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Really?! The Lorax Is Being Used To Shill For SUVs

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by James Crugnale | 2:50 pm, February 24th, 2012

» 7 comments

Irony died this week when the hyper-saccharine, “rainbow-barf monstrosity” 3D-CG film adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax announced they were partnering with Mazda to greenwash their CX-5 sport utility vehicle. Are you kidding me?

Mother Jones‘ Kate Sheppard observes that “the car is a standard fuel-injection-engine SUV” and while, “apparently better than other SUVs on the market” it still was “not that good.”

In the ad, a narrator gives a disgustingly cheery overview of the car:

Who delivers outstanding fuel efficiency without compromising the joy of driving?

Mazda! With SKYACTIV® TECHNOLOGY and who received the only certified truffula tree seal of approval…

Wait…*record scratch* — what did they say?

Truffula tree friendly? How is that even quantifiable?

A Toyota Prius or a Nissan Leaf would be one thing, but a full-blown SUV?!

Having The Lorax shill for a sport utility vehicle is like using clips of Requiem For A Dream to sell diet pills, it goes completely against the spirit of the source material!

Say it ain’t so, Danny DeVito! You told us in Chris Paine’s Revenge of the Electric Car, that your electric EV1 was “the coolest car” you ever had.

Here you are, demanding to know, “who killed the electric car?”:

And now you’ve seemingly turned your back on your principles in participating in this crass, combustion engine-hawking ad?

Shame on everyone involved in this abomination.

Watch the commercial below:

(h/t MoJo)

Ads, crass commercialism, Danny DeVito, Kate Sheppard, Mazda, The Lorax

Anonymous

How pathetically disgusting, exploitative and hypocritical. And yet I’m sure many right wingers will still cry fowl that The Lorax is secretly indoctrinating our children to believe that evil corporations (like Mazda) are ruining the planet.
JustAsking2012

Don’t tell Jon Bershad, or he might have to twist himself in a knot to explain why THIS is bad, after yesterday’s snarkfest on why “The Lorax” couldn’t possibly contain any political or social messages.
Ben

Holy shit man..I completely agree with James Crugnale.

Someone smack me in the head,now.
Anonymous

If you’re worked up about this, get some meds from GlaxoSmithKline or Pfizer. It will make you feel better.
Matthew Schnetter

http://spokesgeek.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/did-you-see-what-mazda-just-did/
This is the worst thing since the announcement of Transformers 4, which was pretty bad too.
http://www.facebook.com/davidrohe David Rohe

The SkyActiv engine is an internal combustion engine, but a very efficient one that increases MPG’s. Think hybrids are more truffula friendly…read this.
http://www.ehow.com/about_4588733_bad-things-hybrid-cars.html
http://www.facebook.com/davidrohe David Rohe

The SkyActiv engine is an internal combustion engine, but a very efficient one that increases MPG’s. Think hybrids are more truffula friendly…read this.
http://www.ehow.com/about_4588733_bad-things-hybrid-cars.html