How an Ad Campaign Made Lesbians Fall in Love with Subaru

The business of "coding" is primarily a defence against the haters. Being outed is now very rarely fatal in the West, but it used to be more dangerous (and is still far more dangerous for trans people). So the LGBT community had to live by an almost steganographic system of linguistic (qv Polari), sartorial and cultural markers.

But that goes exactly against for example what ms is doing. It's making windows for 'everyone' while pissing-off privacy-conscious and freedom-conscious people in the process. Yet it's still at the 'top of the game'.

What am I missing?

Obviously AWD with new snow tires will let you cut through just about anything. I mean it felt like driving a tank sometimes, it's amazing. And that was a sedan - I can't imagine how easy that much be in an SUV or Jeep.

I've also driven FWD compacts with snow tires and experience was worlds better than AWD with regular tires. If AWD + snow tires is 100/100, FWD + snow tires is 90 and AWD + regular tires is 50. My point is that AWD isn't all it's cracked up to be, even with feet of snow on the ground.

And just because it's standard doesn't mean you're not paying a couple thousand dollars for it like everyone else - it just means you don't have the option not to.

And OT: I never understood this "smart people like $CONSUMER_PRODUCT" mentality. Different products fit different use cases. I wouldn't drive a BMW Z4 in Augusta, Maine just like I wouldn't drive a Subaru Forester in San Diego.

And AWD! It comes with something called 'traction control' which in Iowa means, pulling out of a parking lot onto a snow-covered street, it starts vibrating the drive and you drift across the lanes like one of those little football players in the vibrating football game. How is this supposed to be a good thing? You can punch a button to 'turn it off' but other than displaying a message that its disabled, it still happens. So major fail there. I can drive on snow; have for 40 years. I don't need some Engineers broken idea of how to 'help me' drive.

And AWD is essentially a differential? So at no time are all four wheels gripping the road and clawing my way through the snow and drifts. Like 4WD does. So again, a big step down.

And finally, they put a smarmy stupid badge on the back, 'pze' which apparently means "Partial Zero Emissions". What kind of double-speak is that! It offends me, and embarrasses me to have it on the car.

I could go on, but I'll summarize. No, not a Subaru fan.

It was a challenge to get a 2.5i without the turbo but with the 5-speed manual, apparently the target demographics want automatic transmissions or high-strung engines. It perfectly fit with my life of young kids, upstate NY winters, and carting around stuff. It was more fuel and space efficient than the Honda Pilot we owned prior. It was almost unstoppable in snow with the right tires and smooth use of the throttle. It carried more than the VW's we had over the years.

I wrote letters when they announced the boxer diesel engine, http://www.boxerdiesel.com/, asking them to import it to the USA and once got a polite response that they were looking into it. Buyers like me are still waiting.

Sadly my wife didn't like the seats or interior and we couldn't beat the fuel economy of a Toyota Prius when we were driving several hundred miles per week. I wasn't a fan of the engine compartment (changing plugs and coils was okay for three of the four, the fourth was awful) but I didn't have problems with head gaskets, etc. that I've heard about.

> The washing up from breakfast lay on the table; there was so much of it because, for Gregor's father, breakfast was the most important meal of the day and he would stretch it out for several hours as he sat reading a number of different newspapers.

But then again, I guess it would have never become such a common phrase through Kafka alone. Funny would be if the above formulation only appeared in post 1944 translations.

I agree, with freedom of choice and competition, the burden falls on the consumers to choose what they support. In other words, voters vote with their ballots. Consumers vote with their dollars, both are very important in a democratic society.

"Love, it's what makes a Subaru a Subaru"

I'd hear that slogan as a sponsorship message on public radio and more recently I think I heard it on a commercial TV ad and I'd reply "no, standard all wheel drive is what makes it a Subaru."

Still, snark aside, it's struck me as a sort of hippie-dippy slogan for an international auto company and it's made me wonder what they are going for.

That said, they have had a reputation for decent vehicles.

Me neither. Maybe it's the power of suggestion, but I see subtle and unsubtle references all over that ad now that it's been pointed out to me. It's all artfully vague, but added up make a strong hint: One guy's shirt is half-open. The two men look at each other with their lips slightly tensed. Their small car runs opposite to the large train (reference to against mainstream). There's a slack toy that pops up when the passenger manipulates it with his hand.

"Heterosexuals who saw those two just assumed they were friends or roommates, whereas the gay community assumed they were boyfriends." - Robert Klara of Adweek, quoted here: http://www.npr.org/2014/06/29/326524942/advertisers-come-out...

They're dependable, easy enough to work on, and all-wheel drive (fuck snow and ice). They are as 'American made' as you can get anymore. They're perfect for conservative US farmers.