt to 87% of consumers attention, but some individuals responded by questioning if this commercial isn’t just humorous but actually mocking the environmental movement. 

   Production Techniques: I thought the production technique was great, it was humorous and the music definitely added excitement, well the video moved at a quick pace, especially with the police running through the scenes, which definitely added suspense and urgency, almost like on a bigger scale, the sense of urgency for the environmental movement as a whole.

   
   

   
   

   5 persuasive techniques

   
   

   Humor:  This commercial wasn’t necessarily laugh out loud funny but I think it definitely has some humor portrayed, kind of quirky humor. (On its website, Audi says its fictional green police are "caricatures" of today's "green movement." It says studies show that humorous ads are most apt to grab 87% of consumers' attention.)

   
   

   Plainfolk: ordinary citizens are arrested for using plastic instead of paper, throwing away batteries, not composting orange rinds, using incandescent light bulbs and setting their hot tub thermostats too high.

   
   

   Simple Solution: I think simple solution was portrayed here, while they give the viewer various methods of saving the environment; recycle, efficiency, composting, and then lastly, driving a Audi A3 TDI, will help save the environment, but in reality the issues of our depleting ecosystem go beyond these simply solutions, we need drastic change. 

   
   

   Strength: I think in a way it demonstrated strength and power. The way the car just accelerates to pass all the other cars is kind of hypocritical as accelerating quickly is worse on gas then accelerating slowly, but I think what the producers were going for was this power and strength that this car promotes, by almost being better than all the cars and people the car is passing as it’s better and more environmentally sound. 

   
   

   Group Dynamics: I felt that the two groups represented here were that you’re either environmentally friendly or not, which is visually show through the ending clip when the one guy with the Audi get’s to drive by everyone else. (Either/Or)

   
   

   
   

   Three Themes:

   The theme of self curation which we saw in American Grafitti, and expression through ones vehicle, I think this video shows how one wants to be portrayed through their vehicle, as one who cares for the environment. I remember when the Prius first came out and I remember thinking that each person I saw must be environmentally friendly, this way of association through people’s vehicles, whether it’s true or not says a lot. The same way I interpret Subaru’s to be outdoorsy adventurous drivers. I think freedom, mentioned in American Grafitti was represented as well, physically you see the driver get to take off past everyone, yet I still don’t know what to think about the idea that it’s an environmentally friendly car advertisement but it’s still a car, still using gas, but I guess in this sense it provides freedom to enjoy the open road knowing you’re having a thirty percent less impact on green house gases then before. One ironic part I realized after watching it a lot, the guy with the Volkswagon colorfully painted bus, who you’d stereotypically think of as environmentally friendly, was stuck in the Green police lane, not passing as environmentally friendly. 

   
   

   I think this commercial definitely relates to Carjacked. In Carjacked they talk about how automakers are targeting one key demographic: children, trying to get them hooked on their vehicle choice early. While this commercial doesn’t necessarily target children, I think, however,   it’s definitely targeting a group of people, or a group of ideals. The way the automakers work to attract a certain type of person, in this case it’s those that compost, and use paper instead of plastic, recycle batteries, practice efficiency, etc. When people think back on the commercial, they’ll remember the catchy Green Police song, and the actions of the individuals being caught for un-environmentally friendly actions, therefore when they’ll look back they’ll associate this car with this ideals and mottos of conscious individuals. 

   
   

   Lastly, I think this film relates to Republic of Drivers because of the idea and battle between individualism and conformity. Here he appears as the only individual in the group of cars, the only one to have a “green” car, yet the environmental movement is a collective effort. In chapter five of Republic of Driver’s there is a quote, “car infrastructure fosters the illusion of individuality but actually creates the collective.  This commercial shows the individual, but I think the commercial is promoting the collective.