In 2014, the year Kars 4 Kids began running its TV ad, the organization received almost $35 million in contributions, a nearly 50 percent increase over previous years, when its radio ads caused only aural aggravation.įounded in 1995, Kars 4 Kids released its first version of the jingle on New York radio stations in 1999. “And we’ve looked at that time and again, and we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s definitely worth sticking with.”
“Newer people join the team and when they are first exposed to the level of hatred on Twitter they’ll be like, ‘Are you sure you think this is a good idea that we should keep on playing this?,’ says Wendy Kirwan, Kars 4 Kids’ director of public relations.
Kars 4 Kids is well aware of how much you detest their ads. But what truly separates the organization from its competitors is its promotional strategy, which relies on annoying as many people as possible. (The operation has been criticized in the past for not specifying initially that funds went mostly towards Orthodox Jewish education.) In exchange, car owners get tax deductions and vouchers for a free hotel stay in a somewhat random selection of American cities. One of several car-donation organizations in the country, Kars 4 Kids offers to tow away and sell people’s discarded vehicles and give the proceeds to children’s charities. Politically divergent talk-show hosts Bill O’Reilly and John Oliver have both decried the TV spot, in which a rock band of smug brats pretend (badly) to play instruments while repeatedly lip-synching the lyrics, “1-8-7-7 Kars 4 Kids/Donate your car today.” In these polarized times, few things can unite Americans like their shared hatred of the radio and TV ads for Kars 4 Kids, a New Jersey-based charity that has gained national attention less for what it does - which is still unclear to many - than for its objectively inane earworm of a jingle.
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