Let’s face it. The U.S. auto industry hasn’t always been very good at advertising the benefits of the electric car.
Among them of course, General Motor’s infamous 1996 ad for its EV-1, the cringe-worthy Chevy Volt Dance, the Nissan Leaf Bear Hug ad, and of course, Nissan’s Ryan Reynolds Leaf ad
Now our neighbors to the north have come to the rescue with an online ad campaign for the 2012 Mitsubishi i that is both funny and informative.
Enter the Electriphobia Research Institute and its prescribed therapy to rid you of all electric car phobias.
Part of Mitsubishi’s sales push into the Canadian market -- where the 2012 Mitsubishi i is sold as the Mitsubishi i-Miev -- Electriphobia.com casts you in the role of a patient with an real but irrational fear of electric cars.
Electriphobia Website (Mitsubishi i)
Complete with an introductory film that reminds us of Valve’s 2011 hit game Portal 2, the microsite offers six treatments which it promises will eradicate the following electric-car related phobias: Fear of electrocution; Fear of Silence; Range Anxiety; Tailpipe Separation Anxiety; Gas Withdrawal Anxiety; and Fear of Becoming a Hippie.
The resulting videos, especially the cure for Fear of Silence and Tailpipe Separation Anxiety -- which includes ever-diminishing fake exhausts and lots of duck tape-- had us laughing very loudly.
We hope Mitsubishi’s Electriphobia concept heads south to the U.S., but in the meantime we highly recommend you entertain yourself for five minutes at the Electriphobia Research Institute.
Just one word of warning: make sure you’re somewhere it’s okay to laugh out loud.
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