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Inspiration / You know you’re not the first

Advertising Agency : BBDO Athens, Greece.

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Author: Nikolay
Posted: 16th July 2008
Comment feed: RSS 2.0
Filed as: Advertising Print

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What do you think?

Glenn
16th Jul 2008
8:50 pm

Nice!

Stevo
16th Jul 2008
9:25 pm

Conjures up images of ’sloppy seconds’ and ’stirring the porridge’.
.

Robert F
16th Jul 2008
10:49 pm

I would take sloppy seconds or thirds with her any day… god that sounds wrong! hehe!

Chris
17th Jul 2008
9:04 am

’stirring the porridge’ – haha that sounds rancid!

matt mcarthur
17th Jul 2008
9:39 am

I can’t decide if this is really great or in really poor taste.

Sean
17th Jul 2008
9:47 am

Gives “The Ulitimate Driving Machine” a whole different meaning…

Gil
17th Jul 2008
10:15 am

This is like a bad advertising board room meeting – you know like the one in What Women Wants but on the flip side. I’m curling my toes and bitting my fist!

Ed
17th Jul 2008
10:18 am

I laughed at this too at first but on second thoughts this whole ad is pretty degrading for me. Imagine suggesting that you should see any girl the same way you see a used car! You’d expect a brand like BMW to have a bit more taste and respect. Poor taste vote for me!

Ed
17th Jul 2008
10:22 am

great post though nikolay

Nikolay
17th Jul 2008
11:08 am

Cheers Ed. It made his thing – A nice discussion.

Emma
17th Jul 2008
11:38 am

It also assumes it’s only men who buy BMWs. It totally objectifies the woman, reducing her to a possession that’s up for grabs for men to use as a commodity. I’m surprised it even got through.

matt mcarthur
17th Jul 2008
11:39 am

Heh – seems I should listen more to my own alarm bells

Agree it’s good to get people posting opinion, though.

I know nothing about what Greece and advertising in Greece is like – has this advert caused a similar stir over there?

Lou
17th Jul 2008
10:08 pm

bad or not, it fits in perfectly with Greek culture and lifestyle!

lex
17th Jul 2008
10:21 pm

This is obviously aimed at men. Not every ad has to hit every demo. It works beautifully… you know you aren’t the first… but being first doesn’t matter… and it doesn’t make you want the woman (or the car) any less…

In terms of objectifying the woman… welcome to 2008. Victoria’s Secret? Dolce & Gabbana? I’d argue one out of every four print ads objectifies something (typically women).

pablo
18th Jul 2008
1:07 am

Mercedes did the same advertising some years ago. Have to find an image/link. Only difference – it was black/white photography.

Natalie
25th Jul 2008
4:14 pm

For some reason, a lot of men think this a “great” ad. I don’t see anything great about it. Thank you to those of you who think this is really poor taste. It compares women to used cars. It doesn’t get much more degrading than that. If anyone else out there is appalled by this ad, please consider signing the following petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/33/petition-against-bmw-ad-that-degrades-women

-Natalie, nataliemacneil.blogspot.com

Sparticus
6th Aug 2008
9:25 pm

Its a brilliant add, your just looking to deeply into it.

Ricardo
7th Aug 2008
4:36 pm

I agree with the last comment. The majority is taking this to seriously! And in the end I think the ad is flattering to women.

Follow my thought: if you look at a very beautiful woman (and you are not too naif) you know she’s not virgin and overall you also don’t care.

Same thing with the ultimate driving machine: you’re so happy to have one that you don’t care you are the first one inside.

It would work exactly the same with a male model.

roadnottaken
10th Aug 2008
6:48 am

That’s definitely the first – and main – impression I got: pretty girl as used goods :-<

It could also be read other, more amusing ways:
* you’re not the first to screw her in this BMW (she has already used it for that)
* you may be with her, but you’re not the first on her list – she loves her BMW more, so accept that when you’re with her
* you’re not the first in line to want to screw her, so go buy yourself a BMW instead. Get a used one, because the guy who IS first in line has a new one, and you might as well not bother spending the extra $$$ because you don’t deserve it.

But they most likely intended it to be read the first way.

Courtney Davis
25th Sep 2008
9:21 am

This is such a terrible ad, we were motivated to write an entire company blog post on how this fails on many levels.

http://musecommunication.blogspot.com/2008/07/wanted-second-hand-woman-for-sheer.html

Joseph Maguire
7th Nov 2008
10:03 pm

This didn’t fail. I don’t think I’d say it succeeded either. In fact I would say this screwed with brand perception of BMW and at the same time got publicity. Look at all of you enraged that is good for short term that’s free press. That’s Return on investment. Saying is the demographic all men… No of course not. This ad is elitist and sexest, and presents the brand of BMW for people who think they deserve to be at the front of the line because they can afford it. It’s annoying & degrading. but that’s why your pissed.

