GM may no longer be the pacesetter of the American economy or ad industry, but it isn't stupid. They know when to dig up the bones of the past and when to lay them to rest. I don't know the financial results of the This is not your father's Olds campaign, but the fact that I remember it suggests some degree of success. And I am not prepared to prognosticate about the second coming of See the USA in your Chevrolet. But I am prepared to make an observation about the capitalizing, yea, the selective exploiting of the past.
Advertisers appeal to values.
If bashing Dad will help sell Olds to a buying Boomer generation, too bad dad. GM captured the American anti-paternal mood, and sold Olds on it. Now, with a burgeoning economy in the USA and financial woes around the world, this is a great time to wrap Chevy in the flag and send her around the interstates. But the same dad whom Olds eschewed is the dad who first saw the USA in his Chevrolet. He must be scratching his balding head and wondering what he did wrong, or right.