GM’s OnStar ad campaign really pisses me off.

[CanuckAmok]

And, since you asked, here’s why…

First of all, they’re pushing this ingenious OnStar service as an essential safety system. I’m not saying it’s not a smart idea… safety is good. But the manipulation in their ad campaign is disgusting…The ad with the kids asking “would you put me in a car without seatbelts?”, “would you put me in a car with a driver who’s been drinking?”, hammers home their position. What they’re saying is that if you don’t buy a new GM vehicle with OnStar, you might as well force your kids to find work cleaning up the lint under an 1890s automatic loom.

Secondly, they have a radio ad which supposedly is a real, taped conversation between a happy GM customer, and OnStar call centre rep, and the 911 call-taker who was called by OnStar. So here’s my problem with this: the driver has come across a little girl injured in a bike accident. Instead of calling 911 directly, she calls OnStar, who then calls 911. How is this better than calling 911 directly? All OnStar did in this situation was become another link in the chain, in which time before dispatching medical assistance is delayed, and adding one more person to possibly misunderstand the situation and relay inaccurate information.

Finally and most importantly, this ABSOLUTELY INVALUABLE OPTION for your car, lauded as being as important for your safety as treads on your tires, or functional brake lights, isn’t included in the price of the car. You get the first year for free, and then the price goes up to $24.95 PER MONTH.

What?!

This is basically like saying “Each one of our cars comes with a set of seatbelts. But after the first year of ownership, you have to pay us $25 a month, or we’re going to send some guy over to take the seatbelts back”.

What they’re saying is in essence, that once you pay an inflated, fixed price for their crappy white-metal trimmed and under-engineered pieces of crap, you must then pay a monthly fee for something they’re pushing as an absolutely essential element of your vehicle’s safety system.

And that’s bullshit.

End of rant.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. Well what if the person has no cell phone or ...

the person is in an area where there is no phone in sight . But I understand your point though .

[CanuckAmok]

5. Name one person you know who owns a $30,000 car and doesn't have a cel...

There might be a handful of those people in North America, but hardly enough to design a custome emergency system for.

I know you're just playing devil's advocate.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

7. Yep I'm just playing Devil's Advocate .

[Texasgal]

2. Yup...hafta agree...

I mean...fuck... what have we done the last 100 years without fucking onstar?

[prole_for_peace]

3. if you don't have onstar, you hate your children and want them dead.

or this is just my interpretation of those commercials.

[CanuckAmok]

4. I don't need OnStar for that!

I can hate children for free...why would I pay to do it?!

[prole_for_peace]

6. i am with you on that one.

how about "if you don't get onstar, we will call cps and report you"