I'm not so sure......

The commercial does show a kind of "nerdy" looking guy in a sweater vest making a mess out of it.  

Rick: I agree

Rick:

I thought that this commercial made the model railroader look a little goofy, and was a bit offended by it.

Many model railroaders have a serious interest in and knowledge of industrial history, which I think is a good thing.

Many also develop nearly professional level skills in making scale models which demonstrate that history at model railroad shows open to the general public. 

Of course, the purpose of this 30 second exposure to "model railroading" is to sell glue, but it does seem to reinforce a somewhat negative view of the hobby.

Off the soapbox now.....

The gorilla doesn't exactly

The gorilla doesn't exactly add to the authenticity of the setting.

Well.......

At least they acknowledged that the hobby exists.

Also, don't diss the gorilla. He'll squish you like a grape. 

All the Gorilla Glue ads are like that

All the Gorilla Glue ads are like that -- over-the-top and portrays the main actor as ham-fisted with the Gorilla in them for shock value.

Maybe the gorrilla was a tiny

Maybe the gorrilla was a tiny bit over sized. I kinda thought he was like Kong and was waiting for him to climb on top of a building.

Kong

I think that may have been an "in joke" when they had a scene where the gorilla holds a "scale" human figure in the commercial. 

No question that a gorilla is effective branding for a company that makes glue. I have had gorilla save my tail more than once when other glues failed. End of testimonial. Show me the money.

I identify.....

more with the gorilla....

Over-rated......

The gorilla is over-rated...…..a couple of earlier posts stated as such......sort of 

It's a sticky situation

I am very open about my hobby and often have a laugh at my own expense so I got a kick out of the commercial. I'm also known for my "collection" of glues. My son't girlfriend needed something glued and when I opened my drawer of glues she just said; "Wow!" Got her fixed up though. Silly girl thought there was only one kind of "superglue". 

I work for a glue company in

I work for a glue company in AU/NZ.  Looked at the ad, and  I could identify the key consumer callouts in the ad. Nothing wrong  in the ad. Shows key branding and solving customers need. Calling out the precise application of their said product.

So why offended?? 

Phil

Don't see anything wrong with it

How many of us have been in the same position in life when trying to get a small part to stick. And the layout from what I can see looks pretty decent.

I prefer to use Gorilla Glue over plastic cement any day. That stuff is really hard on the sinus and your brain cells.

Jack

Clever like a fox

The Gorilla glue people aren't stupid, they wanted to showcase their extra-fine-tip superglue applicators, so they picked a model-making hobby that's known to be one of the most popular. Check out this Google Trends chart.

Notice that model trains is about 2x more popular than any of the other model making hobbies in searches, and also note model train searches really spikes during the holidays. A LOT of folks are looking to get a model train as a gift it seems ...

The Hobby Manufacturers' Association (HMA) periodic hobby sales studies report that model trains remains one of the most popular model making hobbies on the planet in terms of total annual sales. Google Trends (where the chart came from) seems to back that up.

We're riding a good thing here, folks. And the fact the Gorilla Glue people did an ad featuring a model railroader shows they did their homework!

P.S. If you ever wanted empirical evidence regarding model trains popularity as a hobby, here's some. I know YouTube is awash with model train videos being made by young guys ...

Wonder how trains compares to cars in modelling?

There is a category missing...Model Cars.  That is a really popular hobby that I also participate in.

Chuck

Model cars

Hey, if the shoe fits...

I have never understood why people in the hobby get offended when they're depicted as anything other than the way they see themselves. Model railroading is, to a degree, a nerdy and goofy hobby. I don't see how anyone in it can't see this to be so.

We make model of trains and run them in a miniature landscape (or in many cases, plan on going so and often only ever get to running on oversized scale plywood, at best). There's a reason that an opening line at a bar to attract young women has never been, "Hey, would you like to come back to my place and see my scale representation of a railroad?"

Once we accept this and move forward without getting miffed when anyone dares to point this out, the happier we'll all be.

It's a neat commercial. The people at Gorilla Glue have no responsibility to make the hobby look 'cool'... Frankly, I don't think anyone can make this (or any other) hobby look cool to those who don't have an interest in it.

I watched that commercial and frankly, it's mostly inaccurate for the age of the model railroader. The rest looks about right, other than how polished and complete the layout and layout room look for a guy that inept with glue...

Yeah, he's out of scale!

Several of my friends have RC airplanes

It takes much less time than building a layout. They say.

Although they all have a busy schedule to squeeze flying time into. All are downsizing their plane fleet. 

That commercial doesn’t bother me at all. I can see the difference between a good glue job and a mess, but sometimes I don’t have the dexterity to put a dab of glue where I want it. I could never be a surgeon.

I'm a man of many hobbies

But, I'm not a nerd! Really I'm not...  BTW, being an RC enthusiast,  I can tell you that model railroading  works out to be cheaper than RC in the long run because our models generally don't end up as a heap of broken sticks and/or mangled metal after high speed collisions with the ground. "If ya ain't crashin, ya ain't flyin!"

I love GG and like CA, a cordless drill/screw gun and a Dremel tool, I don't know what I ever did without it.

Guy looks ok...

That guy in the sweater vest doesn't look that bad. 

Have you been to a train show recently?  

Yeah, it could have been worse. 

lol 

Randy

RC planes

For sure!  The sound of $700 being "filtered" through 3 or 4 trees at 60+ mph into about 27 cents worth of remnants on the ground is memorable.

R/C planes isn't perceived as being as nerdy as model trains, not entirely sure why but maybe the possibility of wreckage reduces the perceived nerd factor.

I thought it was a fine

I thought it was a fine commercial. P

Appearance

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Imagine a guy who:

• Looks like he hadn't bathed since the internet came around
• Wears clothes that might never have been washed, from the way they look
• Rocks the ever-eye-rolling-inducing vest with RR patches all over
• Uses the social graces of Genghis Kahn
• Has a gut that could qualify for it's own representation in Congress

Never mind the gorilla, the physical appearance of the actor is the most unrealistic thing in that commercial!

. . .

Great

. . .

Great