Mother Nature resists automotive sponsorship — with a vengeance

Mark sent me a sad story of PR gone horribly wrong.

In Germany, Mini Deutschland paid the Institute for Meteorology at the Free University in Berlin the standard €199 "Adopt-a-Vortex" fee to have in incoming cold front named "Cooper". The agency, Sassenbach, had said they wanted a wind- and weather-proof idea" to promote the soft top Mini Roadster. 

I assume this was supposed to be ironic. But the real (and very sad) irony began when Cooper started killing people:

Also note unfortunate Expedia headline.

BBC reports:

"In a statement, the carmaker said it could not influence exactly when names for weather fronts would be used, or what a weather system would do. 

It said it deeply regretted that the weather front had taken on 'catastrophic proportions' and claimed so many lives."

In other news, Mother Nature hates cars.

My fellow admen, this is why they hate us

Via Sociological Images

Yes, it's superficially kind of amusing on a frat boy level. And the woman is certainly appealing. But as Dr. Gwen Sharp at Sociological Images points out:

"I suppose someone could argue that the message that you shouldn’t 'care' whether your women/cars are 'used' rejects the sexual double standard, but the objectification and the implication that non-virgin women are 'used' undermine any apparent rejection of that double standard."

In layman's terms, "comparing a sexually active woman to a used car is pretty f'ing offensive".

The ad appeared in the London Free Press.

Not only is it offensive, it's a ripoff. Another example of the same concept that made the internet rounds three years ago is this BMW ad that claims to be for their Premium Selection Used Car program in Greece:

Doesn't she look a little... Nabokovesque?

Gwen thinks this creepy ad must be unpublished spec creative, but this blogger gives full credits and a publication date:

Advertising Agency: BBDO Athens, Greece
Creative Director: Theodossis Papanikolaou
Art Director: David Kaneen
Copywriter: Daphne Patrikiou
Published: June 2008
Source: adsoftheworld

Oddly, though, the Ads of The World link doesn't work. Hmmmm...