Bland, Basic, Busted - Dissecting Car Marketing for 2 Hours

[@madmatt112]

TWO HOURS BRO?! Im buyin it

[@lilosmosis]

I’m from the US and I’ve been a car mechanic most of my life while always loving cars and motorsport but my dream is still being able to simply bike/walk most places and see public transport actually advance to a level that would help people break out of the “need” of a car at all times. Great video man 👍🏼

[@garrettblack]

37:43 "its borderline inhumane to subject people to the same thing over and over" I SOOOO wish we understood this as a culture. Not just marketing-brained people but also everyone.

[@2025Productions]

I LOVE cars. Huge car enthusiast. But fuck car companies and their lobbying against public transportation. I would recommend Climate Town for more details on how corrupt car companies are.

[@davidpachecogarcia]

As a designer I've alway admired car design. Especially older cars now when they were doing everything and anything. However, today cars fall into the appliance category. There's no more passion coming out majority of car brands. Maybe because the CEO's are trying to sell a product, have never designed anything in their life, or not even car fans themselves.

[@1-eye-willy]

our government wont let us have mini trucks anymore, while Australia never quit producing the ford ranger truck, im so jealous

[@ericcarabetta1161]

Climate Town, hell yeah!

[@garrettblack]

Re: self-marketing - Cybertrucks. Since the beginning of the summer I have seen a number of them aimlessly tooling around the streets of LA, or conspicuously parked in high-traffic areas. It struck me as really strange given how famoualy bad they are. Istg half of them arent there bc a person owns and uses them, and that its just a maketing tactic to make it look like Cybertrucks are catching on organically. Maybe that's nothing special and car companies do that all the time anyway. Maybe I'm just paranoid, idk

[@madeliner1682]

Or maybe LA has a bigger sweet spot of 'people dumb enough to buy a cybertruck' and 'people wealthy enough to buy a cybertruck' than other places

[@HowlingHowl]

I love that you often break focus into small impromptu tangents while recording, or just talk about personal experiences, while being overall always relaxed. Just feels like being in your company, rather than being infodumped consistently a whole bunch of stuff in a "show voice".

[@whitelunick]

Spotting the Gundam you had in the background just made me want to say that your video on Consumption Communities really shifted the way I engage with building gunpla as a hobby.

[@SemiIocon]

That intro was great, I live in a very urbanised German town and there is public transit to everywhere, in varying qualities, so it's kinda hard to truly understand how car dependent regions feel like to live in.

[@7scottsiple]

Let's gooooo! I haven't had a car since 2018. Been fortunate enough to shape my life around not owning a vehicle.

[@MichaelBurkhalter]

Using public transportation definitely isn’t my idea of fortunate 😂

[@TheBeatlesToday]

When you said you feel like you stumbled into becoming an “ambassador for the carless,” I FELT THAT. Neither my husband nor I don’t own a car, we’ve never owned a car, and we don’t even know how to drive. Despite the fact that we live in a major US city that’s very walkable and accessible by public transit, we get asked about being carless ALL THE TIME, like it’s completely unfathomable even within our city. One of the questions I get a lot is about traveling. Does it limit where we go for vacation? Sure. But most Americans aren’t trying to visit every remote area of the country, and very few are driving when they’re visiting somewhere overseas. And honestly, in my experience, there are a surprising number of suburban and rural areas in the US (especially in the northeast) with some kind of fairly reliable regional bus network and/or heavy rail. Getting around has honestly never been a major issue for us (and on the rare occasion that it is, there’s ride share/taxis - though rarely use that option since we have a very strong anti-car stance 😂). I totally get why people in some areas of the country literally need a car in order to perform basic tasks, but the number of young, able-bodied Americans living in cities like mine who still opt for car ownership - just because it never dawned on them not to - is wild.

[@TheAxebeard]

City people is all I have to say.

[@gracesimpson247]

Would be nice to know which songs were used in the video.

