I’ve always thought the Lexus Christmas commercials were a bit tacky, but this year at least one of them has crossed over into full blown offensive.

It begins with a little girl stroking a pony. She asks you to remember when you got a pony for Christmas. Your neighbor came over to see and was jealous and no longer liked her own non-real-live-pony-gift that she had received. Well no gift could ever be so perfect again . . . until you receive a Lexus.

So let me get this straight (and if you happen to work at Lexus, please email me to confirm, because I would really like to be sure I have this correct). The purpose of holiday gift giving is to make other people jealous and unsatisfied with their own possessions. The Christmas spirit is in fact to make other people unhappy, preferably those you call your friends. Or should this spreading of bad cheer extend to family members as well? Exactly whom are we supposed to try to make miserable with our gift giving? Maybe we should go find a factory or office laying off thousands of workers to drive past in our new Lexus. Are we supposed to revel in the sadness and shame on the faces of the newly unemployed? Perhaps we should top it all off by driving past a soup kitchen.

This ad was despicable and the marketers and executives at Lexus should be ashamed. This is no less disconnected from the reality of the public than when the AIG executives went quail hunting and couldn’t understand why perhaps that was wrong.

If ever there was a time when such gross consumerism and corrupt values should disappear, I would think it would be a holiday season in the midst of a severe economic recession.

Shame on you, Lexus.