Mercedes-Benz's Ridiculous Big Race Teaser Ad

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By: Cindy Wendland

Jerry Rice was a great athlete. Mercedes-Benz has a lot of promotional money. Stephanie Branton is a pretty lady. That’s about all the good we can say for the Mercedes-Benz teaser ad promoting their Super Bowl Big Race commercial.

The Big Race is a race between the age-old tortoise and hare. Jerry Rice is a commentator interviewing the race contestants. Radio talk show hosts Mike and Mike debate who will win. There was a lot of money put behind this whole campaign. Persons interested in entering the contest to win a $2,500 Samsung TV and $1,000 of party catering money have to tweet their bet as to who will win with creativity and brand adherence.

The use of Twitter to engage your audience is spot-on. Asking people to be creative in their tweets is fun. There are a few problems with the teaser ad, however. The biggest issue is that Stephanie Branton is dressed in a high-cut-leg bunny outfit. Most women are not overly pleased to see a woman dressed that way during a high-profile NFL commercial, and women do watch football!

Turns out she is a 2014 Playboy Bunny, so it makes some sense why she is dressed like a bunny. The instant we saw a woman depicted like that on a Mercedes-Benz commercial was the instant we said we would never drive a Mercedes-Benz. When we found out she was a Playboy Bunny as well, our respect for Mercedes-Benz evaporated.

This whole spot is trite and doesn’t say anything about the value or qualities or features of a Mercedes-Benz. We understand it is a teaser for the Super Bowl commercial, but we are turned off completely. It is reminiscent of the role Mel Gibson played in the movie What Women Want. He was an arrogant, womanizing ad executive. We didn’t know ad agencies of this day and age still create that way. Ridiculous and disappointing!

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About the Author

Cindy Wendland has a background in marketing and finance. She is the creative director for an online men's health magazine, BrainBrawnBody.com, and she gets to write their leisure/travel blog. She is also a web designer helping her clients with online community engagement, websitesbywendland.com. Prior to her web years, she worked in pharmacy consulting.

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