Thanks to our new feature– What Wrong With This Picture (3WTP)– I am trained in the fine art of anomaly spotting. So when I saw this Autobloggreen (ABG) photo of Emmy Rossum filling-up her Blue Tec Merc with diesel, the cognitive dissonance nearly deafened me. First, check the posture. Emmy’s feet are way too close together for proper pumping. Second, the shoes. Have you ever tried driving an SUV in high heels? (Trust me, it’s not a good idea.) Third, why is she looking at the pump? I highly doubt she’s worried about the price. And if she was worried about nozzle blowback, she’d already be standing away from the vehicle. And then there’s the photog’s reflection. Only professional photogs assume that kind of contorted position, or use such a huge aperture (the camera). And so I read the text, which seemed to indicate that this is some kind of trend: celebs ditching Priora for Mercedes BlueTec diesel SUVs. Which makes no sense whatsoever. “Recently the likes of Naomi Watts, Kyle MacLachlan and Gary Oldman have been turning up driving Mercedes-Benz BlueTec diesels like the ML320 and E320. While these vehicles are not in the same green class as the Toyota, the do offer the other attributes of a Benz with much better fuel efficiency than gasoline-powered alternatives.” Which sounds an awful lot like PR copy to me…
After ABG’s jump, we get the press release, the whole press release and nothing but the whole press release.
“My ML320 BlueTEC has all the power and luxury you’d expect of a Mercedes-Benz, plus the efficiency and low environmental impact of an economy or even hybrid vehicle,” says Emmy Rossum. “BlueTEC really is the best of both worlds.” Also from the world of music, pop superstar Gwen Stefani and her husband, musician Gavin Rossdale, have a BlueTEC parked in their driveway, as does singer Josh Kelley (husband of “Grey’s Anatomy” star Katherine Heigl).”
OK, so the only “mystery:” does either ABG or Mercedes acknowledge the fact that they actually GAVE these (and the other) celebs the vehicles to drive. Are you kidding? Shame on ABG. And shame on us. But at least we can see beyond the crumpet to this little tidbit: “The term ‘BlueTEC’ is derived from the revolutionary AdBlue process that injects a reducing agent in the vehicle’s exhaust line, thereby clearly reducing emissions.” Urea anyone? As in…
The fundamental fail in the photo seems to be that she has put the green (unleaded) nozzle into a Diesel SUV instead of the black (Diesel) one.
Edit : Ahh, I see – in the US the colours are different.
It’s really too bad nobody seems to acknowledge the environmental cost of frequently changing out the celebs eco-mobiles to suit the current trends. Not to mention the lifestyle of wretched excess… Good role models!
“Have you ever tried driving an SUV in high heels? (Trust me, it’s not a good idea.)”————Is there something we should know about you Roberta.
The PR spend for “Green” surely exceeds the actual direct private sector investment.
And just a splash of pragmatism –
The Federal tax credit on the Merc is still valid and the commuter lane sticker may now be available for the MercBT. No mas for the Prius.
Besides, in Hollywood, only the hired help are forced to luxuriate in the hair shirt comfort of the econobox hybrid.
She needs a ham sandwich not a diesel car. Too skinny for me.
Another problem with the photo … the passenger side door is open in a way that makes it look like Emmy has just gotten out from that side. What self respecting driver pulls up to the pump and says “Emmy, hon, would you mind filling up our ride, I’m going to use the powder room.”
Another give away: Those are manufacturer/distributor special license plates, not standard California mortals-paid-for-this plates.
Is it just me or is the scale seem wrong? It looks like she has “man-hands.”
Obviously, that’s a PR stunt. But I don’t see a bigger problem there. Those people who buy a car because some TV starlet drives it deserve this.
Is it just me or is the scale seem wrong? It looks like she has “man-hands.”
I think it’s more due to the fact that she has “child-arms”
Wow, I had to look Emmy Rossum up. She was born a year after my ’85 Jetta was built. Anyway, there’s no way she’s actually pumping diesel. That has to be Photoshopped. Even commoners like me either wear gloves, or wrap a lot of paper towels around the diesel pump when I fill up my Jetta.
With that being said, I bet there’s lots of room to stretch her out in that thing. But before we do that, she’s going to have to wash the the diesel smell off her hands.
As much as I’m a VW diesel fan, I really don’t see the point of the Mercedes SUV diesels. But I guess Mercedes can probably recoup their investment by selling enough of them to rich celebrities.
“My ML320 BlueTEC has all the power and luxury you’d expect of a Mercedes-Benz, plus the efficiency and low environmental impact of an economy or even hybrid vehicle,” says Emmy Rossum.
Exactly WHO talks like that?
Also, +1 on the need for a ham sandwich. Her legs are like my arms…
Ah, yes, the delusional world of Hollywood.
Whereas somebody looking to make SENSE of driving a diesel would opt for the non-urea-mandated Jetta TDI, which actually GETS reasonable fuel economy, let us not forget it’s image – or nothing at all.