Regardless of the people who are ethically correct in saying this ad is so 1980s, a selfish bloke who hears this story second hand well he just laughed and thought to himself oh I get it. It’s not right or ethical but its advertising. And I say good job stirring up the pot BMW, but -1 to your brand perception.

Fawzi
5th Apr 2009
3:45 pm

Guys,

anyone knows the name of this lady?

Jayne 13
21st Aug 2009
5:16 am

Thank you Matt McArthur and for the few other men posting here that can see this for what it is and rise above. The world could use a few more thinkers like you…

Alex
21st Aug 2009
9:15 am

Lazy & degrading.

Shit advertising using not-very-clever tactics to get airtime. Would prefer to see less of this on here.

Martin B
21st Aug 2009
10:45 am

It’s not big, it’s not clever, and it’s surely far too lame to actually be considered offensive. I’m pretty sure I know exactly who’s responsible for this ad…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F0UsqnuBss

ShadowPhoenix82
25th Aug 2009
5:32 pm

I feel many people are perceiving the ad\’s intended message conversely. The intention is not to reduce the woman\’s value to that of a used car, but to increase the car\’s value to that of a desirable woman. You\’re all assuming that BMW thinks their used cars are crap, and they don\’t. They truly don\’t, according to this. If any of you are married, it\’s very possible that you found that person after you and they have separately been through the ups and down of various relationships, and those experiences shaped you both into what you are. You probably don\’t love your mate any less for that week spent in jail during college or that drunken threesome that happened at a Christmas party years before you met. Despite that stuff, your lover retains it\’s value, and BMW was trying to evoke the same feeling of unconditional desire to their cars. Sure, you\’re not the first driver, but even after five years on the road and a few previous owners, the sound of its engine and the feels of its seat surrounding you still brings a smile to your face and a rush of first love excitement.

Even if it\’s not the first for the car.

Of course, in ads, all this has to be conveyed as simply and quickly as possible so…they went the the simple phrase and the single picture they chose. They\’re implying that the woman pictured has experience, has baggage, but when you look at her and when you\’re with her all you perceive is beauty and pleasure, and BMW hoped that you would feel the same when looking at their used car line, respecting and desiring it as much as you might any of their new cars.

So, if you don\’t like the way the ad makes you feel, that\’s understandable. But that\’s no one\’s fault. Don\’t blame BMW and say it is not an intelligent ad. It\’s just that as humans we are all so varied and unique that any simple advertisement cannot hope to always inspire everyone. But for those that understand and appreciate the message of this ad, they are no more deserving of insult than BMW or those who do not appreciate this ad are.

Martin B
26th Aug 2009
12:03 pm

Oh dear, oh dear. No amount of marketing-speak will change this advert, its connotations, or its perception. Let’s break down this image properly…

- It’s a naked woman, who by the looks of the photo is in a compromising situation.

- It’s an advert for BMW.

- So it compares a car that a man would want to drive, to a woman that he would want to “ride”, and then attempts to qualify this comparison with a tagline eluding to fact that someone else might have done this before him.

Simple as that. Dated, not very creative, and pretty embarrassing for BMW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtoyLPROLZI

Kat
29th Oct 2009
3:24 pm

My main problem with this ad is that the girl looks 12 years old.

Mike
5th Dec 2009
10:23 pm

I agree that this is in poor taste. At first I thought it was a great ad until I read the caption. She is very beautiful, like a nice BMW is beutiful, but I personally do not like to look down at a beutiful woman I am in bed with and think about the fact that she may have been with other men. Not that I am all purest and think every woman I am with should be a virgin or anything. I also agree that it is putting a woman into the possesion category and that too is disgusting.

Beutiful women in car ads are perfectly appropriate in my opinion. Good looking men in a car ad is also perfectly acceptable… with or without clothes, either gender… but the caption totally ruins what could have been a great ad without any caption. A good caption could have been “Impress her even more than you do today…” — which would have appealed to a man wanting to feel like he pleases a woman in and out of the bedroom.

bloke
12th Jan 2010
1:27 pm

Ladies. You’ve been ‘had’ by a photoshopped joke ad.

‘Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding an advertisement you have seen online.

After consultation with our Advertising Department, I can assure you that this advertisement has no direct affiliation with BMW. We understand your sentiments and we as a company would not endorse such an advertisement.

The BMW Logo has been used for fraudulent purposes and the details have been passed to the relevant department.

I am sorry that you have had cause to contact us under these circumstances and for any upset that this has caused.

Yours sincerely

BMW Group UK’