Friday, March 23, 2012

AND ONE MORE CAR

The headline read “BUICK VERANO: GERITOL, NOT GEN-X"

In the business section of the LA Times I read what I thought was going to be a review of the new Buick Verano. The first reading made me mad. Not being a GenX’er any more, and being a sometimes driver of an old Buick, I took issue with being relegated to the Geritol generation.

However, a second reading showed that I actually missed the point. The writer was trying to be funny. And although I hate to admit it, he actually was.

He gave a glowing report of the inside of the car, but when he got to the outside, he was less than kind. Here’s what he wrote:
To be clear, the Verano is certainly not a bad-looking car; much of its look is similar to the rest of Buick’s conservatively styled products at the moment. It has a prominent chrome grille and wide, eager headlights out front. At the back is a handsome, straightforward design, accented only by a pair of thick chrome trim pieces that seem to draw their inspiration from the eyebrows of the late Andy Rooney.

The writer of the article equates “conservative” with “elderly,” which initially didn’t set particularly well with me. Although he says that Buick is aiming at buyers of more luxurious cars – Lexus, Volvo, etc. – (and here’s where he is funny) he says the exterior design reinforces the notion that a Buick is only for people who buy Ensure by the pallet.

I finally laughed. It’s fun to read something clever and well written. And I think he was kind to write “Ensure” instead of “Depends.”

3 comments:

Olga said...

Well, funny or not, I think I still tend to be on the irritated side.

Dee said...

I am glad he chose to use ensure in the article. But it makes me wonder if he thought of depends first but thought it wise not to use it. LOL

Olga said...
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