Ford claims that the internet-only/viral marketing ad for their new SportKa was not approved for release, and Ford and the ad agency are looking into it. Why the controversy? The ad features an ill-tempered car using its sunroof to decapitate a curious house cat. The video is available here, or you can see what Snopes has to say about it.
Discuss amongst yourselves. I’ve got nothing to say, other than “What the HELL were they thinking?”
At that point does the “t” fall off SportKat?
Yep, what were they thinking?
I did not watch the video, though I did read the Snopes link. I don’t think how it could be construed as “any publicity is good.” From my standpoint, now I know I will never own a Ford car. I was never fond of them, but animal cruelty (even CG) chaps my hide like nothing else.
Whether or not Ford knew the commercial was going to be released on the Net is debatable. But someone must have approved it for it to go so far into production.
Well, I love animals - cats included, and still I think it’s amusing.
I don’t know which country it was ‘aimed’ at - but it wouldn’t be out of place on a British sketch show.
Personally, I hate the way corporations position themselves as whiter-than-white, making transparent efforts to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I don’t believe it from Government and I don’t believe it from commerce. It’s crap and they know we know it.
I know it’s Ford but all the same let’s have some personality in advertising I say.
I still won’t buy a Ka though. 
I think the least coughsick bastardscough Ford could do in the circumstances is to make a HUGE donation to cat charities (particularly the shelters run by private individuals at their own homes)
I like it. Its funny. Its called “a joke”, or maybe a “play–on-words” (curiosity killed the cat).
Just remember folks: No animals were harmed in the making of this commercial. Get over yourselves.
Sidenote: In real life, they struggle much more vigoursly, and piss just prior to snuffing it.
Actually, I wasn’t offended by the commercial. I have long had a taste for the British form of humor exemplified by Monty Python, so I have to confess my first reaction was to laugh. Why? Well, I knew that no real cat had been harmed, so other than a disturbing visual, what’s the harm? Second (and third, and fourth, etc.) reaction was, once again, “What the HELL were they thinking?”
From the URL at the end of the spot, it looks like it was meant for British consumption. That would be the United Kingdom, home to 10 million cats, and, if there is any truth in the stereotype, a fair number of what we can call “cat nuts”. Ford is not an “edgy” high tech new corporation; they are a major multinational who need to avoid annoying too many of their potential customers in order to keep their market share. Hence my confusion.
BTW, I am the proud servant of two felines, and mean no disparagement to other cat owners with the phrase “cat nuts”. Suffice it to say that one’s opinion of others’ relationships with their pets is often similar to George Carlin’s description of drivers (either maniacs for driving faster than him, or assholes for driving slower).
I’ve got to side with the “what the hell were they thinking?” crowd here. For a couple of reasons.
a) The cat was way too life-like, particularly with the swishing tail before it jumps onto the car. I think if you're going to do this kind of humor, you have to inject a "just kidding" element into your animation, like the birds in the Windex commercial.
b) What kind of idiot wants to transmit the message that "our cars are so unsafe that if your young child starts playing around with the moonroof while you're not around, they could conceivably chop their heads off?"The cat one horrified me.
The pigeon clip was just funny! 
Probably because after walking at the lake today and being buzzed by the “rats with wings” that’s just what I was ready to do to them.
I thought it was hilarious! I love how the car lured the cat to peek inside via the sunroof. It’s the Ka’s evil twin!
What’s a Ka?
I had heard about this, but hadn’t seen the video until now.
I’m with *Harmless on this one (cat clip=bad; pigeon clip = funny) for the simple fact that the cat clip was WAY too realistic to be funny. The pigeon one was kind of cartoonish, but the cat clip actually looked like it was real. Let’s see, twitching cat trying to escape, headless body sliding down the hood, object (ie “head”) falling from the sunroof inside the car.
I don’t think it’s worth working into a frenzy over, I mean it’s just a commercial.
Still, file this one under the “What the hell were they thinking” column.
I’ll just start by saying that I have 3 cats.
The cat advert is just disturbing to me. How anyone would think killing a cat would be funny is beyond me. :mad:
I think it might have been better if, perhaps, the cat jumped into the car through the sunroof, the the sunroof closed leaving the cat unharmed but “eaten” by the car. :rolleyes:
Hanging onto the window, Garfield-style?
So wrong… but so funny.
Hell, I decided I would never own a Ford before I heard of this (no way I’m watching that). Now… words fail. The video is tasteless enough, but “viral marketing”? It’s a cross between spam and chain mail.
My humble curse on the people responsible for this:
May bot flies inject their eggs into your eyeballs and, if present, testicles.
How would bot flies inject testicles into someone’s eyes?
I am not at all amused. I am a long time Ford customer having purchased 5 brand new Ford vehicles during the past 12-14 years. I just called their customer service line and they are saying they have no relationship with this ad. The customer service rep told me they were investigating and may take legal action against the person(s) responsible. Hopefully, they speak the truth. I suggested that they make some sort of formal public apology. This is a sick example of advertising.
I hope everyone crying about how “sick” this is gets that stick pulled out of their butts sometime soon.
Give me a break. The cat wasn’t hurt. I laughed for a long while when I got the e-mail this morning.
Ford say they didn’t OK this ad. It also looks like it could have been made by an 18 year old intern with good CGI skills. I find it mildly funny, although I can see why it wouldn’t get the OK stamp.
But what’s all the outrage at Ford about? It’s obviously fake, and even if it DOES disturb you, it’s a proposal Ford rejected.
I gotta tell you, if it IS true that they leaked it on purpose, then it’s absolutely brilliant marketing. Also, the cynic in me says that the ad would not have gotten such heated responses had it been a human being decapitated.
Tempest in a tea cup.
the cat advert was in poor taste, i’d still never buy a ford vehicle anyway, nothing to do with the advert, more along the lines that ford makes, in my personal experience, the most unreliable pieces of crap on the road, ford is the micro$oft of cars, their products suck and they’re everywhere
once again, IMHO, my view of ford is based on a horrible experience with the “murphy’s lawmobile” my first “car” an '88 escort pony, you name it, it broke, and with an asthmatic 85 hp at the crank it barely had enough power to get out of it’s own way
i’ll never trust ford as long as i live, heck, henry ford could rise from his grave and tell me that their cars were good, i wouldn’t believe him, and i’d probably have to destroy him as well, because he’d be a zombie anyway don’t want him eating my brain