Like most people, I found myself strapped for cash several times in college.  When that happened, I’d ask my friends for advice, apply to work at the most random restaurants, and tutor a few of my peers in math.  One time my sophomore year, I ran into a serious problem: my job (that provided my housing) wouldn’t permit me to take no extra work, and my friends had all dropped their math class.  I tried selling a few video games, but ran out of ideas quickly.  I asked my friend, J, who just shrugged and reminded me, “sex sells.”

I don’t quite know what he was implying for me, but I find that statement to be true even now.  Sex, and the idea of “sexy,” sells.

Cadillac started running a series of commercials on this principle a while back.  They featured a somewhat attractive spokesperson shrouded by seductive shadows detailing the features of the new car.  The message, though, wasn’t about the features of a luxury SUV, it was about whether or not the car ‘turns you on.’  The allure of this message speaks to people in all levels of society, and makes an expensive vehicle that much more attractive.

Now, it seems Cadillac is coming out with a hybrid model of their popular Escalade.  Unfortunately, I can’t embed their recent TV commercial for you, but you can view it here.

This commercial does a lot.

1. It established Cadillac as a credible player in the hybrid SUV market
2. It builds hype for a soon-to-be-released high-end product
3. It completely undermines the spirit through which the hybrid concept was created

Wait a minute.

I do like this commercial, but at its heart is a message that destroys the idea of what a “hybrid” is meant to do.  Here’s why:

The 2008 Cadillac Escalade 2WD gets:

• 12 MPG city
• 19 MPG highway

The 2009 Cadillac Escalade hybrid gets:

• 20 MPG city
• 21 MPG highway

But the commercial doesn’t tell you that.  What it does tell you, is that the car is a hybrid … and the screen briefly flashes a notice that you get 50% better gas mileage (with a tiny disclaimer as to what the claim is based on).  I had to watch the commercial three times on my computer to figure most of that out … and then I still had to search to find the actual MPG ratings.

Ironically, these ratings aren’t really that good.  My 1996 Subaru gets better gas mileage in the city.  I even went back and found some old notebooks from family vacations to Disneyland – my dad’s old Suburban (the precurser to modern SUVs) actually got 22 MPG city and about 25 MPG highway.  This was long before the Prius was even a glimer in the eye of a designer at Toyota, and before Al Gore’s documentary.

Hybrids weren’t around, and we were getting fair gas mileage.  Now, Cadillac hopes to sell more cars by creating a “hybrid” that still doesn’t perform as well.  Will they ever make this comparison themselves?  Doubtfully.  The term “hybrid” is just as sexy as the luxury image purveyed by Cadillac, and moving into the hybrid market is a perfectly on-brand decision.

The dilemma: are hybrids still sexy in the “reducing global warming and saving the earth” sense?  Or are they now just sexy in the “hybrids are the wave of the future and all the cool kids have one” sense?