Who could forget the BMW that “beat the bends” around Chapman's Peak; the Astra tearing around a golf course to prove it's “more fun than Golf” or how GM also said the 'Corsaneck' made polonecks seem so last season?
While competitive advertising is not a new thing to South Africans, our American counterparts tend to be a lot less subtle about it and the latest example is as blatant as ever.
Ford has just blasted GM for the latter's new Chevrolet Silverado advert that aired during the Superbowl (the most-watched TV broadcast in American history) on Sunday.
The ad played on Mayan predictions by portraying a post-apocalyptic world with a bunch of survivors driving Chevy Silverado bakkies, one of them asking “where's Dave?” and the other replying “Dave didn't drive the longest-lasting, most dependable truck on the road. Dave drove a Ford.”
GM went ahead with the ad despite the fact that Ford had tried to block it before Sunday's broadcast and as you can imagine, the latter was hardly full of kind words the following day.
Ford Spokesman Mike Levine exclaimed: “We don't agree with some of GM's claims in their ad, particularly around durability.
“What's important is that Ford F-Series is proud to be the best-selling truck in America for 35 years... And Ford is the brand with the most pickup trucks on the road with more than 400 000km - demonstrating just how durable our trucks are in the real world.”
Despite the fact that Ford's man also said that any further action will be up to the company's legal team, it is expected that Chevrolet will continue running the ads in future broadcasts.
Wouldn't it be more entertaining, though, if Ford could stoop to the same level and come up with an even better advert?
-Source: AFP