Chevrolet has released a rather offbeat promotion video for the new Trail Boss version of its Silverado pickup. The footage follows Walter the Cat who behaves like a dog for some reason and helps his owner find new friends.
A closer look reveals that the video is a parody of the stereotypical truck ad. As you probably know well enough by now, these ads often appeal to audiences identifying as “strong adventurers” and all too often feature a muscular, brooding man and his faithful companion, the dog.
In contrast, the new video stars a cat acting like a dog – guarding and marking the territory, gnawing bones and bringing the leash to his owner when he feels like going for a walk. In the end, the cat tracks down and digs out a skier buried in an avalanche. The exhausted skier looks at the cat in bewilderment, which the owner of the truck naively misinterprets as looking at his shiny new Silverado in awe.
The Trail Boss is being marketed as a particularly off-road capable version of the truck with a 50mm (2-inch) suspension lift and mud tires. Having said that, the Silverado lineup had another recent addition. Named the ZR2, it added stainless-steel bumpers and upgraded suspension to the formula. Which one to choose depends on your priorities.