Cancel culture and political correctness are everywhere, and it has now crept into the auto industry. The latest victim of cancel culture is the Jeep Cherokee, which has recently come under fire for using a Native American tribe name for over 50 years. It’s a valid argument, sports teams and corporations have been dropping logos and names depicting first nation caricatures, so perhaps it is time to bid farewell to the Jeep Cherokee. That said, Buick is also a victim of cancel culture, not because the name is racist or otherwise politically incorrect, but because Buick is imploding thanks to Buick stereotypes. No kidding, Buick sales have dropped exponentially lately, and it could very well be due to car buyers suddenly realizing what they are getting themselves into when they buy a Buick. Go ahead, drive by your local Buick dealership and see for yourself; these places are practically ghost towns.
People are actually ashamed to be seen within 100 feet of a Buick, never mind a Buick dealership.
A Lifetime of Buick Stereotypes
If you are at your local eatery and you come across an elderly couple wearing matching sweatsuits and sipping Tab cola while eating the meatloaf special, you can bet with a high degree of certainty that they will be driving home in their Buick, driving 15 mph under the speed limit with their left turn signal incessantly blinking on and off.
You see, the problem with such stereotypes is that in most cases, they are so true it’s scary. In case you missed it, Prius drivers are self-righteous douches, cargo van drivers are pedophiles, and 1960s Beetle owners are hippies who smoke the devil’s lettuce. There is plenty of proof that hippies drive old-style beetles; you can’t swing a dead cat in Boulder, CO, without hitting six of them.
Buick was on top of the world in the ’70s and ’80s with blockbusters like the Skylark, Roadmaster, and Riviera; now they don’t even manufacture a sedan anymore. The days of the granny-mobile are dead, and it’s time older drivers find something else to drive. It would make better sense for older drivers to choose something like a Camaro or some other sports car that will give the illusion that you are driving fast, or at least driving the speed limit.
In fact, anything highlighted on Top Gear is far better than any Buick sedan.
Woke Car Buyers and Slumping Sales
While Buick has completely eliminated their line of sedans and now only offers a handful of SUVs, they have been unable to shake the Buick stereotype. If you see a Buick Encore or Envision on the road, odds are that it’s granny and grampy headed to Applebee’s or Golden Corral for their 4 p.m. dinner. Boomers were never a woke generation, and once they have died out, the Buick brand will be buried with them. Anybody under the age of 65 with decent sight can clearly see fewer and fewer Buick products crawling the streets of America.
Other victims of cancel culture include Dr. Seuss’s books, Spongebob Squarepants episodes, and MyPillow’s Mike Lindell, all of which haven’t suffered the same demise that Buick has. We only wish Mike Lindell would disappear like the Buick sedan.
In hindsight, perhaps Buick’s biggest mistake was marketing; had they offered sedans like the Buick Chief or Buick Warrior instead of the Skylark and Regal, they may still be popular models giving the Jeep Cherokee a run for the top spot in auto sales. Of course, it is impossible to picture a little old lady blazing down the street in her turbocharged Buick Warrior to get a front-row seat at the bingo club.
