General Motors Holden: Holden’s Got More Horses
By the 1960s, Holden had added theme music and jingles to the devices used to make their brand memorable.
In this clip, a man walks out of a house and gets into his 1966 Holden HR sedan. We see a pack of galloping horses as the narrator describes the 'thundering power’ of the HR’s 145 horsepower engine, new acceleration and twin carburettors. The car climbs a steep, winding country road and the jingle 'Holden’s got more horses’ plays over the soundtrack. The narrator concludes that 'you only have to drive it once to discover nothing else will do’.
This ad targets male customers by emphasising the Holden’s thrust, energy and power. Wild running horses, their hooves thundering on the soundtrack, are intercut with the car climbing a hill. This somewhat obvious alignment of horse power and horsepower is the central focus of the ad. The narration highlights the mechanical features which make the 'turbo-smooth’ Holden an appealing product – its X2 engine, twin carburettors and increased compression ratios. Thus the car’s attributes are described in engineering terms rather than through fantasy, as in the Holden HR ad aimed at women (see General Motors Holden – The Time is Now, 1966). Male voices sing the ad’s refrain, 'Holden’s got more horses’, somewhat like the chorus of a Hollywood musical.