Mercedes Ads Using Sex to Sell…Effectively

These new ads for Mercedes are touting their intelligent braking system that acts when you are distracted. To demonstrate this, their print campaign features three large spreads of things that could distract a driver, with one roadblock or obstacle thrown in. The copy reads:

“Acts when you are distracted. Pre-safe. The intelligent brake system.”

The “guy” version uses lingerie-clad women in suggestive poses distracting a male driver from a moose. This is my favorite of the three ads; I like the colors and I think it’s got a better visual look than the others. I definitely didn’t notice the moose at first, and I know I would not be paying attention to the road if women like this were on the sidewalk; I can only imagine the catastrophe that would ensue for a 20 year old boy driving in this scenario.

The “girl” ad is a gorgeous collage of shoes keeping you from noticing a toddler on a tricycle. I like this, because I am obsessed and often distracted by shoes, but it’s usually in a window shopping capacity. Nevertheless, I see where they are going with this. But the shoes aren’t the most inspired or luxurious designs, and the background color isn’t helping the look and feel; it seems more sensible than sensual.

The third and final ad is what I would call their “real life” take on the campaign and hides an old woman with a walker amidst a bunch of soccer players. This scenario is much more likely, and that’s what makes this particular ad the most forgettable of the series. It’s true, it’s real, it’s done. It really is just a cautionary tale, and while the hidden aspect is still at work here, this one isn’t very striking.

So what makes the first two so great? It seems they lost strength or creativity as they continued, but the sexist ones are so clearly over the top that you can’t help but laugh and think “yeah, that would be distracting!” Women don’t strut along the sidewalk in stilettos and sheer bikinis, and shoes don’t literally call your name from shop windows, but we get the idea. These ads are having fun with our stereotypical desires and distractions, and so we feel like we can play along and enjoy the joke (or ad). They use safe assumptions that gently poke fun at what is true more often than not, and we all “get” it.

These Mercedes Benz ads were done by Art Director Armands Leitis and Copywriter Christian Bunnemann. Much thanks to Paula Zargaj-Reynolds at Advertising is Good for You for alerting me to this campaign.