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Why do companies feel the need to say such bullshit to kids though? Will the kids repeat that to their parents when they want to buy a car, or will the kids bu

Why do companies feel the need to say such bullshit to kids though? Will the kids repeat that to their parents when they want to buy a car, or will the kids buy a self charging Toyota 30 years later because they remembered old propaganda?

TeeMassive 5y ago
In Canada advertising targeting kids is illegal. This is why you get a lot of SUVs and diaper ads targeting adults on cartoon networks.
- Causality1 5y ago
  Untrue. It's just regulated: https://adstandards.ca/about/childrens-advertising-initiative/self-regulation-of-childrens-advertising/ https://adstandards.ca/about/childrens-advertising-initiativ...
  - TeeMassive 5y ago
    My mistake
micromacrofoot 5y ago
> will the kids buy a self charging Toyota 30 years later because they remembered old propaganda? This is the hope... "brand affinity" it's why Facebook started focusing on kids, so they could get them into the ecosystem over their lifespan and avoid "facebook is for old people" issues. And anecdotally it probably works, I remember toy ads from 30 years ago quite well. Kids do engage in this stuff themselves though, I wrote a letter to Sega at one point to point out a typo in the Genesis manual and they sent me a bunch of stickers and stuff. I was genuinely curious about how their company operated, how games were made, etc... so informational content might be satiating general curiosity from kids they've noticed, but it's a thin line.
KennyBlanken 5y ago
A ten year old kid will be a driver in ~6-8 years so it's a fairly short payback. This is just one of Toyota's many prongs PR-wise. Right now they're full-bore trying to fight the electric vehicle movement because they are dead-set on hybrid cars being the "future" even though it's plain as day that they won't be except for most consumers. Hybrids will likely only see use in commercial applications, or sales in areas with poor electrical grid infrastructure.
- wwweston 5y ago
  Electric cars are fantastic for many use profiles. Round-the-town trips and commutes with pauses in between. I'm sure they'll get better for longer range stuff and that will be part of the farther future -- but if you're making regular runs over a certain range, they'll cost you in terms of time and calculation. This is not at all hypothetical, either. I know EV drivers who have to either rule out or carefully manage some activities for this reason, and it's true whether you've got a SmartCar or a Tesla. What's still hypothetical is that EVs are going to meet everyone's needs anytime soon, and it's only reasonable to suppose it'll stay that way until someone figures out battery swap or petro-fillup charge speed. Hybrids may not be the future future, but they're between here and there.
  - KennyBlanken 5y ago
    The issue isn't whether hybrids have some use cases, it's that Toyota is actively fighting EV adoption and trying to teach kids that EVs are evil, bad for the environment, etc and hybrids are cool/better. Simply because Toyota has been caught off-guard big time by how fast the EV market has moved, and now they're left holding a very wet, cold blanket that is hybrid technology. EVs will meet most everyone's needs, whether it's a bike, motorcycle, car, or van/light truck. Wright's Law has held for EVs and batteries, and very soon EVs are going to be cheaper than ICE cars. Just the last week or two on HN alone there have been articles about how battery prices are continuing to plunge. Capacity/density improvements are slower, but already many EVs have nearly the same range as a lot of ICE car equivalents. For example, plenty of cars have about 300mi range, and 250 mile range EVs are now commonplace. Given they're the most expensive part of an EV and there are already numerous EVs on the market that are at least within spitting distance of ICE equivalents - in a few years EVs are going to be eating ICE cars for lunch price-wise. They're mechanically simpler, lower maintenance needs, etc. Solar keeps getting cheaper, wind keeps getting cheaper too. In the US, +40% of the installed electric generating capacity this year was solar and wind. The installed capacity last year was equal to something like twenty nuclear power plants. Liquid iron-based batteries already being sold...and are safe, simple, and cheap as hell to make and scale well all the way from "household" to "grid substation" levels which is the last hurdle for us going to significantly more renewable energy technologies. I could see in ten years having an iron-based battery in my basement or in a little shed behind the house, my roof covered in solar panels, and an electric bicycle and car in my garage. Maybe a co-generation furnace (sterling engine generator that also supplies hot water for heating and bathing) as a backup...but quite possibly no grid connection at all.
filoleg 5y ago
> will the kids buy a self charging Toyota 30 years later because they remembered old propaganda? My bet would be on this one, and I can confirm that this kind of a strategy worked on me personally. As a kid around 5-7yo, I liked playing Colin McRae Rally on PS1. My favorite car in the game by far was Subaru Impreza, mostly because of its cool design and livery. Not much else to it, as I wouldn't know a single thing about car specs at 5-7yo, and the car wasn't "the best car in the game" in terms of performance or anything of that nature IIRC. It was literally just a cool-looking car to me as a kid. As an adult, I have no interest in purchasing a Subaru Impreza, but when I see a modern version of it on the streets (especially in the classic rally blue or the classic rally blue+yellow livery), my eyes instantly get peeled to it, and I think "man, this is a great car that I started liking as a kid and still think it looks great, I kinda want to give it a test drive, just for fun, not to buy". And while I am not actually planning to do a test drive anytime soon, it is like a sales funnel. A good chunk of people who have similar thoughts, they will give it a test-drive. Out of people who do "just a test-drive, not planning to buy", a good number of them end up changing their mind and buying the car because of how much they liked the test drive.

