The Perfect Pitch: Car Commercials in the Environment

Car commercials, like many advertisements, tempt its viewers with comfort, capability, or safety features, as well as being well‐engineered, affordable, attractive, large or compact sized, or fuel efficient. This study examines the pitches in YouTube car commercial video clips from the 1960s until 2014. We coded a total of 263 total car commercials based on pitch, setting, narrator, decade, and country of origin. The analysis revealed that most car commercials were presented in rural settings and capability was pitched most frequently overall. Fuel efficiency was ranked third overall; however, within urban settings, fuel efficiency had the highest frequency. During the 1990s, there was no presence of commercials alluding to fuel efficiency and instead safety was pitched more frequently compared to other decades. We discuss the other pitches that were found to be significantly different between the settings, narrators, decades, and countries of origin. Over time, pitches in car commercials have changed, perhaps because advertising is influenced by consumer demands, interests, and concerns. Comments Environmental Studies Thesis This student research paper is available at The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College: http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ student_scholarship/275 The Perfect Pitch: Car Commercials and the Environment Alyssa Beyer Sara Moyer ES400 Senior Seminar: The Impact of the Automobile on Culture and Environment Environmental Studies Gettysburg College December 20, 2014