David E. Numm liked to remind himself that he was fairly comfortable — and that things could be much worse. At least he was assigned to be a copy writer for the Chevrolet Corvette rather than the positively agricultural Chevy II. Still, the politics could be insufferable.
His favorite ads were ones he wrote for the 1963 models. That was the year when Chevrolet management really pushed to increase the number of women buyers because the Corvette finally offered features such as an automatic transmission.
Also see ‘1953-70 Chevrolet Corvette ads gingerly showed changing gender roles’
But as the years went by, the Corvette was increasingly viewed as a toy just for guys. That reached its peak in 1968, when the edict came down that there should be no women in the ads — just manly men.
One day David was handed a photo with a guy in a yellow Corvette convertible and asked to come up with some copy for a print ad. David was feeling rather punchy, so he thought: Okay — let’s play up the relationship between a man and his car:
David mocked-up the ad and tossed it on his boss’s desk as something of a joke. A few days later it became clear that the boss didn’t get it.
“This is a pretty good ad but I have made a few changes,” he earnestly told David when showing him a new draft. “I kept your basic format and narrative but added a bit more corporate-speak. The Chevy folks really like that.”
In David’s experience it was true that Chevy management all but devoured corporate-speak even if it made the ad sound entirely too stilted. So he was not surprised that his boss’s draft ended up sailing through the vetting process.
The 1968 Corvette sold quite well, the client was very happy and the firm was amply rewarded. Who could complain?
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RE:SOURCES
- oldcaradvertising.com: Chevrolet Corvette (1968)
“Ad Nauseam” is a regular feature that parodies automotive ads and brochures. We start off with themes from actual ad copy and riff from there. For further discussion about what is real, go here.
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