The motivation and general idea behind this ad was a little different than the previous ads. Here, we wanted to see if we could tackle a specific issue rather than a specific tactic, while still never directly naming that issue. After some discussion, we landed on the topic of gas vehicles versus electric vehicles – an important issue, but also one that was less heated in public rhetoric than other issues. There are quite a few myths surrounding electric vehicles, and it’s impractical to try to fit them all into one ad. So we focused on one of the more pernicious myths: that electric vehicles are just as bad (or worse) for the environment. This myth also commonly carries with it the illogical conclusion that if something has any drawbacks, it’s inherently not worth investing in. Obviously you can’t create electric cars without some sort of manufacturing, which implies some level of pollution. But the net environmental impact of an electric vehicle is significantly lower than that of gas vehicles. The idea of having a superhero represent how the planet is powered was mostly a result of necessity to avoid anything too direct. For instance, having two friends meet at a car dealership and just debate the pros and cons of electric vehicles is so on the nose that we worried it would immediately trigger the defenses of those who most needed the message. Changing the format from a direct conversation (as in the previous ads) to a show also allowed us to get in much needed exposition in a manner that felt more natural for the format. Lastly, in trying to avoid being combative, we didn’t want to negate Gas Man entirely by the end, but rather show him as being capable of adapting to a new way of doing things.