I still love my Toyota Tundra, but I think they’ve made a marketing mistake in one of their latest commercials.
In the commercial I saw recently, a construction worker pulls up in a new Tundra on a job site. A coworker says to him, “A Toyota?”, to which the driver simply replies, “Get in.” In the next scene, the truck returns to the same site, this time loaded down, covered in mud, and pulling a trailer with a skid steer loader. Another onlooker asks “A Toyota?”, to which the new passenger replies, “Get in.”
The problem I have is their choice of actor for the role of “Tundra driver.” Unless I’m mistaken, the actor is Eric Allan Kramer. He’s a tough-lookin’ guy, so at first glance he’s a good choice. The problem is the role I remember him from. He played the minor character “Bear” in American Wedding. “Bear” (such a clever name) sure looks tough, but the main characters meet him in a gay bar where he gets involved in a dance-off.
I don’t mean to typecast the guy, and he was HILARIOUS in the movie, but I don’t know if that commercial is going to help Toyota capture the tough-guy market, at least not among those who are overly self-conscious 🙂