Toyota Camry - Bride Breakout / BOLD - (2014) :40 (USA)

Here's a bold move that really isn't. It's a really old advertising idea - weddings - and a specific wedding idea already done much better by Volkswagen in 2001. (Jetta 30 sec & Jetta 60 sec). It's an idea that's been on the bristol boards ever since "the Graduate" was in theatres. Dustin Hoffman even appeared in a "Graduate" situation for Audi A6 in 2004. It's the bride being "rescued" from her own wedding.
Hey, asshole in a Camry, how about you tell the girl of your dreams how you feel before she, her fiancé and her family spend more than a year planning, and a huge chunk of change, on their wedding? This scene meant something entirely different in the 1967 movie, and today it comes off as - yes, stand back, I'm going to use the word - sexist. The bride in white is the damsel in distress, being given away like property, and can only be rescued by the "bold" hero who drives a Camry. As if the bride had no choice in the matter leading up to this wedding, as if the bride needed to be rescued. She seems to enjoy it, so maybe she was drugged for an entire year while planning a wedding at Forrest Gumps house, totes crushing on Camry-guy but lacking in agency or self-determination so she can't do anything about it, like pick up the phone and call Camry-boy. The bride checks off three objectfication boxes, no agency of her own, owned by bro-possé in wedding-car and stolen by Camry-boy, and nobody seems to have been concerned about her feelings leading up to this moment. I realise the creative team are women, so I'd like to congratulate the ladies for perpetuating the damsel in distress trope. The bigger sin however, is trying to marry this tired old idea with the word "bold".

The Audi ad was a direct nod to "The Graduate" and even has the joke "you're just like your mother" in it. The Volkswagen ad showed a story of heartache and pain, by how it was told, and the man racing to prevent a life of regrets (twist, you think he's the groom first). Don't get me wrong, he's still an asshole, but at least Jetta guy wasn't skidding across the lawn while being chased by the bro-possé of best men. In fact, you don't see them leaving at all - the ending was up to the viewer to supply. That was a bold move. This is just a tired old idea with a tired old execution.

See also Camry B.B. King - Guitar

CCO: Jason Schragger
ECD: Margaret Keene
CD: Erich Funke
ACD/Copywriter: Julia Regan Markiewicz
ACD/Art Director: Jera Mehrdad, Vik Bhalla, Javier Torok
Art Director: Max Wang
ACD/Art Director: Vik Bhalla
Art Director: Max Wang
Copywriter: Eric Stevens (Breakout/ Guitar), Brian
Frisk (Breakout/ Guitar), Nick Spahr, Chris Ford (Bucket List)
Director of Content Production: Sara Seibert
Senior Broadcast Producer: Jennifer Vogtmann
Senior Integrated Producer: Holly Otto
Director of Print & Integrated Art Services: Lorraine Alper Kramer
Group Account Director: Erica Baker
Management Supervisor: Carla Tanchum
Chief Strategy Officer: Mark Turner
Strategic Planning Director: Evan Ferrari
Senior Strategic Planner: Erika Bridges
Strategic Planner: Lindsey Summers
Executive Communications Director: John Lisko
Business Affairs Manager: Biba Millstein
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Smuggler
HEAD OF PRODUCTION: Andrew Colon
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: Lisa Rich
DIRECTOR: The Guard Brothers
EDITING COMPANY: Rock Paper Scissors
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Dave Sellars/Angela Dorian/Linda Carlson
PRODUCER: Leah Carnahan
EDITOR Guitar: Adam Pertofsky
EDITOR Breakout and Bucker List: Stewart Reeves
FINISH: A52
MUSIC: TBD
SOUND DESIGN: Noises Digital