cat decapitated by ford
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UK commercial, if my eyes caught the end.....
I'm sure the animal rights activists will leap all over this one, regardless if no animal was harmed.....
I'm sure the animal rights activists will leap all over this one, regardless if no animal was harmed.....
WTF?!?!??!
First the bird gets splattered when the hood opens on the other commercial and now a cat gets decapitated??
That makes me want to NEVER buy a Ford! EVER!!!!
Bad PR by the Ford company.
quote: ford is already catching flack, but deny having any hand in the making of.
How can they deny when their fuken name is IN the ad????
First the bird gets splattered when the hood opens on the other commercial and now a cat gets decapitated??
That makes me want to NEVER buy a Ford! EVER!!!!
Bad PR by the Ford company.
quote: ford is already catching flack, but deny having any hand in the making of.
How can they deny when their fuken name is IN the ad????
I thought it was pretty funny :shrug: What's the big deal, it's not like they decapitated a real cat. Some of you people need to lighten up a bit.
Crying laughter... Tears running down face... Hard to breathe..
Did you see the way that kitty Corpse sled down the hood... What a wax job.
I fawking hate cats.. Satin's pet....
Did you see the way that kitty Corpse sled down the hood... What a wax job.
I fawking hate cats.. Satin's pet....
I guess my story of sticking a M-80 in a cat's ass and blowing it up won't be real popular 'round here...damn Liberals
:142smilie :shocked:
One attacked the baby while we were enjoying a nice day outside in little italy... Grabbed it by the back of the neck to get it off the baby.. It turned it's neck completely around attacking my arm with it's teeth and claws... Had to sit down and stick my arm between my feet to get it off me... Several stitches and tenets shot for baby & I
I could not find the cat to kill...
I like dog's, bunnies, pony's, ducks, fish, etc... But I fawking hate cats....
SATIN'S PET!...
One attacked the baby while we were enjoying a nice day outside in little italy... Grabbed it by the back of the neck to get it off the baby.. It turned it's neck completely around attacking my arm with it's teeth and claws... Had to sit down and stick my arm between my feet to get it off me... Several stitches and tenets shot for baby & I
I could not find the cat to kill...
I like dog's, bunnies, pony's, ducks, fish, etc... But I fawking hate cats....
SATIN'S PET!...
i`m beginning to like
i`m beginning to like
eddie and kosar a lot more....
you guys have serious problems...i think you guys were kidding...weren`t you?...
i`m beginning to like
eddie and kosar a lot more....
you guys have serious problems...i think you guys were kidding...weren`t you?...
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gardenweasel,
All cats must die a slow & violent death... Truely sorry to disappoint you.. The pictuces of my daughters stitches and scares are not digital or I would forward.. I hate hateing anything, but cats are just wrong....
I like ducks?.... Bunnys?.....
Wilson,
:liar:
Typical!....
All cats must die a slow & violent death... Truely sorry to disappoint you.. The pictuces of my daughters stitches and scares are not digital or I would forward.. I hate hateing anything, but cats are just wrong....
I like ducks?.... Bunnys?.....
Wilson,
:liar:
Typical!....
Fat & Sassy said:
I've never noticed that cats like satin all that much. I always figured them to be bigger fans of cotton.
The Networker
Putting the headless cat among the ad pigeons
John Naughton
Sunday April 11, 2004
The Observer
There's a grisly little ad circulating on the internet at the moment. It's a relatively small (one megabyte), 39-second video clip which is very slickly shot and edited. I received it as an email attachment from an observant colleague who works with broadcast media. This is what it shows.
In a suburban driveway sits a shiny black sports version of the Ford Ka. It's a peaceful, attractive scene. The sounds of birdsong can be heard on the soundtrack. A ginger cat moves nonchalantly into the picture. As the animal passes the car, the electric sun-roof opens with a whirr and a click.
The cat hesitates and then curiosity gets the better of it. It leaps on to the car's bonnet and then onto the roof. It stares down in to the gap left by the open sunroof and puts its head in. At which point, the sunroof clicks shut cutting off the cat's head and the moggie's lifeless, decapitated corpse slides off the car and out of sight. At which point the words 'Ford SportsKa - the Ka's evil twin' appear - followed by the web address - www.the-eviltwin.co.uk.
One's first thought is that this is a clever spoof designed to discomfit Ford. But a check on the link www.the-eviltwin.co.uk brings up a blank page - not a '404 - Page not found' - which means there is a legitimate domain name. So who owns it?
Answer: Wunderman Interactive, a company with an office in London NW1. Who are they? Well, according to Media Post , Wunderman is 'the world's largest direct-to-consumer marketing company, with more than $3.2 billion in billings and 4,000 people working in 74 offices in 34 countries. Its online division, Wunderman Interactive, is formidable as well, with 2001 online media billings of $40 million'. Their clients include AT&T, Aicpa, IBM, Register.com, Citibank, 1-800-Flowers.com, Sears, TGI.com - and Ford.
So, far from being a spoof or a scam, this unpleasant little video seems to be the creation of a high-rolling, multinational agency. If so, it represents an intriguing innovation - a sign that the advertising industry is finally beginning to understand that the internet is a different medium from the display media in which the business evolved. You only have to look at the ad to realise that it would be unthinkable to put it on UK television.
For one thing, the Advertising Standards Authority wouldn't allow it. For another, imagine the impact on Ford UK if it became known to the animal-loving population of these islands that the company enjoyed the idea of its products decapitating innocent moggies? In two shakes of a cat's tail there would be demonstrators in tea-cosy hats outside corporate HQ; slogans would be daubed on showroom windows; Ford dealers would be doorstepped in their homes by angry visitors; and innocent Ka drivers would find people hissing at them at traffic lights.
