Charlie Sheen saves the day as Ultra Tune’s ‘Rubber Girls’ plunge into ocean in summer campaign
Charlie Sheen is on hand to save the day in the latest iteration of Ultra Tune’s Unexpected Situations campaign when the brand’s ‘Rubber Girls’ plunge into the water with their vehicle.
The brand frequently finds itself the subject of complaints to the ad watchdog, topping the list of most-complained about ads in both 2016 and 2017. In 2018, the brand was beaten to the top spot by Iselect.
In this iteration of the campaign, Sheen – the latest celebrity to offer their face to the brand after Jean-Claude van Damme and Mike Tyson – allows the girls onto his boat so they can dry off and call for help after their brakes fail and the car ends up in the ocean.
The ad also features a signature cameo appearance by Ultra Tune’s national marketing director, Rod Cedaro, who asks if Sheen is having boat trouble.
Ultra Tune announced Sheen would front the ad in November last year, adding the convicted domestic violence offender to the list of controversial celebrities used in the Unexpected Situations campaign including former boxer and convicted rapist Tyson.
Tyson’s Ultra Tune ad received 134 complaints last year, however, the ad was cleared by Ad Standards as Tyson did “not promote his convictions nor condone sexual harassment in any way”.
Cedaro, as well as Ultra Tune’s CEO Sean Buckley, have frequently defended the ads, saying they are light-hearted and represent a hyper-reality which should not be taken seriously.
“If they didn’t work, I’d have them off the air before you could sit down… I think I know what I’m doing. The ads work brilliantly,” Buckley has told Mumbrella in the past.
“It’s a bit like Trump. Nobody thought he would win because people didn’t want to admit that they liked him and were going to vote for him.
“People like these ads”.
Cedaro has contended the ads empower women.
Defending an ad where the Ultra Tune ‘Rubber Girls’ are stuck on the tracks in a car with a train quickly approaching, Cedaro told an audience at Mumbrella’s Automotive Summit: “The empowerment there was they [the women] actually were forward-thinking enough to actually exit the car”.
“We don’t see a problem with the ad, we get very very good cut through with the ads,” Cadero noted, drawing attention to the fact only one complaint to the Ad Standards Board was upheld and contending it was only “banned on a technicality”.
The “technicality” was the implication the women died once being hit by the train.
The ad was then re-cut to show the women walking away from the accident.
He added: “The majority of the general population is sick of political correctness.”
“If the ads didn’t work … ”
Okay, but define “work”. Or let me guess, you’ve got the same empirical evidence that leads you to contend that the “majority” of the population want sexist rubbish on tv.
It’s like people said for years that
“If women led movies actually worked Hollywood would make them because they care about the cash.”
Except it’s been proven categorically they do work – they make huge amounts of money – and the reason they didn’t get made for years was because of cognitive biases.
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Is that Warwick Capper as the skipper?
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Anyone else watch this drivel and wonder how much Charlie Sheen demanded for this?
I mean we all know Warwick Capper did it for free.
Would be curious to measure the ROI on ad production and spend vs uplift in sales (if any!)
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It’s a bloody great ad. Cartoon comedy. Lighten up snowflakes.
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Makes. me. cringe.
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@Refreshing The opinion of anyone who uses the term ‘snowflake’ is automatically rendered irrelevant.
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@Creative Hack
…How right you are.
Next he’ll be calling you a ‘cuck’
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Yikes.
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I recall that in a previous Ultra-tune Mumbrella article the company claimed that sales rose c30% after one of the ad iterations series. So it must work. Its great for women to aspire to these girls competence in crisis management, clothing , make up, fitness and appearance.
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MAGA!
(please read above similar to the noise a crow makes)
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Give me this ad over the leftie man bashing Gilette ad any day!
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That was a brilliant ad – looks like we’ve found another MAGA cuck snowflake in the comments section!
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Ms. Dawson
It is sad that we are forced to endure yet another poorly researched and inaccurate diatribe masquerading as journalism here on Mumbrella.
Ms. Dawson, please allow me to set the record straight on a number of inaccuracies reported in the drivel you have regurgitated above:
1. The most complained about TVC in 2018 (as reported by your own publication) was in fact the Sports Bet TVC, not I-Select which you have inaccurately reported above.
2. The “empowerment of women” I spoke about at the Auto Summit had to do with the FACT that in a dire situation (albeit one of hyper-reality), the women in question had the presence of mind to respond quickly to a potentially fatal situation and extract themselves from the vehicle. Personally, if panicked (to the extent one would be), I don’t know if I personally would have responded as swiftly as the women in question did to the approaching train. In that sense they were certainly empowered and acted clinically under extreme duress.
3. On the “technicality” issue. You are again incorrect in your reporting – surprise, surprise. In all iterations of the TVC in question, the women were ALWAYS shown walking away from the accident – the technicality was never around them having been killed – which you have reported above – that it s flagrant lie.
The “technicality” I refer to was that in the original TVC we simply didn’t show the women taking their seat belts off in the car – before walking away from the accident. Once we re-cut the TVC to include the women removing their seat-belts, the TVC was passed by the ASB and back on the air within a day.
In regards to my statement re “Political Correctness” – I stand by that 100% and that is reflected in our sales numbers which peak annually around the same time as the release of these advertisements. The wider population (i.e. The masses) are sick to death with this sort of tripe – people enjoy a giggle – which, annually is what we provide them with.
If you are going to report on such matters in the future, please, at least have the commonsense to research them and then report the facts accurately.
Kind regards
Rod Cedaro
National Marketing Manager
Ultra Tune Pty. Ltd.
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I am really angry I go to my local Ultra Tune and only 1 Greek and 1 Indian bloke working on the cars ! I think this add is bloody rip off I thought I go to ultra tune for good sexy mechanic with the big boobseys not some bloke with a spanner asking to check my plug
Add always have a very sexy girl not Greek grease monkey
I think this add not true like the President Trump say Fake News
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FYI
99 complaints submitted to Ad Standards – all dismissed.
https://twitter.com/pleaseuseaussie/status/1088397253289553921
Begs the question; exactly who is out of touch with the broader community’s viewpoint on these advertisements.
Kind regards
Rod Cedaro
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For heavens sake, get a life, there is nothing wrong with this ad, all this constant me too stuff is making life so bloody hard now, it is extreme, you can’t even smile at someone these days without being accused of something, I am a female, but I am sick of this never ending whinning about everything…if this is the worst thing that has happened in your, then you are not doing bad.
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