You know those Chevy commercials, where the “real people” learn facts about Chevy cars and act impressed and astonished? You probably do, given that they’re everywhere.
The ad campaign begs a lot of questions. It’s tough to watch one of these commercials and not wonder whether these are actually random civilians and not actors and why they say such dopey, enthusiastic stuff about Chevy cars.
Well last week, A.V. Club got all the answers, scoring an interview with someone who has appeared in one of the ads. The guy had signed a non-disclosure agreement, so he couldn’t use his name, but A.V. Club confirmed he was who he said and offered him anonymity to share his secrets.
For one thing, our guy confirmed that he was not an actor and that, best he could tell, the others in his group were not actors. He described showing up to the L.A. Convention Center, being ushered into a dark room and then watching as rows of Chevys were unveiled one by one.
But the really interesting insight comes when he describes how and why the people in the ads offer such fawning reviews of Chevy:
When I was talking to people in the lobby, no one seemed that enthusiastic about anything. The second we got in there, it was like magically everyone was the world’s biggest Chevrolet fan. I can’t stress enough that I’m a real person and not an actor. None of these people were actors, because I asked them what they all did for a living. They suddenly became these perfect spokespeople when this guy started asking questions, like, “What’s the first word that comes to your mind when you think about Chevy?” Literally, the guy next to me was like, “Freedom.” [Laughs.] He was suddenly so patriotic. He was like, “American-made cars. Quality.” All of these people were spewing out these buzzwords.
Our hero, not quite as desperate to please authority figures, did not join in his colleagues’ praise.
Then they got to me and were like, “What do you think about Chevy?” and I was like, “Popular.” I’m not saying I don’t like Chevy or I won’t drive a Chevy or whatever, but it’s a car. It’s not the American flag or the Statue Of Liberty. They wanted us to be all about how the cars were American-made and all that stuff. They asked us what we drove, and no one there drove a Chevy.
Basically, he said, everyone said good things about Chevy because they felt like that had to… and because the guy in the commercials was some kind of wizard.
There are parody videos that have been getting popular making fun of these people who are supposedly real people, but I also feel like everyone was… not bending to [Chevy’s] will because they didn’t really influence us to say anything. We never retook a take, but you felt really bad about saying something negative about Chevy because there were 50 cameras on you, and it was just this one guy. He did this magic trick of making it seem like you were hurting his feelings if you said anything bad about Chevy. You didn’t want to see this guy stop smiling. It was really bizarre.
Though the dude who hosts all these commercials takes a fair amount of flak online, this dude really admired his work.
When people talk about the commercial, they’re like, “That guy’s so weird and awkward, and he’s so fake,” and all this stuff. But I think he has the world’s most difficult job to perform well, and he does it amazingly. He just stood there, and these doors just kept opening and he didn’t flinch. He was there all day, and he’s smiling and showing all this enthusiasm. It was crazy. And the doors just kept opening, and everyone in my group was just like, “Wow, that’s cool.” They didn’t show any expression, but I was literally freaking out because I couldn’t believe that they were spending all this money.
Our man, who did not have a speaking role in the commercial he appeared in, spent less than two hours on the shoot and was paid $200. For some reason, he was paid $150 in Visa gift cards and then mailed another $50.
Read the whole deeply fascinating interview here.
