# Mercedes Is Not Happy That Its Car Was Used to Kill Hitler **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 26, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220 "2013-08-26T17:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/1 "2013-08-26T17:54:58Z")
An astounding spec ad for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class featuring the most incredible twist ending ever devised to promoting a car’s on-board collision-prevention-assist system is ruffling some stuffy feathers at the headquarters of Mercedes parent company Daimler AG. Tasteless, to be sure, but funny as hell. [The end is perfect!](http://gawker.com/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hit-1201987245) Sorry, Maria! ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/2 "2013-08-26T18:00:21Z")
Well **ducati** , it is in poor taste but funny as hell. I really like how they posed the “body”. **Capt** ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/3 "2013-08-26T18:20:43Z")
Evidence that Germans have a sense of humor. But it’s very poor. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/4 "2013-08-26T19:29:03Z")
Oy vey! But I don’t get it. Did the driver turn off the collision prevention mechanism? Did it fail? Is it prescient? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/5 "2013-08-26T19:39:31Z")
I vote for “prescient”. Aren’t there a lot of Russians in software these days? 🙂 [sub] I can’t believe I just said that.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/6 "2013-08-26T19:49:16Z")
I honestly don’t blame them. If I met “child Hitler”, I wouldn’t murder him. I’d try to mentor and guide him. Still…funny. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/7 "2013-08-26T20:18:03Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Oy vey! > > But I don’t get it. Did the driver turn off the collision prevention mechanism? Did it fail? Is it prescient? It “detects dangers before they happen.” Therefore it whacked child-Hitler before he became a danger. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/8 "2013-08-26T20:39:47Z")
I can see why Mercedes-Benz doesn’t want to be associated with anything that could be controversial, but that’s a lot funnier than most commercials. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/9 "2013-08-26T20:40:32Z")
As per [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=289696), the correct term for an infant or juvenile Hitler is “Hitlet.” ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/10 "2013-08-26T21:20:50Z")
> [@Capt\_Kirk](#): > > Well **ducati** , it is in poor taste but funny as hell. I really like how they posed the “body”. In case you missed it, it’s in the form of a swastika. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/11 "2013-08-26T21:58:15Z")
Mercedes probably just don’t want to be associated with people who make a bush league time travel error like killing Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/12 "2013-08-26T22:38:20Z")
I suspect Mercedes is sensitive about this stuff since the company was associated with Hitler during the war, and several of Hitler’s cars were Mercedes. But the commercial is hardly pro-Nazi, so the company probably would’ve been better off just leaving the film-students alone. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/13 "2013-08-27T00:14:46Z")
I dunno. It’s funny in concept, but showing the violent death of a child and having the tag line shown with his mother’s horrified scream in the background raises my eyebrows, and not in a good way. There was surely a better and more clever way of realizing this idea. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/14 "2013-08-27T00:29:53Z")
If Mercedes hadn’t forced them to add the disclaimer at the start, we’d all be sitting around asking what the hell is wrong with Mercedes and their screwed up commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/15 "2013-08-27T00:36:24Z")
Hmm…I can see Toyota adapting this concept to 1957 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a young Osama bin Laden crosses the street… “Sudden acceleration isn’t always a problem - it can be a solution”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/16 "2013-08-27T00:50:22Z")
Funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/17 "2013-08-27T00:55:57Z")
The commercial is historically inaccurate.\* Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, but by the time he was five (he looks older to me here) the family was living in Leonding, near Linz. \*Ignoring the existence of the automobile, of course. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/18 "2013-08-27T01:05:55Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > An astounding spec ad for the Mercedes-Benz C-Class featuring the most incredible twist ending ever **devised to promoting a car’s on-board collision-prevention-assist system** is ruffling some stuffy feathers at the headquarters of Mercedes parent company Daimler AG. > Tasteless, to be sure, but funny as hell. [The end is perfect!](http://gawker.com/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hit-1201987245) > > Sorry, Maria! (Bolding added) This video was not “devised to promoting a car’s on-board collision-prevention-assist system” nor was it designed and conceived by Mercedes or Daimler AG. It was designed to promote the careers of four moronic German film academy students who think it humorous to kill children. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/19 "2013-08-27T01:47:25Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > Sorry, Maria! Maria? WTF is Maria??? 😕 Hitler’s mother was named Klara. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220/20 "2013-08-27T01:55:40Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > In case you missed it, it’s in the form of a swastika. I had missed it. But the thread’s title was a worst spoiler. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mercedes-is-not-happy-that-its-car-was-used-to-kill-hitler/667220.md?page=2)