Out of a lifetime of changing jobs I managed to survive one career for 30 years. I was a copywriter, then a creative director, in the advertising agency business. Much of my work in Toronto, New York and London was on car accounts where the preferred medium was television. So you can appreciate that I know a good car commercial when I see one, which is a rare occasion these days as contemporary North American car advertising is the pits. The British, however, have been masters of TV commercials for decades. They understand how to use humor and they'll take risks. Here's a wonderful example, now viewable on YouTube (the lady in our image above gives a hint of what to expect).



This is probably the funniest car commercial I've ever seen. And it's brilliant, not simply because of the humor, but because it makes a statement about the toyota rav4's appeal to young people of both sexes. Click on the YouTube image for 60-seconds of side-splitting fun. (Thanks to my old friend Leonard Vis for putting me on to this one. Len and I met when he was a "suit" at Young & Rubicam and I was an irascable copywriter.)