Boy, I guess.

Local car dealership ads sure are a cavalcade of entertainment. Don’t you love people screaming at you to buy a car while getting ready for work in a whirl of chaos and waiting for the weather to come on at 6:30 a.m.?

I can’t understand why the people at the Barbera dealership thought this would be a good slogan: “Is Barbera the best? Boy, I guess.” Why would you ask if your dealership is best and then answer your own question with “I guess”? It ends with a thud that is almost audible. They might as well ask how great Barbera is and have people harmonizing the word “Meh.” They could just as easily say, “Is Barbera the best? We’d say yes!”

I also don’t understand why I saw a commercial during the local news that has a woman in a dealership saying “Namaste” and doing some “Eastern” prayer pose. Am I bowing to the light within that used Kia? Can one meditate in the tranquility of the dealership’s tile floors, plaid suits and haggling? Is there really a need for your spirit to bow to my spirit when we’re discussing an extended warranty?

I think too much about this but it seems like all these dealerships really want to personalize things. There’s the one guy who screams, “You know me, Philly. Just do the deal!” No, I don’t know you. You’re some guy who yells between the sports and weather on Action News. Am I missing something? Do we all know this person and I’m just out of the loop? There’s a commercial lately where the dealer answering questions from some imaginary interviewer about how important selling cars the right way is to him, or whatever.

God, who cares. Do people really get attached to their specific car dealers? I’m sure some people are buying cars for their kids and are in the dealership more often than me, who buys a car every 10 years and then runs that car into the ground and doesn’t really go back to the dealership for repairs. The relationship for me isn’t long enough to be personal. I just go in, haggle with the dealer and leave with a car (all two times I’ve bought cars). I don’t even remember the person who actually sold me my last car. But are that many people invested enough in dealers to respond to this personal touch?

Of course, I can recite several car ads from memory, so who am I to criticize the effectiveness of advertising?