[@joatflame]

especially the one for the “look how many” section

[@settledsea]

Thanks so much for your hard work on this video!! I always found it odd from an early age how obsessed and reliant we are on cars. My grandfather ran an autobody shop to make a living in this country, my dad was obsessed with the speed racer cartoon in the 60s, my brother loves Subaru's and rally racing. I did have a Barbie jeep growing up which I LOVED, but no amount of brain washing could prepare me for the amount of anxiety I would have when it came time for me to learn to drive. As a person with a physical disability that affects my walking, I had to take a test to see if I could even drive with my feet/legs/ have a good reaction time with the pedals. My test determined that I would need hand controls. I was very lucky that my family were "car people" ( loving cars/able to have the funds to buy cars)- I had to find a car, get it modded for hand controls, and pass a special test. My driving anxiety + my disability/hand controls+ all the extra work to learn, I did not get my drivers license/drive fully until I was 28 or so. It was a very uphill battle and I had alot of help and support along the way. I cannot imagine people with disabilities that don't have these resources. I didn't even get "serious" with job hunting/career growth until I had a car to drive myself to interviews. Also, my boyfriend just bought a car after saving up for a long time. Before he bought a car, I mainly had to be the one to drive an hour away to see him or pick him up on the weekends if we wanted to do something, unless he could borrow a car. I know this comment is long winded, but it really shows just how much we NEED cars to have any sort of quality of life, and if we don't have the support system or money to have access to a car or even the privilege to drive, life feels so small. Despite my driving anxiety for the highway, I am really proud and grateful how far I have come in my skills in driving, and even enjoy driving now, ( with my nerdy bumper stickers) but I really hate how much of your quality of life in America DEPENDS on a car.

[@autisticbishounen4474]

i LOVE your videos mate you have such a great voice for this too you remind me of like, an awesome college teacher

[@MrBaskins2010]

thank you for tackling this subject. car brainrot is one of the largest drivers (no pun intended) of debt in this nation. i know people making 100k+ who buy expensive cars to show status. why enter a debt loop for a big box of metal? they're dangerous to our lungs, our air and our futures

[@NLLHW]

I 100% identify as a car guy, and am in fact planning on making a car purchase in the next couple of months; however, I feel like I've subconsciously felt/thought about a lot of these issues for a long time. This video gives me some more concrete "ammo" to continue to dwell on these ideas. Really great work here, and excited to go through your other videos.

[@yoarg]

not to dox myself but man it sucks to live in a neighbourhood so choked with cars that it can be used as b-roll in a video essay about car culture 💀

[@isgonrain]

greetings from the algorithm. KZbin must know I'm car-free.

[@isgonrain]

On the safety part now and... man, as a cyclist in a major city (commuting, fun, etc.) I have "jokingly" said to my friends I assume the way my life ultimately ends will be through getting creamed by a car. They think it's morbid but as readily pointed out, distractions are increasing, rage is increasing and I've had more close calls in "protected" bike lanes than I even ever did like 20 years ago when I started. Cars have broken people's brains and I truly truly hate them... (the cars that is)

[@banovsky]

Carjacked is an awesome book - as is this video. Well done, coming from a reluctant car enthusiast. ✌️

[@K-C-D-A]

Thank you for the Big Rock Candy Mountain moment. That's a core memory for me.

[@fearsomefawkes6724]

1:27:43 I had a classmate in university whose jeep had similar battery issues. She couldn't afford to fix it or replace the jeep, so she kept a wrench on her key chain to unhook the battery if the jeep was going to be parked for more than a few minutes. Edit: Hahaha, just found the part where you did a similar thing. Thankfully my friends jeep was older so she didn't have to worry about a fob. Her sound system also didn't work, so she had a small Bluetooth speaker for music.