Until now, insofar as advertising agencies thought about the internet at all, they saw it as some kind of mutant, billion-channel TV. The infuriating banner ads which disfigure so many websites are a direct result of that mindset - the screen was treated as a kind of mini billboard, the only difference being that the specific ad placed on the board could be tailored to the known predilections of the user.
After banner ads came product- or launch-related websites, so what whenever a conventional advertising campaign was being designed, an accompanying website would be created at the same time. (BMW spoofed this beautifully on April 1, by the way: their full-page newspaper advertisement for their revolutionary new SHEF technology was accompanied by an equally funny site - www.anewwaytocook.co.uk)
But the SportKa decapitation ad does not follow this model. It does have a web link, but it displays nothing. So there's no visible target for 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' to complain to. Instead the ad circulates as an email attachment in the same way that jokes (and viruses) spread across the net.
This has two advantages. The first is that the ad stays focused on its target audience - young males with a taste for sick jokes - the kind of chaps who read Loaded and Nuts, and who might be tempted by the sporty version of Ford's oddly-shaped vehicle.
The second advantage is that because the ad circulates only among like-minded folks, the chances are that 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' will never get to see it -- and Ford's reputation as a family-friendly company can remain unscathed.
What we're looking at, in other words, is an ingenious application of 'viral marketing' - advertising that propagates itself. It was invented by Hotmail, which appended a footer to every message saying 'Get your free email from Hotmail'. The SportKa ad shows that viral marketing has reached a new low. If you have delicate sensibilities, prepare to be offended now.
Putting the headless cat among the ad pigeons
John Naughton
Sunday April 11, 2004
The Observer
There's a grisly little ad circulating on the internet at the moment. It's a relatively small (one megabyte), 39-second video clip which is very slickly shot and edited. I received it as an email attachment from an observant colleague who works with broadcast media. This is what it shows.
In a suburban driveway sits a shiny black sports version of the Ford Ka. It's a peaceful, attractive scene. The sounds of birdsong can be heard on the soundtrack. A ginger cat moves nonchalantly into the picture. As the animal passes the car, the electric sun-roof opens with a whirr and a click.
The cat hesitates and then curiosity gets the better of it. It leaps on to the car's bonnet and then onto the roof. It stares down in to the gap left by the open sunroof and puts its head in. At which point, the sunroof clicks shut cutting off the cat's head and the moggie's lifeless, decapitated corpse slides off the car and out of sight. At which point the words 'Ford SportsKa - the Ka's evil twin' appear - followed by the web address - www.the-eviltwin.co.uk.
One's first thought is that this is a clever spoof designed to discomfit Ford. But a check on the link www.the-eviltwin.co.uk brings up a blank page - not a '404 - Page not found' - which means there is a legitimate domain name. So who owns it?
Answer: Wunderman Interactive, a company with an office in London NW1. Who are they? Well, according to Media Post , Wunderman is 'the world's largest direct-to-consumer marketing company, with more than $3.2 billion in billings and 4,000 people working in 74 offices in 34 countries. Its online division, Wunderman Interactive, is formidable as well, with 2001 online media billings of $40 million'. Their clients include AT&T, Aicpa, IBM, Register.com, Citibank, 1-800-Flowers.com, Sears, TGI.com - and Ford.
So, far from being a spoof or a scam, this unpleasant little video seems to be the creation of a high-rolling, multinational agency. If so, it represents an intriguing innovation - a sign that the advertising industry is finally beginning to understand that the internet is a different medium from the display media in which the business evolved. You only have to look at the ad to realise that it would be unthinkable to put it on UK television.
For one thing, the Advertising Standards Authority wouldn't allow it. For another, imagine the impact on Ford UK if it became known to the animal-loving population of these islands that the company enjoyed the idea of its products decapitating innocent moggies? In two shakes of a cat's tail there would be demonstrators in tea-cosy hats outside corporate HQ; slogans would be daubed on showroom windows; Ford dealers would be doorstepped in their homes by angry visitors; and innocent Ka drivers would find people hissing at them at traffic lights.
Until now, insofar as advertising agencies thought about the internet at all, they saw it as some kind of mutant, billion-channel TV. The infuriating banner ads which disfigure so many websites are a direct result of that mindset - the screen was treated as a kind of mini billboard, the only difference being that the specific ad placed on the board could be tailored to the known predilections of the user.
After banner ads came product- or launch-related websites, so what whenever a conventional advertising campaign was being designed, an accompanying website would be created at the same time. (BMW spoofed this beautifully on April 1, by the way: their full-page newspaper advertisement for their revolutionary new SHEF technology was accompanied by an equally funny site - www.anewwaytocook.co.uk)
But the SportKa decapitation ad does not follow this model. It does have a web link, but it displays nothing. So there's no visible target for 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' to complain to. Instead the ad circulates as an email attachment in the same way that jokes (and viruses) spread across the net.
This has two advantages. The first is that the ad stays focused on its target audience - young males with a taste for sick jokes - the kind of chaps who read Loaded and Nuts, and who might be tempted by the sporty version of Ford's oddly-shaped vehicle.
The second advantage is that because the ad circulates only among like-minded folks, the chances are that 'Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' will never get to see it -- and Ford's reputation as a family-friendly company can remain unscathed.
What we're looking at, in other words, is an ingenious application of 'viral marketing' - advertising that propagates itself. It was invented by Hotmail, which appended a footer to every message saying 'Get your free email from Hotmail'. The SportKa ad shows that viral marketing has reached a new low. If you have delicate sensibilities, prepare to be offended now.
