Queenslanders might understand this better than anyone else
The car is an eco-system. Every part works together with those around it. Everything is in balance. Introducing a foreign object, even with good intentions, can produce devastating results.
Leo Burnett Melbourne created a campaign for Honda illustrating this insight:
“Throughout history certain countries have intentionally introduced foreign species into their natural ecosystems with disastrous results. The ‘Foreign Objects’ radio campaign for Honda Genuine Parts draws a parallel between these historic blunders and the act of introducing a foreign object into the mechanical environment of a Honda.”
What seems like a thrifty and shrewd decision can cause untold damage.
Forget about The Wind in The Willows
This is a far more sordid tale of the toad. Rewind if you will to 1932 as a bunch of university educated lab-coats plucked a toxin-secreting toad from South America and set it free in the Australian can fields. As expected, it dutifully destroyed every crop-chomping cane beetle, saving the sugar industry from extinction. Fate, with its cruel sense of irony, watched on as millions of natural predators gobbled up the frog-like foreigner, only to suffer a terminal case of food poisoning. So when you consider introducing a foreign object into the automotive environment of your Honda… hopefully our amphibious friend here plagues your mind.
Heard the lesser-known fable of the fox in sheep’s clothing?
Its origins hark back to 1789 as the White European Fox is shipped from Russia to the Alaskan hinterland to be farmed and stripped of its precious fur. Perhaps blinded by the blizzards of the promised riches brought by its pelts, no one seemed to notice as the feral foreigner slipped away onto the snow-covered plain and an all-it-could-eat arctic buffet. Centuries on, its once white coat is dyed red with the blood of its native victims. So when debating whether to introduce a foreign object to the engineered terrain of your Honda… do recall the ferocious Mr Fox.
This is a story about a small, fur covered wrecking ball
Our tale begins in 1883, as the Indian Grey Mongoose is released into the Hawaiian undergrowth to control a rising plague of diseased rodents. And as with all good tales, there’s a twist. Unlike the mongoose, the rat is nocturnal, so the two intended enemies rarely crossed paths. Not to be denied its three square meals a day, the famished foreigner quickly discovered an alternative diet; one that would eventually read like an endangered species list. So to those of you who may someday contemplate introducing a foreign object to the mechanical eco system of your Honda… don’t say we didn’t warn you with this rather pertinent analogy.