[@ryjoy]

Watched this while building my Aerial Rebuild HG (and was delighted when I spied what looked to be the Aeriel HG on your bookshelf). Really great vid, covered a lot of ground and really spoke to my anxieties and woes about cars. I can relate your struggles owning a car. I'm fortunate to have a mode of transportation - the company van my folks bought for our failed business. Even if its not ideal, I could not afford a new on my own. And I'm realizing how many "close-calls" I've had in my life both behind the wheel and in front of a car. And how many people I know have been hurt or killed by them. Much like your video, I've got a lot of thoughts about cars and they're perhaps not very cohesive, but ultimately i just wish our US society wasn't so built upon them.

[@kingworm7168]

10:03 “nuts and bolts” was right there my guy.

[@doctorsalt8449]

Another brilliant video. Enjoy your vacation man.

[@thegoodnoodle2896]

HOLY SHIT TWO HOURS!?!

[@TeamElectoKnights]

I've watched this guy's content pretty consistently, even brought his content up to friends- then I somehow just now realized he has >20k subs... I seriously thought this channel was much larger than it is, between the production value, the design, and well researched topics it certainly feels larger than it is while watching. Big ups, and hope to see you counted among the legends someday. Also, i plan to keep my 1991 Honda CRX until the engine blows, then i'll do an electric powertrain swap. What can I say, there's nothing that quite matches its funky style. Ads for the big bulky newer cars haven't gotten to me yet!

[@tednugent1100]

YT algo sent me this, very well put together vid! Well done

[@mandrew31]

Commenting for the algo and getting ready to watch another banger from NBI

[@1-eye-willy]

this not having a car thing could be deadly where i live. i live in Texas. in the city we have immaculate public transport, but if you live in the south eastern side of the county its not as good, and the further east it gets non existent and unfortunately thats where i live. east dallas county, not east dallas that would be cool i could ride the dart train, the only thing we have is a shuttle bus that comes twice a day that takes you into the transit system. im not taking a series of busses and trains for my doctors appointments into the city when i wont be certain if i can make it to the last evening shuttle back to my neck of the woods. so even though im blind in one eye, i have a car, i can still drive but i do it as little as possible to reduce my chances of crashing, even though ive gotten used to seeing and driving with one eye, i undoubtedly have an entire "blind spot" to my right 😂 but yeah it gets hotter than literal hell in the summer and freezing ass cold in the winter, we have "food deserts" and the stars at night, are big and bright deep in the heart of texas

[@madeliner1682]

yeah I live in the outskirts of the Houston metropolitan area. Suburbs as a concept were a mistake and need to be sent back to the hell they came from

[@leslieinglis6949]

Was wondering when you’d release a new video and here we are 😊 I have so many thoughts on this subject. I empathize on the reaction of others were a 1 car family of 3 and I get Pikachu faced looks all the time when explaining this… I am a SAHM I don’t want or need another vehicle… we’re also stationed in Japan so yess F the American car industry, it’s such bullshit. We were able to get 2 different vehicles over the course of our near decade overseas and each was around $2500-3000 and have been newer with fewer miles on them than anything we could get stateside. I’ve also been able to see & directly benefit from amazing public transit living in western Tokyo. Driving in the city was very stressful for me with the increased level of pedestrians l, bicyclists & motorcyclists with so I usually opted to take the Chuo line into the city and walk to my destination. We now live in Okinawa and America majorly f-ed with the public infrastructure post WW2. There’s a small monorail line in Naha the tourist epicenter & decent bus lines but locals are so reliant upon cars the Japanese government compensates them to offset the costs. (Not Just Bikes has done videos on this). My husband is retiring to civilian life in a few years and I am honestly not looking forward to returning stateside back to astronomical cost of living 🫠😑😮‍💨

[@SpartanA054Moose]

The modern car industry is so bland, generic, and depressing, modern cars are overcomplicated and over priced things.

