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Renault’s “We Live In Modern Times” series of ads for its Twingo subcompact were a favorite at TTAC’s “Shameless Sexual Exploitation Weekend,” but it’s this Italian Twingo ad that has the French automaker back in the news. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has banned this Publicis-produced spot from both state-owned RAI television and his own Mediaset broadcasting empire, for its overt use of lesbian themes. It’s not clear exactly what motivated Berlusconi’s decision, but for a guy who is now most famous for his “bunga-bunga” group sex parties and underage girlfriends, it’s one hell of a hypocritical move.
22 Comments on “The Renault Twingo Ad Silvio Berlusconi Doesn’t Want You To See...”
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Cute ad, but the other eye catcher is the price at the end: 7950 Euro. And please don’t anyone try to convert that to dollars using the current exchange rate . Europeans get paid in Euros, and 7950 of them is cheap, especially considering that it includes 19% VAT. Take that out and it’s 6440 Euros. What can we buy new with 6440 dollars? (the effective purchasing power exchange rate for the euro and dollar is about one to one).
So much for expensive European cars.
Wow, it even comes with A/C. What’s the cheapest new car in the US that comes with A/C standard?
Well, it’s built in Slovenia and powered by a 1.2L hamster. What would you expect?
I wonder if car buyers in the US would be more accepting of cars like the basic Twingo if their disposable income was closer to that of the French. Too frequent and too expensive car purchases are one of the ways that we fritter away our income with not much to show for it.
especially considering that it includes 19% VAT. Take that out and it’s 6440 Euros. What can we buy new with 6440.
I think you may not quite understand what a VAT is and how it’s administered.
“A value added tax (VAT) is a form of consumption tax. It is a tax on the “value added” to a product or material, from an accounting view, at each stage of its manufacture or distribution. The “value added” to a product by a business is the sale price charged to its customer, minus the cost of materials and other taxable inputs. A VAT is like a sales tax in that ultimately only the end consumer is taxed. It differs from the sales tax in that, with the latter, the tax is collected and remitted to the government only once, at the point of purchase by the end consumer.”
jmo, thank you for posting, but what would your point be exactly?
I think what Paul says is certainly of import. For example, I as a businessman can immediately offset 50% of the VAT when I buy a car. Net prices are important. Especially on a continent in which in some cohorts around 50% of car sales are to business people.
That (starting) price and they have the option of a half dozen or more engines – including diesel – and transmissions. What the hell is wrong with the US sales model? An article for the new C-Max indicates we will only have two engine options and no manual when it goes on sale here. I shudder to think what kind of a mess the hot Focus will be when it goes on sale here, probably three years after a successful version is available to the rest of the world, including Mexico.
This ad works for lesbians AND straight males!
But what about lesbian males?
That is too hot! Not sure about the Twingo though regardless of the price. And I am just a lesbian stuck in a man’s body……
Not bad, but could have been a better ad if they used two of Berlusconi’s girlfriends in the ad.
Promise sex, get a car. That works for lesbians, too. WOW
OT, but is anyone who doesn’t use third party blocking programs receiving a pop-up survey here on TTAC?
It doesn’t surprise me since 90% of the populations are Catholic. I do agree it is double standard.
I’m surprised. Being mostly Catholic didn’t stop far racier material from showing up on Italian TV before, often during prime time. Heck, from what I can tell, official Church policy encourages the production of more Catholics at every opportunity.
Mind you, perhaps it’s the not sexuality as much as it’s two attractive women who are off the market?
A very cute ad and I see nothing intrinsically wrong with it in any way, shape or form other than it shows what looks like 2 Lesbians doing it and one steals the others clothes and drives off in the Twingo. It may well be two Lesbians being depicted, but in the end, a bit of a double standard I would agree and like I said, a cute ad in and of itself but then again, I have no problems with gay subtext anyway.
And really, this isn’t even about SEX to begin with, suggestive, yes, but no sex takes place, really so I see no harm at all here to get all riled up about.
A couple of hot girls always make a great ad, lesbians or not. Put Rosie O’Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres in this ad and suddenly there’s nothing cute about it…
19% VAT is pretty much cheap as compared to what the Danes pay. The minimum VAT is 180% and maximium at 500%. The distributors in Denmark priced them as cheaply as possible to attract the buyers who might be doomed to riding the public transportation for eternity.
For the sake of simplicity, I selected the standard Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic Station Wagon (same model sold in the USA, too). This model would set you back 385,886 Danish Krones (about $68,200) before 180% tax. With 180% tax, expect to pay 1,040,600 Danish Krones (about $183,904) in total for that nice piece of German engineering and to induce the intense jealousy amongst the Jones in your neighbourhood.
http://www2.mercedes-benz.dk/content/media_library/denmark/passenger_cars/products/priser/w212benzin.object-Single-MEDIA.download.tmp/E-Klasse%20prisliste%20-%2001.10.2010%20-%20Model%C3%A5r%202011.pdf
Martin, Oliver – I’m not sure you are accurately portraying what VAT is really all about. If you run a business and buy a vehicle, you pay 100% of that VAT. However, you get to reclaim 100% of the value of that tax on your next return, so effectively, the purchase price is NET of VAT. Individual consumers have to pay 100% of the VAT and have no opportunity to reclaim it. It’s simple – if you add value, then you don’t pay, if you don’t add value, you pay.
There are other taxes in different countries in Europe when buying a new vehicle (or when registering a new or second-hand vehicle). These taxes often reflect national policies, either with regards to fuel types, environmental issues, wealth redistribution etc. So in some countries, like Denmark or the Netherlands for example, the purchase price of the vehicle is hit with an enormous one off sales tax. “You want to run that things on the road, you have to pay a big tax hit as part of your social responsbility”. This is NOT VAT.
As to the affordability of the vehicle, well to put it in perspective, according to the European Union statistics unit (http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=nama_gdp_c&lang=en) the GDP for the 15 main EU countries was on average in 2009, 27,500 EUR (in France it is 29,600 EUR, Italy 25,200, Germany 29,300 and UK equivalent 25,300). So 7,950EUR is a great price for a new car. Cheers.
The German words for VAT is MwSt. (Mehrwertsteuer) which is at 19%.
http://www.dict.cc/?s=mwst
http://pda.leo.org/?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&relink=off§Hdr=on&spellToler=&search=mwst
There are two types of VAT: “output VAT” which the customers or end users pay and “input VAT” which applies to Business-to-Business (B2B).
You DO get the full VAT exemption in Germany when you prove that you are not citizen in any of EU member states and when you export the car out of EU.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Germany#Exemptions_2
http://www.wiesbaden.army.mil/sites/mwr/value_added_tax_offices.asp
Berlusconi’s outrage is well founded – after all, a theft is depicted :-)
Anyone else really want a Renault now?
An unbelievably stupid car commercial. Hot and sexy? You bet! Nothing to do with the damn car though. Twingo? What – it has absolutely nothing to say about itself as a vehicle worth buying?
Stupid. Radically stupid.