Kia's got SOUL

Let me start by saying that I'm not a big Kia fan. My own personal (flawed, biased and irrational) opinion is that they're a chintzy, second-rate start-up, with a lineup that ranks somewhere in between Colt and Daihatsu. Nothing personal, but even Honda and Toyota were there once. My own mother happens to be Korean, and I'm not racist. I'm in advertising.

But the great thing about advertising is that, coupled with years of giving the spending public what they want, it can greatly turn the tide of popular (or unpopular in my case) opinion and dramatically raise the value of a brand. I saw a commercial today that started to do precisely this in my mind. I don't think I'm ready to plop down "under 14k" for a Kia, but they're well on their way to dethroning Daewoo.

Besides. Anytime someone can make a commercial where hamsters drive cars, they automatically win.