ABSTRACT
It does not stop there: images of crime and transgression are now prominent themes in major advertising campaigns. In-car entertainment manufacturers Kenwood – the car stereo of choice for any discerning ‘boy racer’ – recently used the strapline, ‘We want to be free to do what we want to do’, underneath a photograph of the poll tax riots (see Plate 16), an image clearly designed to tap into many of the subjectivities associated with transgressive driving and the sub rosa worlds of ‘hotting’ and car ‘cruising’. Likewise, a whole host of car manufacturers have also chosen to base recent campaigns around the theme of transgression. Nissan, for example, promote their Shogun model with the strapline ‘Joyriding’ – somewhat ironic given that throughout the 1990s the Nissan Shogun was often a very popular choice for ‘ram raiders’ and ‘hoisting’ firms! Another Nissan model, the X-Trail, was similarly marketed by playing with the idea of risk, excitement and danger, the TV commercial depicting a series of clips of dangerous sports while the voiceover proclaimed ‘X-Trail – extreme, emotion, expression’. Not to be outdone, the German manufacturer, Audi – a company who, for years, have sought to cultivate an image of Germanic refinement and efficiency – also tapped in to this transgressive sensibility in a recent commercial for their A3 model. Against the backdrop of trance music, the central figure (a young man, obviously) sets light to a huge pyre in the desert. He then systematically burns family mementos and other such trappings of domesticity, before speeding off into the desert night and a new life of unencumbered excitement. One cannot help but wonder how the owners of these cars feel when sat in gridlock on the M25!
