Over the past 45 days, I’ve spent at least a week in four different states (one in the Northwest, two in the Southwest, and one here in the South), and on television in each of them, I’ve seen car commercials that make my jaw drop. It’s not the commercials themselves that have me so surprised, but rather what’s being offered in them: gas.

In mentioning the states in which I’ve seen these commercials (and in some cases heard on the radio, as well), my point is to bring attention to what is quickly becoming a national pattern: selling gas along with cars. Let’s Refuel America, Chrysler’s “innovative new $2.99 gas guarantee,” for example, is a much-hyped, ostentatious, and thinly-veiled attempt at making sure people still buy cars, even when gas prices are inching upward out of our reach by the hour. Chrysler’s not the only one taking a stab at this technique, either. Smaller local dealerships the country over are offering similar discounts on gas, if not giving it away altogether.

As such, much of the airtime in these commercials is less about the car itself, and more about gas. It’s an aggressive move, focusing less on the product and more so on the product’s fuel, but am I the only one who thinks it’s also a little weird, not to mention pathetic and insulting? Do these marketers seriously think we don’t know that the gas-powered automobile is quickly approaching obsolescence, whether we find another oil reserve (in our own country, or abroad) or not?

It is completely understandable that dealerships and car companies alike are tailoring their ads to rising oil prices. In fact, it is to be expected that in a market that is dictated by how much people are willing and likely to drive, the topic of gas prices must come up, especially when they are now nationally $4.00 a gallon on average. But upon closer inspection, the nature of this campaign is wholly irresponsible and arcanely single-minded in offering up a deadend ploy.

So what’s the problem with this picture, exactly, and more importantly, what’s the solution?

No one manufacturer is exempt from having mainly just stayed the course in churning out conventional automobiles run by internal combustion engines. (As David Welch writes in the most recent issue of Business Week, “GM, at least in the popular imagination, had tunnel vision; it was making gasoline hogs like the Hummer and fighting congressional efforts to boost fuel economy.”) There are, of course, electric choices, like the Chevrolet Volt, or the Toyota Prius, but those commercials are few and far between.

“Prices for fuel continue to rise at a seemingly alarming rate,” the Let’s Refuel America website states, and goes on to say that the LRA Program “helps provide stability to that problem with a simple solution.” But wouldn’t the simple “solution” be to start to ween consumers from gasoline as quickly and effectively as possible, rather than selling cars that will continue to use gas, no matter how much it costs? The Band-aid on a bullet hole metaphor comes to mind.

Furthermore, if anyone is going to genuinely “provide stability,” the solution is going to be one that is wildly unpopular, at least at first. In America, driving an automobile has become a sort of unalienable right, so any notion of taking away a traditional car that takes traditional fuel at traditional prices is going to be met with some initial resistance.

But the rhetoric of Let’s Refuel America is astoundingly misleading and not helping matters any: “These are some challenging times. Fortunately, the Let’s Refuel America Program is doing what it can to help you get through it.” Wow. Really? It’s as if this crisis is temporary, that gas prices will go down here in a month or two, so it’s okay to buy a car, nudge, nudge, especially if the manufacturers float the bill on gas for a while, because everything’s going to be okay and go back to normal before long, so don’t worry. It’s not okay, though, and we know it. Sound like a scam? Read on: “This program is an alternative to traditional incentive programs. Consumers who select this offer will not be eligible for the traditional consumer/lease cash, subvented APR rates, or Compass/Patriot retail cash.” Nice! So, if you select the gas reimbursement plan, you lose out on every other single offer that might have been available with the car. What a bargain!

The objective, it’s clear, is not helping people get through these “challenging times.” The objective is continuing to sell cars in these challenging times. The challenge itself seems to take on a different tone at this point. The question, or the challenge, seems instead to be: “How can we get people to buy cars that use gas when gas will be a $5.00 a gas by Christmas?” The answer involves some tricky, but not impossible calculus. Once the car is purchased, the manufacturer wins. No matter how high gas prices go, the car purchase remains final. Buying gas for someone for six months is finite. Guess who gets stuck with the bill when gas is $8.00 a gallon, though? You guessed it: you.

America, in essence, does not need to be “refueled” in the traditional sense; that is, the answer is not just a fill-up or two away. If the country is to be “refueled,” it’s needs to be a do-over, “refueled” as in “fueled by something else.” Therein lies the real challenge in these times.

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