Whenever I call an Uber, and the app tells me that Jeff is arriving soon in a gray Honda Civic, I’ll wave at every gray, black, and off-white car that approaches me until one of them finally stops and unlocks the door. I have a kind of blindness when it comes to cars. Every make and model looks the same to me, each an indistinguishable blob of gently humming plastic. This is probably how Jeff feels about his passengers. The vast majority of cars look and drive exactly the same, so ads are one of the few places where manufacturers can distinguish their rides from everything else on the street.
But they usually don’t bother. Most car commercials show a sensible sedan speeding across the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver, BC1, with one of five alt-rock songs playing in the background, while an approachably masculine voice rattles off things like “lease an all new,” “well-qualified buyers,” and “four point nine nine percent APR". This is where Honda stands out, at least around the Honda Days. This season actually marks the 20th anniversary of the campaign. Technically.
Sadly, they’ve retired everything that made the ad unique. They’ve cut the carolers, the actors, and as of this year, actual images of the cars they’re selling. This year’s commercials are just AI-augmented renderings of Honda Pilots, Ridgelines, Gravediggers, Diamond Dogs, etc. speeding through a candy-cane forest.2 Pretty much the only thing that’s endured is the phrase “Happy Honda days,” which has some serious legs.
“Toyotathon” and “December to Remember” actually predate the slogan by a few years, but this is clearly the catchiest of the three. I hope Honda returns to their roots in 2025, and I sincerely wish you and those close to you a very Happy Honda Days.3
Check out this CBC segment. Vancouver is one of the most filmed cities on the planet.
It’s as dumb and soulless as you’d expect.
Title: Happy Honda Days. Company: Honda. Year: 2006 (campaign began in 2004, but surviving footage is rough). Agency: RPA.
Whoever approved the commercial in footnote 2 should be tried in court