I received a mailing from Volvo. It told me I would rather be "picking strawberries in June (even though it's September), hitting the perfect volley or skiing on the best snow of the season". They say they recognise that I'd rather be doing any of things, because there's more to life than Volvo. Of course this is true for all cars. Most people are not very interested in cars. Customers buy Volkswagens because they simply want a reliable, quality product. They buy Fords for the same reason. They don't understand what happens under the bonnet and they don't care.
What I can't stand is the assumption Volvo is making about my lifestyle. Let alone the cringe-making yuppy imagery in the brochure. I'm almost 50 for chrissakes, not 30. I have three children (probably like most Volvo drivers but not like the energetic singles in the brochure) and I don't pick my own fruit because we have a Waitrose. In Tennis is shorthand for swinging where I live and skiing stories compete with inheritance tax as the dullest dinner party topic of all time.
So unless you REALLY know me and understand that I'm a mad cycling, wine-drinking, Cure fan with a family don't make presumptions. And the truth is I bought a Volvo because my wife feels safe in one. And what better reason can there be than that?
