My first thought when I saw this was, WTF? Seriously. Laura Ingalls-style move vs. a U-Haul? My second thought was, isn’t all moving (without paid movers, that is) pretty much DIY? And isn’t moving pretty much universal? Why should America get to claim it as a “tradition?”

But I digress. It takes a lot to stop me in my tracks* (HA!) when it comes to advertising, but I really would have loved to have been in the room when the marketing team was pitching this idea:

DIY = Cool.

Moving = DIY.

U-Haul = cool…

Then apparently the dialogue turned into “Little House on the Prairie” = Cool.

And when it passed the team then decided that: “Little House on the Prairie hit it big on TV, so why not juxtapose that hard-scrabble life where everyone was extra-feisty and tough with today’s “pioneering” spirit of moving? Y’know, when you pack up 8 million boxes and then carry them to a truck you drive yourself and then unload yourself and then have to return the truck? Perfect! Beat that, Penske!”

*Get it? Wagon tracks?! Did I mention that moving means lots of lost sleep?