Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
First, they're not rats, they're hamsters. The commercial is a continuation of an advertising theme/campaign started by Kia in a previous ad. Said previous ad (linked below) differentiates the Kia Soul from everything else on the road by depicting other commuters as hamsters on hamster wheels while the "Kia hamsters" roll by in their Soul listening to hip-hop music, the implication being the Soul is über-cool compared to the routine "appliance" car driven by everyone else.
The second commercial, the one you refer to, is a naked appeal to the Kia Soul's target demographic, namely urban and wannabe-urban youth. The song is not unique to the commercial, it's a reworking of a classic early 1990s hip-hop track called "The Choice is Yours" by Black Sheep, chosen for obvious thematic reasons ("be a 'black sheep' and stand out from the crowd by driving a Soul").
This blog post deconstructs the ad and its appeal quite thoroughly.
I am not a fan of hip hop, nor am I in the target demographic. But, I LOVE this commercial. I think it is catchy, clever, and captures everything that KIA set out to do to market the Soul. Heck, I'd certainly go look at one if I was ready to make a move.
I think the commercial is disturbing. These sociopathic rats look ready to go off a sucka.
The message I get is "Go buy a Kia, enter the hip-hop community and then commit drive-by shootings.".
So true!!! Thanks for the very thorough explanation. I totally agree that using catchy songs for ads is genius. Movie preview ads do this too. There are so many companies doing this; immediately Apple and Amazon Kindle commercials come to mind.
Genius? It usually makes me hate the song (a song I usually liked up until then) and the product that it pitches. As a general rule, commercials ruin good songs.
I think the commercial is disturbing. These sociopathic rats look ready to go off a sucka.
The message I get is "Go buy a Kia, enter the hip-hop community and then commit drive-by shootings.".
Ummm....please point out the specific part of the commercial where the hamsters are displaying "sociopathic" behavior and commiting "drive-by shootings". Oh, and while you're at it...please quote the post where someone specifically and explicitly called you a "racist".
Yep, but I did not ask for the tired old line.....RAY-SIS, RAY-SIS.
The interesting thing is, I didn't say anything about race. And yet that's how it translated in your head because that's almost certainly the contextual prism through which you viewed this commercial, "rats" and all. You know what they say about the lady who doth protest too much...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
and commiting "drive-by shootings". 
Oh, and while you're at it...please quote the post where someone specifically and explicitly called you a "racist".