The World's Best Peugeot Advertisement

Got home last night and was tickled to see I had gotten my latest Automobile magazine in the mail--hooray!! After everything settled down last night and it was close to bedtime, I managed to get a few minutes and thumb through it. A particular ad caught my eye (ouch!)--it was for Peugeot. Hmm--that's odd, because Peugeot hasn't been around for a while, having announced a temporary suspension of U.S. sales in 1991. (They continue to make regular announcements that discussions continue about the timing of a return to the U.S. market.) Well, now, maybe they're doing something...big, full page, two color ad with the Peugeot rampant lion dead center, holding an olive branch--40 point all cap type across the top:

WE FORGIVE ALL YOU
BOURGEOIS PIGS.

Then on to the two columns of small type under the logo:

It is not for us to hold the grudge--not even against ignorant swine.. And so we come back to America, where you think your replacement starter should come as fast as your cherished McNuggets. A starter is not a McNugget. It is a creation wrenched from the mind of man. It is a symbol. It is art.

Sadly, you cannot understand such things. So this time, like the indulgent parent, we add features expressly designed for Americans. Your speed, it is shown by the Heads-Up Mime. Your angst, it is calmed by the five-year/50,000-mile ennui protection. The Peugeot--she is more than you deserve.

::snicker::chortle::snort:: Hey, these guys are a hoot--cheeky, irreverent, poking fun at themselves--say, maybe Peugeot CAN make a comeback...then I noticed at the verrrry bottom of the page:



Aww--sucker punched on that one--I turned the mag over and sure enough, it's the April issue. Silly jokers--by the way, Jay Lamm is an automotive writer, editor, and author. His well-known book, How to Restore British Sports Cars, is one of the few on repairing British sports cars which does not recommend draining the fuel from the tank, splashing it about the cockpit, and throwing a match on it.
posted by Terry at 12:44:00 PM