Fire Hydrant Red

What’s wrong with this ad? (ala Gruen Transfer)

There’s an ad that’s currently being aired on tv – it’s advertising savings on car insurance. The man in the ad is lovingly washing his red car, telling the viewer that he’d painted it Fire Hydrant Red with the savings he made with the lower insurance premiums. While he’s doing this, he’s also looking suspiciously at the large gathering of dogs who are eyeing off his newly painted and washed car.

The ad ends with a dog piddling on one of the tires.

We are in Australia, and I have not ever seen a fire hydrant that is all red like that. I’ve seen photos of mostly metal grey hydrants topped with a red cap. But the majority of hydrants are underground, accessed via a little rectangle panet (like this one in this news article)

Ad companies should do a little bit more market research and realism checking, if you ask me.