Friday 7 March 2014

Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac

"Why do we work so hard? For what? For this (showing a large swimming pool in the back yard)? For stuff? Other countries, they work, they stroll home, the stop by the cafe, they take August off. Off! Why aren’t you like that? Why aren’t we like that? 
Because we’re crazy, driven, hard-working believers, that’s why. Those other countries think we’re nuts. Whatever. Were the Wright Brothers insane? Bill Gates, Les Paul, Ali? Were we nuts when we pointed to the moon? That’s right, we went up there and you know what we got? Bored. So we left. Got a car up there and we left the keys in it, do you know why? Because we’re the only ones going back up there, that’s why.
But I digress. You work hard, you create your own luck, and you gotta believe anything is possible. As for all the stuff. That’s the upside of only taking two weeks off in August. N’est-ce pas?" (via)



The most recent Cadillac commercial soon caused some controversy. Huffington Post described it as an ad about the American dream that became a nightmare, a parody of itself (via).
Cadillac, a division of General Motors Company, was founded in 1902 by Henry Leland who named the company after Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac (via). And Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac (1658-1730), happened to be French and by the way the founder of Detroit (via). Who knows, afer founding Detroit he probably took four weeks off. Not a bad idea. N'est-ce pas?
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Update from 14 April 2014

By the way, Ford responded with a parody starring Pasho Murray, founder of "Detroit Dirt", a company that is specialised on turning waste into compost and selling the latter to people who wish to create urban gardens. She ends with a different conclusion. "It's pretty simple. You work hard, you believe that anything is possible, and you try to make the world better. You try. As for helping the city grow good, green, healthy vegetables? That's the upside of giving a damn. N'est-ce pas?" (via)

Here is the clip:

10 comments:

  1. Goddammit this backfired, hahahaha!

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  2. Replies
    1. This is probably the question it all boils down to :-)

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  3. Frans Gunnarsson7 March 2014 at 09:13

    1950s in HD.

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    1. This is a very interesting aspect. Thank you, Frans.

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  4. I'm watching this clip on my smart phone in a café in France, right know. I feel so... typical. I just ordered another coffee.

    By the way, I'm originaly from Japan but live and work (UNO) in France. The labour productivity of France is - depending on the measurement method - nearly the same of the US. Even with August off.

    ;-)

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    1. Many thanks for joining the thread and ... enjoy your coffee ;-)

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