Smellincoffee
Trekkie At Large
Recently I emerged from the library to see the parking lot shared by City Hall, the Convention Center, and library employees completely filled with SUVs. Only one vehicle parked there was a car'. "Oh," I said, "It must be the Let's Blame the Government for High Gas Prices Meeting."
Why do SUVs continue to be so popular, a thousand days into $3/gallon gasoline prices? I have read that when the automobile companies tried to produce more efficient cars, the American market rejected them: they wanted monstrous vehicles that could transverse the surface of the moon, if need be, or give the Titanic a haul if there were a tow-rope long enough. And yet I can't help but notice that SUVs are advertised, and heavily. If people really wanted SUVs, would they need to be advertised? No one advertises bread, water, fresh vegetables, towels, or the like, because these are an actual need, a desire autonomously filled by the public. What is advertised is desire for fake products that has to be ginned up -- Coca-Cola and plastic toys. You could argue that advertisers are not promoting SUVs in general, but their SUVs in particular -- competing with the author sellers of stupidly big utility vehicles -- but the effect is the same.
How high does gas have to be to prompt Americans to buy better cars? And when will this fad of SUVs fad away? I witnessed the minivan craze when I was younger, and when SUVs appeared I thought it would be a similar case, but they're still going strong. On the highway they account for probably half of the vehicles I see.
Why do SUVs continue to be so popular, a thousand days into $3/gallon gasoline prices? I have read that when the automobile companies tried to produce more efficient cars, the American market rejected them: they wanted monstrous vehicles that could transverse the surface of the moon, if need be, or give the Titanic a haul if there were a tow-rope long enough. And yet I can't help but notice that SUVs are advertised, and heavily. If people really wanted SUVs, would they need to be advertised? No one advertises bread, water, fresh vegetables, towels, or the like, because these are an actual need, a desire autonomously filled by the public. What is advertised is desire for fake products that has to be ginned up -- Coca-Cola and plastic toys. You could argue that advertisers are not promoting SUVs in general, but their SUVs in particular -- competing with the author sellers of stupidly big utility vehicles -- but the effect is the same.
How high does gas have to be to prompt Americans to buy better cars? And when will this fad of SUVs fad away? I witnessed the minivan craze when I was younger, and when SUVs appeared I thought it would be a similar case, but they're still going strong. On the highway they account for probably half of the vehicles I see.