Jeep Has Just Lost Any Chance of Selling the Compass to Vegans with Its Ad

After all, they did make a TV series about it (AMC's Mad Men) that's not half-bad, even though it is essentially the kind of soap opera you would expect a housewife to lose time on. With so many products, so many advertising companies and so many ads all around us, it's hard to be that original.

And yet, a great idea will always find a way to shine through and make itself noticed. Which is why so many commercials these days use it, and Jeep's latest TV ad for the Compass can only give it its own personal spin.

We're talking about the whole "break the mold," "be your own master," "don't let society tell you what you can or can't do" attitude, all linked to a certain product, of course. And this is the tricky part: finding a way to make that connection seem natural, and not force it down your viewer's throats.

Jeep (or rather the advertising agency it hired), I'm sure you'll agree, did a fine job with this one-minute-long clip, capturing some of the issues with today's way of living we can all relate to. Having a stressful, meaningless job, the pressure of finding the right person, our obsession with healthy living, having kids, and something to do with bears I didn't quite understand.

As we get closer to the ad's end, we get the idea. It has spoken to us. We're so enthralled we don't even notice how annoying that robotic female voice that keeps repeating "recalculating" is. And then it delivers the completely unnecessary conclusion, managing to ruin what otherwise could have been an excellent commercial: “Love, hope, happiness. Whatever your destination, there’s a million beautiful, ever changing ways to get us there.”

Well done, Jeep. Just as I was about to buy a Compass, your satnav lady spoke one word too much and put me off it.