Ever since this weird Men's Wearhouse ad aired during the season premiere of "Breaking Bad," I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Not because of the bad '80s suit, but because of the car meant to reprsent the "millennial" generation.
So Men's Wearhouse is celebrating 40 years of style and if you pay attention, there's a different car to represent each decade. The '70s is a Pontiac Grand Prix, the '80s is a Firebird, the '90s is a Jeep Cherokee (weird?) and for the '00s, and assuming the '10s as well, it's a Fisker Karma.
I thought it was odd to throw a Karma in there with all those enduring models; doesn't Men's Wearhouse know Fisker is bankrupt? (But then again, Pontiac's not around anymore, either.) But then I thought, the Karma is actually living on even after death.
We saw the Karma in "Paranoia" in theaters last month. It probably will show up in some more media over the next few months. But what if several years down the line, the Karma came to be directly associated with this decade the same way the DeLorean DMC-12 did for the '80s?
Walk with me here.
Both Fisker and DeLorean were founded by innovators who wanted to change the automotive industry. Both have connections to General Motors (John DeLorean being a former GM exec, one-time Fisker CEO Tony Posawatz being the vehicle-line exec for the Chevy Volt). Both made only one production model. Both models were extremely stylish relative to their peers. And both companies eventually went bankrupt. Well okay, not bankrupt yet for Fisker, but it looks that way.
But the obvious difference between the Karma and the DMC-12 is "Back to the Future." But because the trilogy became a huge blockbuster for that decade, it's most recognizable figure became synonymous with that decade too.
I highly doubt "Paranoia" will become a blockbuster trilogy, but think about it. We've got a few more years left in this decade. Could the Karma find itself attached to some pop-culture phenomenon and become the thing our grandkids ask about?
Could The Fisker Karma Be Our Generation's DeLorean?