Grape-Nuts and Gasoline

Remember Grape-Nuts and "It Is What It Is"? Here's another ad in the campaign, spotted at a Shell station on Bryant Street in San Francisco:

Now, I buy my gas at Costco, so I haven't seen much of' this type of point-of-purchase cross-selling. But the juxtaposition sure looks odd to me. I mean, Shell and its competitors spend millions trying to convince us that there's something magical about their particular formula, and here comes Grape-Nuts to say Nah, it's just plain old car juice.

Brilliant or bizarre? You tell me.

P.S. Yep, a gallon of gas was going for $4.79 at this station yesterday.

Comments

[drew]

How about "refreshing to me, but perhaps a dumb move on their part?"

[John Russell]

$4.79? Oh, you poor people.

We're paying the equivalent of over $12 a gallon in the UK!

[Nancy Friedman]

@John: I know, I know. But consider that many people here in Northern California routinely drive 200+ miles each day just to work and back. I don't think you see much of that in the UK. Also, I won't bore you with tales of our dismal public transit and rail service.

[JD]

to answer your question, brilliant.