Sport
utility vehicles, the natural choice
Elisa
Herrera
Question Everything
Consider
the following words: Sequoia, Tahoe, Rainier,
Yukon, and Denali. Even the most amateur
outdoors-person can recognize that these
terms refer to some of North America's most
treasured features of nature: the giant
sequoia trees towering within the California
national park of the same name; the famous
Lake Tahoe at the California-Nevada border;
the phenomenal volcanic creation of Mt.
Rainier in Washington; the vast Yukon Mountains
of Canada, and the highest peak in North
America, Mt. Denali (McKinley) in Alaska.
Those
with a little more historical knowledge
also know that most of these names developed
from the cultures of the indigenous tribal
peoples of the American lands.
What
these terms also have in common is that
they all now represent models of sport utility
vehicles. The Toyota Sequoia, Chevy Tahoe,
Buick Rainier, and GMC Yukon Denali are
just a few examples of how the American
public is exposed to the use of misleading
names in the marketing of SUVs.
With
this practice, television and print advertising
has taken a step beyond the typical images
of an oversized, gas-guzzling vehicle majestically
plowing through the forests, splashing across
gentle streams, and conquering rugged mountains.
Associating these products with pleasant
names is an act of deception that attempts
to justify or mask their true devastating
effects. Advertisers paint the portrait
of car manufacturers respecting and valuing
nature, yet their methods of honoring Mother
Earth do not include driving environmentally-friendly
or even mildly efficient vehicles.
Instead,
consumers are instructed that the best way
to become one with nature is to destroy
it -- to crush the flora under massive tires
and splatter the fauna against the front
grill, all the while being surrounded by
an aura of carbon monoxide and a veritable
cornucopia of other pollutants.
Certainly,
SUVs with names other than the aforementioned
are not necessarily less damaging to the
environment. Undoubtedly, dealership lots
across the country are crammed with cars
that can be much more harmful. But what
makes these particular models exceptionally
offensive is that such great efforts are
made specifically to equate them with monumental
symbols of our natural wonders.
With
gas prices escalating ever closer to the
three-dollar mark, now more than ever, people
are realizing the environmental and economic
drawbacks to owning such colossal cars.
Advertisers know that even the most destructive
vehicle can appear benign when immersed
in a scene of trees swaying gracefully in
the breeze, water trickling down a sparkling
brook, and bushy-tailed squirrels scampering
about.
Although
typical SUV owners never drive even one
mile off the jam-packed roads and freeways
of the urban jungle, it is easy to be lulled
into this peaceful imagery. But once the
commercials are over or the magazine is
turned to the next glossy page, does the
audience have the sense to awaken from the
fantasy? As is evident from the millions
of dollars being poured into advertising
campaigns, car companies are betting against
it.
Elisa
Herrera is a graduate student of history
at Cal State Long Beach.
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