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Monday 24 July 2017

Three Mercedes ads



Via Mercatornet we are treated to three Mercedes ads where the cars are barely seen. All is emotion, soul-searching and glutinous modernity. The three ads are called.

Grow up: “Be a good parent”
Grow up: “Settle down”:
Grow up: “Start a family”:

The second and third ads are here and here. Meanwhile the Telegraph treats us to another, more familiar angle which may help us to explain what must be a substantial advertising spend.

Germany’s biggest car manufacturers shares plunged in early trading as investors digested allegations about decades of collusion between Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler.

Investors dumped the shares after reports, which first appeared in the German press late on Friday afternoon, claiming the companies may have secretly worked together on technology, forming a cartel that could have led to the “dieselgate” emission scandal.

The allegations come just days after Daimler recalled more than 3m of its Mercedes Benz cars for work to lower their emissions. The week before, Audi - which is owned by Volkswagen - recalled 850,000 vehicles.

11 comments:

Graeme said...

To be honest, when I see a TV ad, I have to ask what it was advertising. Oddly enough, few people seem to know. It is as if advertising is in a sphere of its own. It exists; we watch it; but we have no idea what was going on

Scrobs. said...

Apparently, Wilkinson Sword never allowed a human limb to be seen in any of their razor blade ads!

Not a lot of people know that...

Actually, I can recall - and so can my daughter, a longish business trip when I wanted to chat her through a problem she was having at school.

It did really work like in the ad, but I was driving a Sierra at the time!

wiggiatlarge said...

The "scandal" that may include all the major German brands is further confused by the Mercedes recall, all the engines in these Mercedes are made by Renault, so much for the kudos of having a three pointed star on the bonnet.
Whatever th etruth is re dieselgate it does not take a giant leap in imagination to be pretty sure all manufacturers had something similar going on and all the VW subsidaies using the same engines.
The new VW ad has a lot of maniacal laughing, make of that what you will..........

Unknown said...

Talking of ads., I was born in 1931 and for many years with no television, only BBC radio, no Internet and (as I remember it) no "direct mail", I had really never laid eyes or ears on an advertisement! Newspapers may have had them but in my early years I only read the "funnies". Now we can't escape them!

James Higham said...

I'd be shocked were there not collusion.

wiggiatlarge said...

After reading that back, I either need a proof reader or had a senior moment, I'll go for the later there's more sympathy !

Demetrius said...

You'll wonder there the yellow went when you scrub your rear with Pepsodent.

A K Haart said...

Graeme - if I remember rightly somebody once said "I know half my advertising spend is wasted but the trouble is I don't know which half".

Scrobs - did you pretend to lose your glasses?

Wiggia - it is remarkable how many people seem to value the kudos of having a three pointed star on the bonnet. They pay through the nose for it too.

Henry - one of the attractions of the internet is browsing with an ad-blocker so I don't see many ads on my laptop but still see lots on the iPad. Some websites are so choked with ads they aren't worth visiting.

James - I'm sure we can only guess at the depth of collusion.

Wiggia 2 - I preaf rood everything.

Demetrius - are you reading the instructions correctly?

Unknown said...

AK - how do I get an ad-blocker? I'm old and not up on these things!

Clacket said...

Dear Auntie AK
I’ve only just endured the loathsome first video ‘Growing Up’. Incredible reflux-vomit inducing tosh, or what? Please remind me never to want or to buy another Mercedes! Where to start? What cynicism lies therein? They surely know their morons when they can artfully appeal to their various vulnerabilities. Can I just reserve a special little place in hell for the ‘photographer’ son, or worthless jerk as I prefer to term him. Is it entirely impossible to hope that the goatee’d dick one day gets a proper job? Last time I bought a new car was in 2002. Even then then the marketing was shite; buy this unremarkable object and you will do what the hell you want on an empty road somewhere in an imagined landscape. Versus , in truth, being stuck on the M25 and hating it, with a little bit of you thinking death actually has some sort of Keates-ian attraction, in terms of merciful release. Bleugh….The cynicism of advertisers knows no bounds, truly.

Yours,puzzled…

A K Haart said...

Henry - I use the Google Chrome browser with an ad blocker called uBlock Origin which is a Chrome extension. There are a number available for Chrome. If you are hesitant about delving into such things it may be worth getting a friend or family member to set it up for you.

Alternatively I have heard that Google intends to enforce certain ad standards and Chrome will eventually block ads which don't comply, but I don't know how useful that will be.

Clacket - I agree but I suppose we are adapting to this kind of thing. I'm not sure why Mercedes would favour these ads over product placement which has been common for a while. They must know that this kind of thing is "reflux-vomit inducing tosh" but perhaps those who see it that way are not your typical Mercedes customer.