The Prius let people know you were driving a Hybrid (because why on earth would a celebutante want to be seen driving a compact car???). Since nobody builds a diesel with a unique body – well hell – it may as well be a Benz. And an SUV at that.
Saving the world – my ass. And they can take their PR sound clips and stick them up theirs, respectively.
John Horner : Another give away: Those are manufacturer/distributor special license plates, not standard California mortals-paid-for-this plates.
Good eye, and that’s all the proof I needed. PR stunt indeed.
Speaking of California plates: there was also a E320 BlueTec in a recent Alanis Morisette video, where she was harassing poor people in an old Ford Bronco and giving props to the rich R&B singer in the Benz. The Benz had a vanity plate that said “BLUETEC” and the director placed it front and center so everyone knew the Merc has green cred.
Shameful, really.
I’m not a professional photographer, but I have shot a few weddings and done some portraits. I don’t see anything “contorted” about the photographer’s position at all. It looks like he is bent over and squatting a bit, but there is nothing unusual about that.
Also, I don’t see where it looks like the photographer is using a huge aperture. I assume by “huge” you mean “wide open” which lets in the most light. This also limits the depth of field (the amount of the picture that is in focus from front to back). When a lens is “wide open”, the background is out of focus (a good thing for portraits in most cases). It looks to me like most of the background is in focus indicating a small aperture.
As to her looking at the pump, maybe she was topping off and was trying to hit an even number- I think some people are very anal about that.
I do think ABG should have mentioned that Benz gave them the vehicles to use – that’s just plain old disclosure.
Robert… you should become familiar with the term “fauxtography“. There are lots of bloggers who love exposing instances of fauxtography in the news.
Now… on to these “fauxtographs”.
The second photo with Kyle shows $4.55/gal for diesel, $4.19/gal for premium unleaded, $3.79 for the cheapest petrol. Those were peak fuel prices.
To fill those bad boys up at that time would cost over $80. Ouch!
So based on that… I reckon that the photo was taken about September 2008. Sounds like the time when SUV were looking like dinosaurs. Just the right time for SUV makers to try to spin the story on big diesel SUV’s.
A couple of other things… both cars come from the same dealership.
Why isn’t Kyle squeezing the pump? Doesn’t he know that you you have to squeeze the handle to get the fuel in to the car?
Does anyone actually know of a gas station that sells diesel near Beverly Hills?
I don’t see anything “contorted” about the photographer’s position at all.
If he wasn’t a pro, he’d be taking the shot with a cellphone and standing up straight like a normal human being.
Just because Mercedes took the pictures doesn’t mean that they paid for the vehicles. These are not the same kind of distributor plates I’ve seen from California-registered cars, which usually have a much lower registration number (for example, a Pathfinder I tested a few weeks ago was # 562): http://www.autosavant.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/img_0963.jpg
And assuming that M-B did pay for these vehicles (absent any concrete evidence), why would a celeb want to drive around on a manufacturer plate instead of one that made it look like they actually, you know, owned the car? If it did have a distributor plate, it would tell me that it’s only a short term loan and that the vehicle has to go back to Mercedes-Benz at some point.
I thought that after Mystic River, we would see a lot more of Emmy Rossum. Where has she been?
And so I read the text, which seemed to indicate that this is some kind of trend: celebs ditching Priora for Mercedes BlueTec diesel SUVs. Which makes no sense whatsoever.
What do you mean? It makes perfect sense as long as you realize these environmentally “friendly” cars are all about PR for the celebs. Now they can get a comfortable car with the Mercedes name plate and all the trimmings while still claiming green cred. Of course they are going to do the switch from Prius Hybrid to Mercedes BluTech.
“Also, +1 on the need for a ham sandwich. Her legs are like my arms…”
Dude! You got some long-ass arms!
“My ML320 BlueTEC has all the power and luxury you’d expect of a Mercedes-Benz, plus the efficiency and low environmental impact of an economy or even hybrid vehicle,” says Emmy Rossum.
What’s impressive is not the BlueTec technology, but the fact that economy cars have become so expensive to buy and operate. The last time I looked into buying an economy car – which I admit was over two years ago – they did better than 18/24 mpg on the EPA test cycle and used far less than $50,000 worth of energy and resources to build. Boy, the times sure are changing! I wonder why they can’t make economy cars that cost less than $20,000 and get over 30 mpg on the EPA cycle anymore. Is it due to safety standards, changes to fuel economy test procedures, emissions standards, or what?
I thought that after Mystic River, we would see a lot more of Emmy Rossum. Where has she been?
Spending the last 5 years trying to eat a single ham sandwich.
You can see examples of California Manufacturer’s license plates about half way down this page:
http://dmv.ca.gov/pubs/plates/occupationalplates.htm
The key thing with these special plates is the row of small vertical characters at the sides. Normal plates only have large horizontally arranged characters.
The last time I checked there was not a kitchen at a gas station.
It would be nice for once if they used an actual human that will use the car in their everyday lifestyle for about 2-4weeks and then give a review. Not a ditsy anorexic model for 1 hour.