First thoughts on Yaris DIY

anne elizabeth moore — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 11:58:59 -0500

A month or so back I was asking about the Yaris DIY campaign, so I thought I'd share a part of the essay I happen to be trying to edit RIGHT NOW, AS THIS GETS READ ON THE INTERNETS. (In a few weeks, hopefully, I'll be able to share my crazy-ass findings about who planned the damned thing and what people got out of it. Hint: not as much as they should have.)

This is from my upcoming UNMARKETABLE, due out from The New Press whenever it gets done being written. It's the first sixth, maybe, of chapter five, and mostly concerns the non-DIY portion of the Yaris campaign.

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It is difficult to imagine anything less politically radical than a brand-new midsize foreign vehicle appearing on the market during a seemingly never-ending war over oil that raised gas prices to ridiculous highs. The team behind the Toyota Yaris nonetheless linked their latest model with do-it-yourselfiness anyway during the late summer 2006 promotional campaign Yaris DIY: Drive It Yourself. Borrowing a page from the Starbucks playbook—not to mention several of my compatriots in Chicago-based independent publishing and the national DIY crafting community along with it—the Yaris version of doing it yourself meant having cool kids from the underground show you how to do what they do, albeit in the context of the corporate-sponsored workshops: make hats, comics, and lampshades at home for very little cost. This is supposed to be the primary parallel: the low cost of their brand-new mid-size vehicle. And while the Yaris is surprisingly inexpensive compared to other cars (starting at a little over $11,000 MSRP for the 2007 models), as several Yaris workshop instructors may or may not have been willing to point out, buying one still costs more than a bike you can make from parts found in the garbage. The connection to the do-it-yourself community doesn’t end there, however. Like the hand-made wares you could purchase directly from their creators at the Renegade Craft Fair or DIY Trunk Show, this car is customizable, crafty, and hip. The Yaris Web site enthuses, “At YarisWorks DIY (Drive It Yourself) events there will be test drives (duh), hot music from indie artists cranking from the PA, and the opportunity for you (yes, you!) to decoupage a Yaris . . . quirky but fun!” (1) The links to crafters don’t end there, though. Actual links to DIY merch, made and sold by tried-and-true members of the DIY community, are all available here—just a few clicks away from the Toyota main page.

Punk Planet dot com - mocketing

First thoughts on Yaris DIY