[@faithcook2429]

This was so good and well spoken! I didn't get my license until I was 25 and as soon as I did I was still like okay how do I get rid of this car as soon as possible 😂 Love public transit and wish more funding went towards it in the US but for now I still use it as much as I can and dream of moving just a few miles closer to my local Big City™

[@lostlandmarks8305]

With you all the way.

[@kosmati4569]

Could've just wired up a simple toggle switch from the fuse box to some blank panel, but I guess your mechanic liked money.

[@Blkloligamer]

Ah. I see why this took you a while. *grabs snack*

[@timeless.ephemeri]

on the topic of industries with extremely pervasive advertising, beyond cars and pharma the one that really comes to mind is insurance. they also tend to be some of the most obnoxious ones because insurance is a much more abstract concept than something like a car so they get a lot more... creative to put it generously. would be interested on your take some day. anyways i mostly just wanted to comment in appreciation of all the effort that went into this!

[@bluevayero]

Gooood video. Maybe it didn't have to be 2 hours but I didn't mind. I think as you get better at your craft you will sort and order the piles of information more effectively. Good job friend.

[@raytsh]

I just had to repair my 18 year old car for more than what it is likely worth. Without that repair it would not have been allowed on public roads anymore without paying fines as far as I understand. In any case, I can afford that repair bill. What I cannot afford is a new or another (newer) used car. So, I'm kind stuck in that situation.

[@SeanMontebello]

Fantastic dissection. I'm not so much a car guy (although I do watch a good amount of car-centric content on platforms like youtube) although I am a motorcycle guy, which to a lessor or just different extent has the same marketing culture

[@jessicav2031]

It's strange, I don't get the status symbol element at all. Maybe it is more of a west coast thing (and midwest manly men and their trucks)? People with way too much money buy fancy ones to show off (for the name of course) but normal people don't. Every middle-class person I know (east coast) is much more into the practical side: looking for individual autonomy, comfort, and reliability. They tend to buy new only because of the perception that that is the way to maintain reliability. To a large extent this seems like a failure of the marketing industry: people kind of see everything as the same and are just looking for something with boring qualities. Commoditization! That "safety feature" laziness thing definitely has gotten a lot of people though. People who enjoy relying on those "features" as a crutch rather than a supplement. Though I'm not sure how many people would actively seek them out, they certainly enjoy using them. Which leads to an observation I have had for awhile as an electrical engineer: car companies seem to in the last 10-15 years really leaned hard on "features" which, while they may cost a lot to develop, have a very low per-unit cost. All those fancy electronics they are pushing at you, they build for pennies. I think the insane profit margin for electronic features is even more responsible for their proliferation than actual demand.

[@TheAxebeard]

What part of the east coast are you on? Because I'm in Philly and douchey overpriced cars seem to be the norm here.

[@jessicav2031]

@@TheAxebeard Near there. Yeah there are definitely people buying cars as status for sure. It just seems like it is mostly those with too much money and not people in the middle class buying stuff they can't afford? The people with 300k jobs all have a Tesla and a Maserati (SUV of course). But the people with normal jobs have a 5 year old Toyota and they don't seem to feel like it makes them inadequate?

[@johnharvey5412]

Oh, the trucks are definitely a status symbol. That's why they have King Ranch Platinum Super Turbo Lonestar Edition stamped all over them, so you know they spend $95k to drive to their office job.

[@spaceboyfriend9390]

Im from the midwest where i never really saw flashy cars and now im on the west coast and it is def a thing hahaha

[@TheFinnGamer]

I have never owned a car and am planning to never in my life own one. Loved the deep dive!

[@damarziman]

Beautiful cat pictures

[@Astro_Vagabond]

Yessss burn my work day away

[@patriciasazama720]

I nominate the beauty industry as an industry with advertising as ubiquitous as the car industry! Though I'm sure car ads are more often served to men and beauty ads are more often served to women (at least online), so it may be harder to compare. That would be a really interesting deep dive video too, imho.

