# is this Honda ad real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375 "2004-06-27T02:22:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/1 "2004-06-27T02:22:04Z")
Is [this](http://www.media.ebaumsworld.com/honda-ad.swf) real? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/2 "2004-06-27T02:25:46Z")
Yes, 100%. IIRC, it took 3 months and 500 takes, but everything you see is exactly as it happened, and everything is a genuine part from a Honda. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/3 "2004-06-27T02:26:10Z")
[Yes. It took over 600 takes to get it right.](http://www.snopes.com/autos/business/hondacog.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/4 "2004-06-27T02:26:48Z")
Yes it is. It took over 600 takes to make everything work correctly. No trick photography. Awsome stuff. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/5 "2004-06-27T02:28:24Z")
Correction - there’s a link in the middle, which joins two takes. Only one was used in the TV advert (the whole thing would have been longer than a whole ad break!), hence my earlier reply. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/6 "2004-06-27T02:37:08Z")
Two previous threads on this subject[here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=188834) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=189773). ---
**Author:** ![Duggy\_Fizzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Duggy\_Fizzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duggy_Fizzle)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/7 "2004-06-27T03:39:20Z")
There is no way it could be real. How could three car tires roll uphill and gain speed while doing so? ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/8 "2004-06-27T03:42:19Z")
> [@Duggy Fizzle](#): > > There is no way it could be real. How could three car tires roll uphill and gain speed while doing so? Read the links. > [@muttrox](#): > > It is indeed unlikely, but possible. For example, the wheels rolling up hill. The wheels are carefully weighted so that the least jog will destroy the equilibrium, bringing the weight from the top to the bottom, thus rolling the tire. Before it can stablize, it knocks another tire the same way. They are indeed able to roll uphill for very short distances this way. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/9 "2004-06-27T05:10:32Z")
I agree, it’s real. You gotta admire Honda for doing it. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/10 "2004-06-27T06:06:01Z")
Thanks all. Very cool ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/11 "2004-06-27T07:48:41Z")
The concept, while beautifully executed, was taken (stolen?) from an equally amazing 30-minute film made by Peter Fischli and David Weiss in the 1980s called [The Way Things Go](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005UW7W/qid%3D1088322077/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-8550677-9261712). It’s now available on DVD. BTW, in case you didn’t notice, the ad’s voiceover announcer was Garrison Keillor. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/12 "2004-06-27T17:23:34Z")
Really? I thought of the **Mouse Trap** game, which I’m sure came before 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/13 "2004-06-27T17:28:06Z")
What, you people never heard of [Rube Goldberg](http://www.rube-goldberg.com/html/bio.htm)? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/14 "2004-06-27T18:22:46Z")
And then there was Rube’s British counterpart: [Heath Robinson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson). ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/15 "2004-06-29T02:45:17Z")
Something I’ve wondered about this ad: Why on Earth did they bother doing this ‘in camera’?! Three months and 600+ takes?! That had to be much more expensive than compositing it with CG. I mean, yeah, its really really cool watching it knowing they did it the old fashioned way. But this wasn’t some student’s art film, it was a freakin’ commercial! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/16 "2004-06-29T02:52:36Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > Why on Earth did they bother doing this ‘in camera’?! Three months and 600+ takes?! That had to be much more expensive than compositing it with CG. > > I mean, yeah, its really really cool watching it knowing they did it the old fashioned way. But this wasn’t some student’s art film, it was a freakin’ commercial! You answered your own question. It’s cool. It generated a lot of buzz. I don’t know how many cars it sold, though. It would have been interesting to see the reaction if they had used it in the US. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/17 "2004-06-29T03:18:00Z")
> [@Hail Ants](#): > > Why on Earth did they bother doing this ‘in camera’?! Three months and 600+ takes?! That had to be much more expensive than compositing it with CG. But it probably didn’t take a whole lot of manpower to do it. If you had four people working full time for 3 months, that’s only one man-year. Even if they get an average of $100,000 a year, that’s less than 1/3 the average cost of producing a national TV commercial ([cite](http://televisionadvertising.com/faq.htm)). ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/18 "2004-06-29T12:59:41Z")
I think the time investment was not as big a deal for Honda as the car investment. Those were the parts from one actual car that was disassembled to make the commercial. A prototype for a vehicle that they were still building the assembly line to mass-produce. One of only a handful (two or three, IIRC) that existed at the time … Commercial producer: “Can we use one of those prototypes for our commercial?” Engineer: “I suppose. What do you want to do with it?” Commercial producer: “Completely disassemble it and use the parts to …” Engineer: " :eek: :eek: :eek: " ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/19 "2004-06-29T14:20:39Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > The concept, while beautifully executed, was taken (stolen?) from an equally amazing 30-minute film made by Peter Fischli and David Weiss in the 1980s called [The Way Things Go](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005UW7W/qid%3D1088322077/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-8550677-9261712). It’s now available on DVD. Thanks. I once caught the last few minutes of that on PBS and was never able to find out the name of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375/20 "2004-06-29T15:05:42Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > But it probably didn’t take a whole lot of manpower to do it. If you had four people working full time for 3 months, that’s only one man-year. Even if they get an average of $100,000 a year, that’s less than 1/3 the average cost of producing a national TV commercial ([cite](http://televisionadvertising.com/faq.htm)). Post #3 has the link that says the film cost 6 Million. Probably much more than a CG production. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-honda-ad-real/252375.md?page=2)