Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Ad Nauseam

SUVs Are Not Cool, Unless They’re “Hybrid Hybrids”

 
Here's a pretty repulsive ad for Ford's Escape Hybrid SUV. In it, a middle-aged father and his middle school-aged daughter are strolling from their leafy suburban home to the family truckster -- a green one, natch -- when the daughter asks to be dropped off a block from the theater where, we're to assume, her friends are hanging out.

At first you think that, considering dad's expanding waistline, she's looking to get some exercise. But it turns out she's embarrassed to be seen in an SUV, since "people in that [presumably urban] part of town are riding bikes and have hybrids and stuff."

Ah, but the family truckster is a hybrid, dad points out nonchalantly.

"Like a hybrid hybrid?" asks the daughter.

"I don't know what a 'hybrid hybrid' is, but yes," dad replies.

Queue voice over proclaiming the 34 MPG Escape hybrid "the most fuel efficient SUV on Earth."

Cut to father and daughter driving away, as daughter, now inaudible, explains that an anemic 34 miles-per-gallon hardly qualifies the Escape as a "hybrid hybrid" -- any more than the Chevy Tahoe is the "Green Car of the Year" -- and asks dad why the family can't move closer to the theater so he and mom might stave off heart disease and she wouldn't have to be ferried around in "the greenwashing machine."

Video via Dailymotion

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Friday Video: Are We All Living in a ‘Carspiracy’?

How does "car-brain" shape the way we think about the world — even in relatively bike-friendly countries like the U.K.?

July 26, 2024

Deranged Driver Blows Through Brooklyn Open Streets Barriers

An unhinged motorist plowed through open streets barriers on Hoyt Street in Brooklyn seconds after volunteers set them up earlier this month.

July 26, 2024

Analysis: Can Hochul Be Sued into Overturning Her ‘Unlawful’ Congestion Pricing Pause?

Will either suit win — or, more important, force Hochul to settle?

July 26, 2024

Eric the Relic: In Blaming Dead Pedestrians, Adams Seizes Long-Discredited and Hateful Messaging

It's a time-honored car culture tactic: If you can’t or won’t protect pedestrians, make them take the rap.

July 25, 2024
See all posts