You'll think the world of Daihatsu

Right now I am in palate-cleansing mode.

For the first time, in more than three years, I am not writing commercials for cars. I'm not waxing poetic about Blind Side Warning Systems. Or babbling on about cupholders that redefine the very notion of luxury. And as anyone who has worked on cars can tell you, the break is refreshing. It has been a long steady diet of Acura, Honda, Toyota, Infiniti, Chevrolet and some new car company in Bosnia that is still trying to raise venture capital.

This makes working on my current assignment, a series of cable and network promos, so much easier. And it gives me a chance to exercise some writing muscles that were nearing atrophy.

It also gave me an opportunity to reflect on the many car brands I have worked on since starting in the business. With the exception of Isuzu and Yugo, you'd be hard pressed to name a brand I have not had contact with.

Which brings to mind the Daihatsu Charade and my very first car commercial. Charade was a very apt name, as it was a 3-cylinder lawn mower pretending to be a compact car. I have scoured youtube and the entire Internet looking for a copy of that old commercial. Because frankly, as I have demonstrated before, there is nothing I enjoy more than ridiculing my own work.

I like to think that I have a black belt in self-deprecation.

But alas, that search has come up empty-handed. You'll just have to take my word on it, it was bad. How bad, you might ask. The same puppet masters at Daihatsu who had their hands up our butts, were also responsible for this Mickey Rourke oeuvre:



And what's most amazing about this spot, and thousands like it, is that it was tortuously picked over by seasoned communications professionals.

Edited.
Re-edited.
Tweaked.
Revised.
Refined.
And recontorted every which way from Sunday, until some visionary CMO looked at it and said, "Perfect."

"Have a nice life."