V ameriki so Mercedesu cenzurirali TV spot za GL klaso.
V njem Mercedes humorno pretirava z zmogljivostmi in z varnostjo avta, ko se pri pri testu bočnega trka drug avto kar raztrešči in zleti preko GL-ja, ta pa ostane nepoškodovan. Američani kot Američani bi to lahko razumeli kot resnično možnost, pravijo cenzorji, Mercedes pa odgovarja, da so njihovi potencialni kupci bolj izobraženi itd.
Saj na videu res zgleda kot neko obrambno polje sile a la enterprise oz njene naslednice (seija Stratrek) in kolikor poznam Američane, bi res še kdo pomislil, da je Mercedes v GL-a vgradil tako varnostno zaščito v GL.
Več v angl. :
August 08, 2006
By Steve Miller
DETROIT -- Mercedes-Benz should discontinue an ad in which a crash sled is repelled after slamming into the side of its GL Class SUV, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus said Monday after reviewing an ad campaign for the US-built vehicles.
The NAD took issue with the spot depicting the GL as withstanding a crash sled striking the side panel of the vehicle and bouncing off without damaging the GL as apparently amazed “engineers” look on. The ad, via Merkley and Partners, New York, is part of a suite of spots that also include a houseful of furniture being unloaded from the back of a GL to portray generous space, and the GL igniting pylons as it cruises through a driving course in order to represent rapid handling.
The ad ran as part of a series of 15-second spots that highlighted the merits of the GL Series.
While a full-disclosure tag accompanies the crash sled ad, allowing that actual side impact tests incur “significant” body damage, the NAD ruled that a typical consumer might not grasp that the crash is metaphorical.
“NAD appreciates that humor can be an effective and creative means for an advertiser to highlight its product attributes and performance capabilities. However, humor does not relieve an advertiser of its obligation to support implied performance messages reasonably implied from humorous depictions,” the decision reads.
“I do respect the [NAD’s] job, but in my mind, this leaves no room for interpretation,” said Alex Gellert, managing director at Merkley and Partners. “I think it is clear that the people who are our target are used to a certain amount of liberty in a commercial … but this isn’t even liberty, this is over-the-top. And it is very obvious that it is over-the-top.”
A Mercedes rep said that the ad is an “exaggeration” of the strength of the vehicle, but that the spots are part of a suite of ads using humor to tout the safety of the GL line.
“It is farcical, and anyone seeing the spots can tell that it’s hyperbole,” said Donna Boland of Mercedes. “The typical consumer is smart enough to know that this is not a serious ad. We have received no customer calls on this ad. ”
The average education level for a GL consumer is “grad level, and tends to be pretty savvy,” she said. Boland added that the spot in question has not run nationally since the launch ads stopped in June.
Mercedes was given a choice before the NAD’s action to agree in writing to fully withdraw the ad from any potential broadcast and refused, countered Andrea Levine, director of NAD.
“If they represent in writing that they will never use this depiction in the future, we have the discretion to close the case,” Levine said. “In this situation, they were not willing to commit, and we were troubled by the future and wanted to review [the ad].”
vir
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent ... 1002952139
še video TV spota:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPPzrDrQfbs
, kašn feeling je v primerjavi s starim??
ops: 
