Toyota Debuts 'Whac-A-Hipster' At Lollapalooza

Another salvo in its ongoing campaign to lure car-averse Millennials into dealers’ showrooms, Toyota is going all in with an array of eccentric activities at this weekend’s Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.

In addition to the usual display of new models the automaker will be featuring two tented activity areas, the “Prius Family Playground” and “Toyota Free Yr Radio.” (Note to fogeys: The Urban Dictionary defines “yr” as indie slang for “your,” first popularized in the 50s and 60s by the Beat generation, and later re-popularized by Sonic Youth in the ’80s.)

According to Toyota’s Lollapalooza press release, the Prius Family Playground introduces what we hope will be the recreational craze of 2012, the inspired “Whac-a-Hipster” game. We can only imagine goatee-bearded heads wearing pork pie hats bobbing up through a series of holes, waiting – however momentarily – to be whacked back into reality. This nod to eradicating annoying elements of pop culture is, unfortunately, negated by the giving away of commemorative “cooling bandanas.” The area also includes the barbaric-sounding life-size “Human Powered Prize Wheel” and a “Prius Plug-In and Charge Up Station,” where five guests can sit in a Prius Plug-In and, appropriately enough, charge their mobile devices for five minutes.

Meanwhile, the  Toyota Free Yr Radio area will adopt a a steampunk style décor, with live alternative radio broadcasts, a lenticular photo booth, a DIY Leather Work Station where visitors can design and decorate personalized leather bracelets or headbands, and what sounds like a best bet in the area, the “Prius c Claw,” with which attendees use an arcade-like pulley-based claw to try and yank prizes through the sunroof of a Prius c. (Why not just combine attractions and have the claw grab and toss real live hipsters from the car?) They’ll also be giving away complimentary silk screened tote bags, which hardly sounds like anything resembling “alternative” to us, but it’s a nice “green” gesture just the same.

Curiously though, Toyota is choosing to promote the Prius brand, rather than the Scion nameplate it specifically established to attract young urbanites at Lollapalooza, which may be telling of a behind-the-scenes change of strategy.

Source: Forbes