TeeMassive 5y ago

In Canada advertising targeting kids is illegal. This is why you get a lot of SUVs and diaper ads targeting adults on cartoon networks.

Causality1 5y ago
Untrue. It's just regulated: https://adstandards.ca/about/childrens-advertising-initiative/self-regulation-of-childrens-advertising/ https://adstandards.ca/about/childrens-advertising-initiativ...
- TeeMassive 5y ago
  My mistake

micromacrofoot 5y ago

> will the kids buy a self charging Toyota 30 years later because they remembered old propaganda? This is the hope... "brand affinity" it's why Facebook started focusing on kids, so they could get them into the ecosystem over their lifespan and avoid "facebook is for old people" issues. And anecdotally it probably works, I remember toy ads from 30 years ago quite well. Kids do engage in this stuff themselves though, I wrote a letter to Sega at one point to point out a typo in the Genesis manual and they sent me a bunch of stickers and stuff. I was genuinely curious about how their company operated, how games were made, etc... so informational content might be satiating general curiosity from kids they've noticed, but it's a thin line.

KennyBlanken 5y ago

A ten year old kid will be a driver in ~6-8 years so it's a fairly short payback. This is just one of Toyota's many prongs PR-wise. Right now they're full-bore trying to fight the electric vehicle movement because they are dead-set on hybrid cars being the "future" even though it's plain as day that they won't be except for most consumers. Hybrids will likely only see use in commercial applications, or sales in areas with poor electrical grid infrastructure.

wwweston 5y ago
Electric cars are fantastic for many use profiles. Round-the-town trips and commutes with pauses in between. I'm sure they'll get better for longer range stuff and that will be part of the farther future -- but if you're making regular runs over a certain range, they'll cost you in terms of time and calculation. This is not at all hypothetical, either. I know EV drivers who have to either rule out or carefully manage some activities for this reason, and it's true whether you've got a SmartCar or a Tesla. What's still hypothetical is that EVs are going to meet everyone's needs anytime soon, and it's only reasonable to suppose it'll stay that way until someone figures out battery swap or petro-fillup charge speed. Hybrids may not be the future future, but they're between here and there.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  The issue isn't whether hybrids have some use cases, it's that Toyota is actively fighting EV adoption and trying to teach kids that EVs are evil, bad for the environment, etc and hybrids are cool/better. Simply because Toyota has been caught off-guard big time by how fast the EV market has moved, and now they're left holding a very wet, cold blanket that is hybrid technology. EVs will meet most everyone's needs, whether it's a bike, motorcycle, car, or van/light truck. Wright's Law has held for EVs and batteries, and very soon EVs are going to be cheaper than ICE cars. Just the last week or two on HN alone there have been articles about how battery prices are continuing to plunge. Capacity/density improvements are slower, but already many EVs have nearly the same range as a lot of ICE car equivalents. For example, plenty of cars have about 300mi range, and 250 mile range EVs are now commonplace. Given they're the most expensive part of an EV and there are already numerous EVs on the market that are at least within spitting distance of ICE equivalents - in a few years EVs are going to be eating ICE cars for lunch price-wise. They're mechanically simpler, lower maintenance needs, etc. Solar keeps getting cheaper, wind keeps getting cheaper too. In the US, +40% of the installed electric generating capacity this year was solar and wind. The installed capacity last year was equal to something like twenty nuclear power plants. Liquid iron-based batteries already being sold...and are safe, simple, and cheap as hell to make and scale well all the way from "household" to "grid substation" levels which is the last hurdle for us going to significantly more renewable energy technologies. I could see in ten years having an iron-based battery in my basement or in a little shed behind the house, my roof covered in solar panels, and an electric bicycle and car in my garage. Maybe a co-generation furnace (sterling engine generator that also supplies hot water for heating and bathing) as a backup...but quite possibly no grid connection at all.

filoleg 5y ago

> will the kids buy a self charging Toyota 30 years later because they remembered old propaganda? My bet would be on this one, and I can confirm that this kind of a strategy worked on me personally. As a kid around 5-7yo, I liked playing Colin McRae Rally on PS1. My favorite car in the game by far was Subaru Impreza, mostly because of its cool design and livery. Not much else to it, as I wouldn't know a single thing about car specs at 5-7yo, and the car wasn't "the best car in the game" in terms of performance or anything of that nature IIRC. It was literally just a cool-looking car to me as a kid. As an adult, I have no interest in purchasing a Subaru Impreza, but when I see a modern version of it on the streets (especially in the classic rally blue or the classic rally blue+yellow livery), my eyes instantly get peeled to it, and I think "man, this is a great car that I started liking as a kid and still think it looks great, I kinda want to give it a test drive, just for fun, not to buy". And while I am not actually planning to do a test drive anytime soon, it is like a sales funnel. A good chunk of people who have similar thoughts, they will give it a test-drive. Out of people who do "just a test-drive, not planning to buy", a good number of them end up changing their mind and buying the car because of how much they liked the test drive.