There is a popular song by Janis Joplin called Mercedes Benz that the eponymous car manufacturer famously used in their advertising a few years back. The irony of using this song was probably lost on a large amount of the viewing and listening public, as the song is actually decrying capitalism as a modern day replacement for spirituality and the need for possessions seems to be outweighing the need for a higher purposes in society’s lives.
Nevertheless, the campaign proved to be a huge success and shifted a great many number of Mercedes Benz vehicles, much to the happiness of the executives who obviously chose the marketing campaign. Around the time that this campaign was aired, I too bought a Used Mercedes Benz and it got me thinking; even though I consider myself to be able to see through television and radio advertising, how much of it has actually affected me over my lifetime.
The car industry has always used advertising to add dimensions of excitement, prestige or performance, even to the dullest cars. In the 1970’s some truly awful British cars like the Austin Maxi were draped with supermodels of the day in a desperate attempt to make what was for all intents and purposes a very cheap and nasty car look glamorous. The question is; did it work?
It is hard to tell by sales figures, but all I know is that when the aforementioned Janis Joplin song got stuck in my head, there seemed to be an inevitability that I would invest in a Used Mercedes-Benz. Maybe it’s time that we all considered how powerful advertising can be and how it affects our everyday choices such as car buying.
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Automotive November 8th 2009
