If There’s One Thing Ron Burgundy Knows, It’s Women; If There Are Two Things He Knows, They’re Women and Dodge Durangos

The following is based on actual events. Only the names, locations, and events have been changed.

In what can only be described as a curious move, Dodge has enlisted none other than Ron Burgundy, the hapless fictional anchorman played by Will Ferrell, to shill the 2014 Durango. On the surface of things, all that ties Burgundy to the Dodge SUV is timing: The Anchorman sequel is hitting theaters soon, and the Durango has just undergone a mid-cycle refresh. But the tie-up isn’t totally random—after all, Burgundy should appeal to Dodge’s target Durango buyer (men). So to that end, who better to tap for the job than the man who discovered the wheel and built the Eiffel Tower out of metal and brawn?

The character placement might make some sense, but the commercials themselves are less coherent. One sees Burgundy boasting that the Durango is better than a horse, because the crossover’s 360-hp V-8 makes it 360 times better than a horse. (We’d like to think that any modern car is at least 360 times better than a horse.) Another one of the YouTube ads consists largely of Burgundy detailing the Durango’s standard glove box. Again, glove boxes have been pretty much a given for the past half-century, regardless of how much gum one can hold (as you’ll see in the video, the Durango maxes out at 70 packs).

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While Will Ferrell’s character is endearing, we think Dodge missed an opportunity to put more Anchorman references into the ads. Ourselves being newsmen, we C/D staffers do our fair share of Anchorman quoting, so might we suggest Dodge have started with Burgundy pondering the origin of the Durango name? Perhaps it’s German for a whale’s . . . lady parts. Or maybe have Burgundy offer that the only way to bag a classy lady is to give her two tickets to the gun show, before pointing to the rather muscularly styled Durango. Or have him drive a Durango to Pleasure Town. Unfortunately, as the commercials sit now, they come off more “sex panther” than “by the beard of Zeus!” But don’t let us have all the fun—feel free to offer up your favorite Anchorman quotes in the comments section below.

Source: CarAndDriver