One of the latest TV ads out from BMW is following the trend of it’s little sister brand trying to convince consumers that they can battle high gas prices and protect the environment by buying a car! While the logic of this campaign is something only the advertising industry could dream up, I was more taken by the Orwellian look of the poor schmucks that aren’t fortunate to be driving a car.

The new BMW ad campaign

This ad begins with people dressed in drab cloths commuting to work by bike, bus, scooter, and walking. They look depressed, realizing their life is one long string of joyless mornings going to their mindless jobs. Then their heads turn, and there is a hint of the life they had before mass transit and high gas prices beat it out of them. The object of this elixir: a silver BMW sedan. The car drives the empty streets arriving at the BMW offices with plenty of parking.

So it begins again: The car is freedom. The car is ease. The car is economic upward mobility. To not own a car is living a life of quiet desperation. I don’t blame BMW; they’re just trying to sell their product. The problem is that few of the drawbacks of the car ever make it to light, and if they do, this information can hardly compete with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually to promote cars.

It is time we heard more about the cost to our communities in traffic fatalities, never ending road construction, and streets that are built only to accommodate one mode of transportation. It’s time were heard about how car-based land development destroys community interaction and isolates us. It’s time we heard more about our government subsidies to the oil industry and the other industries that support them. Most importantly, it’s time we heard about the hidden costs of owing a car to our families: the concept of dumping large chunks of money with interest on an ever depreciating asset and the lost time with your family by sitting in a car. The car is a wealth stealer, not a wealth builder.

The automobile and oil industries have succeeded in making people believe that owning a car is a given, that you as a consumer have no other choice. The priorities of our national and local governments has only reinforced this perception. Unfortunately, this way of doing things is bankrupting our government and our citizens. It is an extension of the mindset that got us into the mortgage mess and record credit card debt. We borrow on the hope of tomorrow’s wealth in a non-sustainable way.

My hope is that the rising gas prices, sites like this one, and a change in administrations will help people realize we have a choice. We can have communities where you knowing your neighbor, enjoying the simple pleasures of walking to the store or a restaurant, and building personal wealth and security is a given. We do have choices though they may not be obvious to many. These choices have trade offs like any choice, but our citizens are not being given the chance to reviews these trade offs and make an educated decision.

It’s not too late to rebuild our communities and our country. The simple choices we make every day and the lead by example we take are the first steps. There will be more that needs to be done but change begins with the little things. So pedal on. These are the first steps to retaking the quality of life we all deserve.