Whoops, eh? - Canadian Ford ad spurs backlash
The Catch-22 with advertising these days is that someone will undoubtedly be offended if your campaign is clever enough to be memorable. Ford of Canada came up with such an effort for the Escape, showing the CUV wearing a bumper sticker with the phrase "drive it like you stole it," and the tagline "Built for life in Manitoba." Innocuous enough, you say? Apparently not. We can't say for sure if it's just people looking for things to get offended over, or if Canadians are just hypersensitive to Manitoba's reputation as a car theft hotspot. Either way, Ford has responded to the politically correct whining and pulled the ad while offering copious apologies. While car theft and traffic accidents are no laughing matter, especially when innocent people are tragically injured, you can't blame a car advertising campaign that uses an exceedingly common phrase for inducing an already rampant problem. We fail to see how people commiting criminal acts have anything to do with the automaker's sales efforts. Certainly, the message sent by the advertisement is that the Escape is tough enough for Canada, not that it's the car of choice for boosting. It'd be nice to see a company under unreasonable fire just offer up something like "whatevs, get a thicker skin." It's advertising, after all, not the cure for cancer. Of course, it would also have been easy enough to say "Drive it like you hate it" and send largely the same message.
Thanks for the tip, Richard!
[Source: CBC]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
wch003 5:43PM (1/20/2008)
Wait a minute...
Shouldn't the bumper sticker be on the bumper of the F-250 Super Duty?
(sorry, couldn't resist)
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Drewboy 7:26PM (1/20/2008)
Clever. lol.
tekdemon 7:47PM (1/21/2008)
lol, exactly what I was thinking.
ZOG 5:47PM (1/20/2008)
There is LIFE in Manitoba????
I always thought it was a sterile wasteland, similar to the surface of Mars (but colder).
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AutoXN 5:49PM (1/20/2008)
You MUST be from Saskatchewan. And by the way, Wpg is a wasteland, not the rest of Manitoba.
ZOG 5:51PM (1/20/2008)
Actually, I grew up in Alberta. So you're close!
Galley 6:25PM (1/20/2008)
Wasteland? Winnipeg is one of my favorite cities.
Dave 6:01PM (1/20/2008)
Likely the people whose family members were killed by stolen cars find less humour in this than you do
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dyakobson 12:28PM (1/21/2008)
Yeah - they're clearly telling people to drive recklessly and ignore all rules of the road. :rollseyes:If you're old enough to drive - which for the most part is at the age of 18 - you should have enough brain cells to figure out the point of the ad and even if you don't, why the hell would you do something just because you saw it in a magazine ad.
TwinTurbo3000GT 6:29PM (1/20/2008)
Lighten up, it's just a damn advertisement. Just let it go.
People ARE oversensitive. How boring of a life must someone have to get all bent out of shape be something to trivial?
Harrison 8:00PM (1/20/2008)
I'm sure that .01% out there agrees w/ you.
Pat 5:52PM (1/20/2008)
Isn't this in fact a rip-off of VW Canada's TV spots for the City Golf and Jetta where they think the police is after them because they got the car at such a low price ... and heck, it even reminds of the current Ikea add where the woman runs out of the store and tells her hubby to start the car.
I guess there's not much else to do in Winterpeg ...
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dyakobson 6:05PM (1/20/2008)
I love how this ad caused a backlash. Almost as if people are straight out saying they're complete idiots and will act in accordance to what a magazine ad says.
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tankd0g 6:24PM (1/20/2008)
Double backlash, now Ford has shown it has no balls.
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MemphisNET 6:26PM (1/20/2008)
I'm not going to entertain the hickish remarks made so far, but being Canadian - I couldn't care less what this advertisement showed. We have the same cry-baby nannies that the US does, and this crap is only an issue because some political figure (real or wannabe) is trying to stir the pot.
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TwinTurbo3000GT 6:31PM (1/20/2008)
Lighten up, it's just a damn advertisement. Just let it go.
People ARE oversensitive. How boring of a life must someone have to
get all bent out of shape by something to trivial?
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mango 6:40PM (1/20/2008)
Canadians should feel lucky that we even let them drive Fords. What a useless country.
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Paul Y 6:54PM (1/20/2008)
Yeah, they can keep all that useless oil and industrial diamonds.
While they're at it, they can quit building Fords, too (...and Chryslers and GM's).
SPG 7:33PM (1/20/2008)
Dearest Mango, here's hoping your sister bites instead of swallows next time you two are on a date.
Chocolate 7:56PM (1/20/2008)
I began writting an intelligent reply ... then I figured you probably couldn't understand it anyway so I pressed undo and decided to sink to just one level above you.
Get lost ! Or as we say in some parts of Canada ... va donc chier 'sti de gros épais.