Chevy must have focus groups and research that tells them that Howie Long is a good spokesperson for their products. As a Fox NFL anaylst, he's fine alongside the likes of Jimmy Johnson and Terry Bradshaw. That said, I can't stand Howie Long in his commercials.Long is smug and arrogant in all of 60 seconds. He's supposed to be selling the advantages of Chevy products -- while dissing those of Honda in direct jabs at the Japanese company -- but he rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps it's his smile. He just acts like he has no humility. He's all confidence and self-assuredness. Those two qualities should make him an excellent pitchman. That's what Chevy is trying to project.
So why doesn't it work? I can't say for certain. In the Fox studios and in interviews and other appearances he's done, I have liked Howie. He's a pro football Hall of Famer. I even recall his playing days on the Oakland Raiders, when they were a good team and regularly were in the playoffs and occasionally the Super Bowl. Therefore, I don't despise the guy every time I see him. It's just those Chevy ads.
Even the one with the bratty little girl makes him come off badly. Take a look:
You would think since she's so horrid, he would shine by comparison. Instead, I reach for the remote and turn them both off.
On the plus side, maybe Chevy will be happy that I remember the spots, that I identify Long with the Malibu and the Chevy trucks. Perhaps the execs will think it's super that I recognized that he was making fun of Honda by bringing up their lawn mowers.
However, the fact that I want to run over Howie's shoe with the lawn mower might be a negative.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-20-2009 @ 3:46PM
Dave said...
I rather like Howie in those ads. I think he is one of the better pitchmen on tv today. He's smooth, he's believable, and he seems like the kind of guy you want to hang around with. Chevy could do a whole lot worse.
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10-20-2009 @ 4:05PM
JChamberlin said...
I have absolutely no problem with Howie Long as the spokesman. He's a good 'everyman', similar to Ford's Mike Rowe.
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10-20-2009 @ 4:08PM
jffm said...
Howie as Chevy pitchman honks me off too. The tone of most of them is too beefball dismissive and makes him look bad. Smirking at some guy having trouble loading his vehicle. The alpha male condescending reference to a "man step", after the other actor makes a painstaking effort to look clumsy and oafish getting out of the bed of his truck.
It's old school, ham handed, neanderthal advertising trying to clumsily appeal Joe Sixpack's theoretical insecurities regarding his "manliness".
He's not a schmuck, he's just written that way.
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10-20-2009 @ 4:55PM
George McBain said...
"The alpha male condescending reference to a "man step", after the other actor makes a painstaking effort to look clumsy and oafish getting out of the bed of his truck."
EXACTLY. I F-ing hate that commercial. That step is/could be very helpful in certain situations and the cockiness of the ad towards it is horrid.
I like Long, but dislike him highly in these commercials ... even more so beyond all the others I see during NHL/NFL games.
10-20-2009 @ 10:01PM
1iPete said...
Heck, I'm betting Howie needs that "man step" in real life due to his degenerative arthritis from his long NFL career.
10-20-2009 @ 4:13PM
adrienne said...
It doesn't matter. I'm never by another Government Motors vehicle. I like my Toyotas just fine.
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10-20-2009 @ 4:14PM
zkbzjm said...
Must drive him nuts to sit at the fox football daius with all the ford signs
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10-20-2009 @ 4:20PM
anti-believer said...
To the writer:
It doesn't matter what you think emotionally how Howie Long delivers.
He's being paid to be a spokesperson not your emotional securer.
Despite what Howie said it doesn't make me buy a Chevy. My Honda is still running with over 210K miles. I would still buy another Honda.
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10-20-2009 @ 5:48PM
MJL said...
Howie doesn't irritate me as much as that ugly red-headed girl in the ads with him.
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10-20-2009 @ 7:45PM
unc69dmo said...
Long is ok...deep six the lame RUG RATS
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10-20-2009 @ 11:49PM
docinaustin said...
It's Chevy he's trying to sell? As soon as those commercials begin, we mute (if not fast forward the DVR) and start making those crazy Teri Hatcher sounds for the commercial they starred in so many years back.
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10-22-2009 @ 7:40PM
dewey said...
My, my. You have it bassakward. The adds are hurting Howie. What hurts GM is accepting taxpayer money! I have bought over 15 GM products throughout the years. Never again until I am paid back!
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10-22-2009 @ 11:35AM
RT said...
I can't stand that arrogant jerk and would never buy a product he promotes. He took a cheap shot at his boss on the football pregame show a few weeks ago. Amazing he still has a job.
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10-22-2009 @ 12:47PM
Doug Chuhran said...
I love the ad where Howie and Chevy diss Honda by pointing out Honda, like most major Japanese companies, and US companies like Disney, fail miserably at effective branding. A brand name can only occupy ONE word or very short phrase in the collective mind of their marketplace. Do your own branding test. Ask a handfull of people, maybe even from different generations if you want to measure generational brand drift, what a brand name immediately brings to mind. Proctor & Gamble is branding genius. Name a product whose name is P&G. There aren't any. What does "Tide" bring to mind. Point made.
Now on to my latest branding question, still on the "car" brand name theme: Who's the biggest branding idiot, Lincoln or Cadillac? Cadillac car model "names": SRX, XLR, CTS, DTS, STS. And Lincoln: MKS, MKT, MKX, MKZ. What hope do either of those car divisions have in branding a word/phrase in the collective mind of their marketplace. ZERO. So I say it's a tie, they're both branding idiots.
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11-03-2009 @ 12:07AM
Doc said...
I think this is one of the HOTTEST series of commercials that Chevy has ever produced. My hats off to them for killing the foreign cars ads! Just plain clear facts that are GREAT!
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