Audi ad - girl eating banana

I was open mouthed in astonishment when I read the tag line.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter

I would have thought so too. However, in Covid times where people might be all remote there may be either some misunderstandings or more likely usual checks and balances missed. Or it could be someone walking a fine line that has been crossed.

Oh, I've also worked in advertising and nothing is left to chance, every detail required stupid amount of meetings. This wasn't a rookie mistake by an intern.

It's definitely dodgy.

But then this is also Audi just 3 years ago:

www.bbc.com/news/amp/business-40652112

Because of the number of complaints they have now dropped this ad!

" ... The firm says it is now investigating how the ad came to be published. ... "

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53648638

It's gross, even if the message was supposed to be about the sensors (in which case it's still reckless and inappropriate); why is she dressed like that an eating a banana? Glad it's been pulled, sad that anyone thought it was a good idea.

MAPs gonna do, it seems!

Mainly normalising MAP itself!

I was expecting this to be a massive overreaction but no, that’s genuinely awful. I agree that it’s got to be deliberate, no way did that get through all those meetings and execs without someone going “hang on folks, are we sure this sense the right message?”

Is that really an animal print dress? It looks just like small splodges of various colours to me.

What worries me most is how many people must have signed off this advert, from concept through to picking the child model, to sign off of the final image. Did none of them think, "Hang on? Is this really what we want to be aligned with?"?

It's a sports car. They aren't promoting how well child seats fit in the back so no requirement for a child in the advert. Especially not one eating a banana in animal print dress.
Disgusting.

I agree @Lettera.

If Audi would like an uptick in purchases from 21st century women - and hopefully men - how about showing the whole family in overalls giving the car an overhaul - you know all the practical stuff one should be able to do like change a tyre, check oil levels etc, as a normal family experience?

That's if you have to do anything with this sort of car - many of my driving friends grumble about how everything is now so computerized they have to pay an arm and a leg at an official outlet to deal with routine glitches.

Oh the joy of the modern world....... as soon as they invent time travel, I'm going backwards. I'm just not wired for the current speed of "progress"......

Yuk.

Especially so as there have been decades of research done into symbolism and subliminal pokes in the name of marketing - look up Edward Bernays for starters. Sex sells has always been a keystone of marketing, especially of high end merch. In this day and age an ad like this has either been put together by someone with no knowledge of marketing or else the slow creep of boundary pushing is hitting harder.

Back in the olden days, when we occasionally went to the picture house, watching the adverts and trying to guess what they were actually FOR before the big reveal was a favourite game of ours - "Scantily clad woman, wild weather, luxurious apartment, pretty boy - usually perfume or sunglasses...."

emissions

It was an intentional marketing ploy that worked. Awful. It hasn't worked on everyone though. I wouldn't buy an Audi after that ad. Isn't Audi part of the same group that cheated on omissions?

I think it’s entirely deliberate. It is after all just an image of a girl leaning on a car with a banana, but it can entirely be taken another way too. People will complain, free publicity, and hell we have even gotten into discussion of the finer points of the safety features on the vehicle! Job done from Audi’s pov, wether they take the ad down or not...

LizzieMacQueen: Sensors would pick her up before mum or dad ran her over

Safety and warning devices like that work perfectly, until the day you need them.

So old-fashioned, a red car. Have the gonks at Audi not noticed that the in-colour for cars this year is blue (many different shades of it, but blue)?

Wasn't that the point they were trying to emphasise, safety. Sensors would pick her up before mum or dad ran her over.

They discussed it on Jeremy Vine Ch5 this morning. I think it has been pulled now.

Apart from being inappropriate, it just doesn't make any sense. Someone thought this up and others agreed it was a good idea. I just can't believe someone didn't say "this is inappropriate and WTF has it got to do with cars?!".

Strikes me as a dangerous place for a short person to stand.

It did seem off.