10.17.2005
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Jag-You-Are
Perhaps you've heard these annoying commercials on the airwaves: a plummy, Oxbridge kind of accent, inviting us plebians to just go on out and buy one. A Jaguar motor car, that is, which the English voice pronounces "jag-you-are."
I suppose that there is a certain kind of American who fancies him or herself a member of some imaginary upper class. On such, this kind of an approach may work. I find it simply annoying, because that's not the way I speak. Nor is it the way any of my family, friends, or the many people, from all around the country, I've served with spoke.
I've worked with some of our British cousins, and, mostly, they didn't speak like that, either. Of course, they were military, and tended to come from the North or Borders; they'd likely have an even more negative reaction. But it's not just the accent; after all, it's hard to change your way of speaking.
No, not just the accent. Jaguar advertising is annoying and cloying, all at once. It's that not-so-subtle appeal to the American consumer who may have more money than common sense. Who, after these many years of separation from the Mother Country, just can't hold in his inner Anglophile.
As for the Jaguar as a car? Mediocre at best; clearly overpriced in relation to what's available in the market. Jags look good; they always have. But if you want a real car, one that will perform and get you where you want to go (and back, which Jags have a nasty history of not doing), I'd say get a Toyota, Honda, or Subaru.
Even a F(ound) O(n) the R(oad) D(ead), made by Jaguar's current corporate owner, would be better. At least you wouldn't be paying tens of thousands for snob appeal.
I suppose that there is a certain kind of American who fancies him or herself a member of some imaginary upper class. On such, this kind of an approach may work. I find it simply annoying, because that's not the way I speak. Nor is it the way any of my family, friends, or the many people, from all around the country, I've served with spoke.
I've worked with some of our British cousins, and, mostly, they didn't speak like that, either. Of course, they were military, and tended to come from the North or Borders; they'd likely have an even more negative reaction. But it's not just the accent; after all, it's hard to change your way of speaking.
No, not just the accent. Jaguar advertising is annoying and cloying, all at once. It's that not-so-subtle appeal to the American consumer who may have more money than common sense. Who, after these many years of separation from the Mother Country, just can't hold in his inner Anglophile.
As for the Jaguar as a car? Mediocre at best; clearly overpriced in relation to what's available in the market. Jags look good; they always have. But if you want a real car, one that will perform and get you where you want to go (and back, which Jags have a nasty history of not doing), I'd say get a Toyota, Honda, or Subaru.
Even a F(ound) O(n) the R(oad) D(ead), made by Jaguar's current corporate owner, would be better. At least you wouldn't be paying tens of thousands for snob appeal.
posted by Jack Rich at 12:50 PM
I was born, grew up, and went to school in the Bronx, New York -- on the wrong side of the
tracks. Got the chance to go to college, so instead of joining the NYPD (the obvious career choice at
that time and place), I became an engineer. Spent
some years designing things that go boom (or things that take things that go boom to their destinations...), principally for our military.
Also took an interesting career turn and for some years was in charge of counter-terrorism for my agency...so I learned something about guns. And when to use them.
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