TV General : JOKES THAT, NOWADAYS, NEED EXPLAINING?

JOKES THAT, NOWADAYS, NEED EXPLAINING?

In the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry buys his father a Cadillac, Jerry asks his father “But what about the Northstar System?” To which Mr. Seinfeld replies something like “What’s the Northstar System? I don’t know if I’m even using it.” Now car buffs know that Northstar was what Cadillac called their new at the time engines, but that exchange doesn’t really make sense if they’re simply discussing the car’s engine. To non car people it likely makes even less sense.

The thing is, in the 1990s Cadillac’s advertising heavily touted that their cars now all came with “The Northstar System”, but didn’t really make it clear that that referred to the technology in their engines (At least, that’s how I remember it). Most people who saw those ads probably came away asking “WTF is the Northstar System?” That’s what the joke is about.
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