Were you one of the last week’s 111 million viewers of the Super Bowl? With such a huge number of viewers, chances are good that you were. Like a lot of other people, we watch for both the game and the commercials. While we enjoyed the game, we found this year’s commercial selection to be a bit lacking. However, there was one spot in particular that stood out (if you’re reading this post via email you may need to visit our site to watch the videos below).
Did the video above look familiar? No? Watch the video below and then ask yourself, “did Mercedes take a page from the Porsche “Family Tree” commercial?”
Oh yeah, one last thing. We’re sure you must have heard that Janis Joplin song at the very beginning of the Mercedes ad. Seems to us they forgot a line…
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View Comments (16)
Well OK then, what about the new "Black Series" 911 and 987? Does that make a "tit for tat"? ;-)
+1 on the stealing/borrowing idea. the benz commercial reminds me of "Close Encounters" a bit too. More borrowing.
@Chuck, completely forgot about the "black" AMG. sharp car!!
@Mark +1,000,000 ;-)
My friends all drive Porsches - a great line, but actually Janis drove a Porsche and not a Mercedes. Odd that the Mercedes marketing department knew enough to drop the line from the commercial, but misses the point of the song. A Joplin fan would also know that Joplin owned and drove a wildly painted '65 356c not a Mercedes, and that this song was the last ever recorded by her- she died 3 days later. What was God telling her?
I'm a Porsche guy through and through (993) but MB does have a rich history of their own. I don't think this was a rip off of the Porsche commercial. No offense over here.
Steve,
Completely agree about the rich history and in fact we have an E class as one of our DDs. However, while I have no problem with two companies trying to convey the same message, I just don't like the fact that they weren't creative enough to come up with a different way to do it.
"... my friends all drive Porsches..." Wonder why they cut that part out.. ahem.
Oh, yeah.. I'm a Porsche guy, but still, that's a pretty classy commercial.
Perhaps a bit too much reading into. It's just a commercial.
Two thoughts:
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
and
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."
BOTH commercials are quite lame. The Chrysler/Eminem spot is possibly the best car commercial ever. (for the record, I drive a Carrera 4 cab)
JS Right on
NS987 Also right on
I'm a Porsche guy through and through...although my fav line is by Tom Cruise ?
as used in many Porsche ads "Porsche...there is no substitute"