I Hate This TV Commercial, to the Point of Seething Rage

[Susan Calvin]

22. It's not the first stupid thing Volvo has done.

I wonder if the same person was in charge of both of these commercials.

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-volvo-queen-of-night-20190128-story.html?_amp=true

The Swedish car company Volvo must have thought it was being real cultural and high-toned when it decided to use a famous opera aria as the soundtrack for its new television commercial.

Its idea, plainly, is to make a connection between the luxuriousness of its XC90 SUV and the classiness of grand opera. “Can you design an SUV for an aria?” asks the commercial, which is in frequent rotation on broadcast and cable TV. The camera wanders lovingly over the vehicle’s soft leather upholstery and its high-tech sound system while the aria sounds sweetly in the background. The ad’s tagline is: “Our idea of luxury.”

Opera fans watching this commercial must cringe, if they’re not guffawing. That’s because the music on the soundtrack is no paean to grace and lovingkindness, but the homicidal signature aria of one of the most monstrous characters in the canon.

She’s the Queen of the Night, the supreme villainess of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and she’s one vicious specimen. Think Cruella de Vil times 1 million.

https://m.