Using JFK’s assassination to sell Mazdas? That won’t end well
Sometimes an ad so spectacularly ill-conceived crosses Dr Mumbo’s radar that he wonders if he’s being pranked.
For instance, a car company thinking the assassination of an America president would be a good way of selling its blind spot detection technology.
But that’s what dropped in Dr Mumbo’s inbox overnight.
It came from the Israel office of BBR Saatchi & Saatchi.
The print ad features a hand-drawn sketch of the John F Kennedy motorcade at Dealey Plaza in Dallas in 1963, just before he was assassinated.
Kennedy sits in the back of the limo, next to wife Jackie…
The only coloured detail on the otherwise black-and-white image is a yellow light in the sixth-floor window of the Texas School Book Depository – where JFK’s assassin Lee Harvey Oswald waited with his rifle.
You see, the yellow dot represents Mazda’s blind spot monitoring system, which illuminates on the rear-view mirror when its radar detects an unseen threat.
Completing the ad is the slogan: “Spot the threat in time”.
At first, Dr Mumbo suspected a prank – albeit one where somebody had gone to a lot of trouble.
Perhaps it was like the time a couple of creatives created a memorable ad for the VW Polo titled “Terrorist”, which turned out to be on-spec rather than official.
After all, the agency – and presumably local brand manager in question – would understand that the ad would be seen in the US. Wouldn’t they?
But Mumbrella has been on this agency’s mailing list for some time, and the campaign was sent out in the same way that its new campaigns are always distributed, from the same person.
And they even provided credits, featuring the agency’s real staff. Here they are:
Credits:
- CEO: Yossi Lubaton
- Chief Creative Officer: Jonathan Lang
- Creative Director: Eran Nir
- Art Director: Niv Herzberg
- Copywriter: Ronen Kornberg
- Illustrator: Meraby Gefen
- VP Client Services: Ben Muskal
- Account Supervisor: Chen Halpern
- Account Executive: Gil Gershon
- Creative Coordinator: Eva Hasson
- Traffic Coordinator: Ronit Doanis
And it’s already been listed on the Coloribus advertising archive.
Plus the agency does actually list Mazda as a client on its website.
So yep, it seems to be a real ad.
As Dr Mumbo writes, America is going home from work. When they get up in the morning, Dr Mumbo suspects that Mazda’s US PR guys are going to have a busy day…
That is truly appalling!
User ID not verified.
See above.
User ID not verified.
This would not have run.
User ID not verified.
So is the ad inferring that the Mazda will alert you to threats that aren’t actually there?
The mirror alert should only go off when the car drives past the grassy knoll.
User ID not verified.
Here you can clearly see how the creative IGNORED ALL PLEAS from data and media teams.
User ID not verified.
Wow ill-conceived is an understatement
Not only offensive but terrible attempt to leverage the feature
User ID not verified.
With all that talent, they don’t even have Kennedy on the correct side of the car.
User ID not verified.
Well, to be fair.. we are now talking about the car and now I’m aware of it’s blind spot detection?
Now I need grassy knoll detection so I can park easily?
User ID not verified.
It is truly appalling to make money out of a national tragedy!
But what about the many books written for this same purpose rehashing other writers’ theories about the JFK Assassination.And not serious investigation to find out the truth.The sketch has President Kennedy sitting on the wrong side at the back of the Lincoln limousine.He was actually on the right side of the car.
User ID not verified.
I would have seriously mixed feelings about this line, however in a case for the freedom of creativity, and what I think of as the historic statute of limitations, The sinking of the Titanic, the great fire of London, and the horrors of Custer’s last stand, have all been used in advertising within my lifetime.
I wonder had the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess of Hohenberg, which also took place in the backseat of a car been the centre of the ad, would there be this level of discussion?
It has been more than 53 years since the JFK assassination, which was a national tragedy in the USA, and a sad news item elsewhere in the world. maybe, with a little understanding, we could see that the creative idea was perhaps tasteless, but not so appalling after all.
User ID not verified.
It’s one helluva world, ain’t it?
User ID not verified.