[VIDEO] Fun, Holiday-Themed Hot Wheels Commercial Captures Our Childhood Excitement
...and pokes fun at another Christmas commercial you might have seen
When you were a child, the best part about Christmas was opening presents and playing with your new toys–especially if you received Hot Wheels cars and a bright orange track.
A new holiday commercial from Mattel’s Hot Wheels recaptures that excitement in a simple way. It’s a short commercial, certainly, but in its 30-second running time, it captures the whimsy of childhood and the wonder of Christmas, while parodying a Lexus commercial you might have recently seen.
The commercial—set in the snowy North Pole—features a wind-up penguin who launches a white Hot Wheels car into a loop-filled course. As the car travels through the orange race track, it picks up speed before coming to a stop in front of a gingerbread house—and its new owners. The video concludes by suggesting that maybe Santa Claus likes playing with toys as much as we do. Perhaps the whole scene was even part of St. Nick’s play set…
The charm of the Hot Wheels commercial is in its simplicity and details. The video isn’t the boisterous, CGI-bloated spectacle that most ads for kids’ toys are—which is refreshing (unlike the Lexus commercial it imitates). It’s a handmade set filled with little touches like model trees, a shoestring bow, and mini headlamps.
It plays off the feeling of nostalgia you get around the holiday season as you remember the times you spent playing with your new toys—using words like “sick,” “rad,” and “epic” to describe the excitement of playing with Hot Wheels. My favorite part has to be the “fine print” at the end advertising the car’s low, low MSRP of 97 cents.
Let this fun commercial remind you of how fun Christmas used to be—and still is (Hot Wheels make great stocking stuffers, you know!).
Aaron is unashamed to be a native Clevelander and the proud driver of a Hyundai Veloster Turbo (which recently replaced his 1995 Saturn SC-2). He gleefully utilizes his background in theater, literature, and communication to dramatically recite his own articles to nearby youth. Mr. Widmar happily resides in Dayton, Ohio with his magnificent wife, Vicki, but is often on the road with her exploring new destinations. Aaron has high aspirations for his writing career but often gets distracted pondering the profound nature of the human condition and forgets what he was writing… See more articles by Aaron.