“Because apparently nothing’s sacred these days.”
This, obviously, is not an actual commercial from General Motors’ Holden division, it’s a skit from the Kiwi comedians of Funny Girls on New Zealand’s 3NOW TV channel.
But it starts out like they all seem to, cutting from landscape shot to detail shot under the gravelly voice of a chain smoking cattle-wrangling narrator. Rose Matafeo plays the flannel-clad person who emerges from the driver seat of the truck, throws the manly voiceover for a loop and hilarity ensues.
“Sorry love, didn’t expect to see a woman.” Yes, it’s a surprise. But then you realize how dumb it is that it has to be a surprise at all.
The clip is NSFW for language, by the way. Don’t worry, swears are somehow funnier with a kiwi accent.
It’s as good a way to upend stereotypes as I’ve seen. Why do truck commercials always seem to have nothing but dudes in them?
I couldn’t resist dropping Holden Australia a line to see what they thought, and General Manager of Corporate Affairs Ed Finn was a good sport about it: “Holden New Zealand wasn’t involved in an official capacity, but we’re rather flattered that the Funny Girls team featured the new Holden Colorado as their vehicle of choice.”
Now maybe they’ll be really cool and ship that manual-transmission Duramax diesel combination our way? Please?