[@starguurl]

WOOHOOOOOOO

[@politepanda]

this like if joe pera played magic the gathering; jk just commenting for the algo - love your stuff

[@SamCyanide]

Have you seen the Kia soul hamster commercial? Or the old Subaru rally commercials? They used to be pretty good....

[@4areadbhar]

1:32:50 last year, i had my computer that i used every day for university suddenly stop charging. when i would tell people this, they would say “oh, how old is it?” It Was Less Than Six Months Old. which thankfully meant it was under warranty and i could get it serviced for free, but i know it will have an issue again. it’s frustrating that this Thing that i spent so much money on is just waiting to fall apart if i use it too much or push it too hard

[@aze4308]

yessss

[@Sincald]

One more insidious aspect of cars that they will desperately _avoid_ marketing to you or even informing consumers about in any way: modern cars being a nightmare for our privacy. Built-in computers with microphones everywhere, functionality depending on a preinstalled SIM card, telemetry and other data being recorded about your location and driving habits to sell to insurance companies or other datamongers, 2nd-hand cars' head unit potentially still being accessible by previous owners via the car's app, harvesting data from your connected smartphone, probably a lot more I haven't been able to think of off the top of my head. All of this, and consumers are not presented with a privacy policy for these head units before purchasing a car, even if asked for. If I had more to say or a more eloquent way to say it, I no longer remember. It's nearly 4am and I'm so tired hahah

[@cjr1382]

cool

[@christtofthewave4273]

anyone know the song in the safety section?

[@willbowie9697]

I love my e90

[@carstenpfundt]

ONLY 1500 VIEWS??

[@elizabethspaulding6563]

how do I find similar youtubers/media to Not Buying It?

[@politepanda]

track list pls

[@handle--handle]

as a fellow angeleno, could you hook me up with the car shop? is it west side auto repair? I need a reliable mechanic for normal mechanical maintenance.

[@viviennenorthwoods]

tetris worlds enjoyers rise up

[@nk05555]

I have a license but can't drive because of fear of hurting people

[@Kilgamesh]

nice video but I have a small critique on the editing side. the music is too loud, which detracts from your voice, making it difficult to absorb the information being presented.

[@madeliner1682]

not by too much, and tbh it mostly only affects places where the backing track has more texture to distract from the rhythm of the talking

[@qbqbqdbq]

Never learned to drive. Parents didn't care and I didn't have any money to learn on my own. Now I have money but no time or energy. It kind of wrecked my life haha.

[@TheAxebeard]

Protip: if you don't get into accidents, you don't need insurance. I haven't carried regular insurance for nearly ten years. I've received exactly ONE citation for it, and it ended up costing my $500 (because I also didn't have registration, so it got impounded) The "no insurance" part of the ticket was only $150. Way less than the insurance cost for that time. I work from home though, so the only driving I really do is for groceries twice a month and going out to meetups and stuff that aren't located in the urban hellhole I live in. And I've gone through a few cars over the last 15 years, but never spent more than $3k on any single one, and when I'm done with them, I sell them for more (inflation lol). My current ride is a $2,000 1989 van. To add: I travel from one major city to another a few times a month. I could do the two hour drive no problem, but my van sucks to drive, so I take the Amtrak. I'm actually not sure which costs more, but because my vehicle is so unpleasant to drive (the window doesn't go down, no radio, no AC), I just take public transit. It is not super reliable, but gets the job done. When it's hot, apparently the track heat up and the trains get delayed multiple hours.

[@internetfox]

Amtrak sucks in some ways, but deserves more love imo

[@big-mezza-biz]

Is this a joke? If you drive around without insurance you're bound to fuck someone over

[@CarrotConsumer]

You should obey the law if you use public road ways.

[@madeliner1682]

@carrotconsumer sometimes people don't have enough money to obey the law

[@dr329c]

what was the point of this video? 2Hrs to recap what another better informed channel would best 30mins on

[@o_dubski]

I love this channel!