Today, “Italian automaker Fiat rolled out an introspective 90-second video for its new Panda compact car on the internet,” says Reuters. The wire claims that the ad is “aimed at tapping into the austerity zeitgeist.”
The commercial is inspired by last year`s “Imported from Detroit” ad that struck a chord with American buyers who want the good times to be rolling again. Now, Fiat wants to do a repeat in Italy. Says Reuters:
“The Italian-language ad is set at Fiat’s Pomigliano car factory near Naples, one of Italy’s poorest areas and its themes mirror the challenges faced by Prime Minister Mario Monti’s government as it begins talks about reforming a rigid labor market, a key part of Monti’s “Save Italy” program designed to rescue the country from a European debt crisis.
The ad plays more like a political manifesto than a TV spot selling cars, but has been created for the launch of the new Panda across Italian dealers this week.”
Let’s see whether the enthusiasm in Italy will be is as high as in America after last year’s Super Bowl.
Reuters has its doubts:
“On Monday, truckers blocked roads throughout Italy and taxi drivers resumed a strike as opposition mounted to government efforts to deregulate protected sectors of the economy.”
“Fiat brand chief Olivier Francois was responsible for the award-winning Detroit ad. While Francois’ advertising touch has proved sure in the past, Fiat’s often bitter struggle to get unions on board with its efficiency drive has brought sharp criticism in Italy.”
I thought the U.S. version was bs, but maybe because I’m not Italian, this ad struck a chord with me and made me want go out and buy an Italian-made Panda.
Devastating kitsch, Italian style. Almost disgusting, this preposterous sobriety in context with a FIAT Panda. “Tolle Kiste” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fiat_panda_1_h_sst.jpg) is definitely dead.
Nice try by Olivier Francois, but the proponents of the other “Italies” mentioned may have a problem with the choice of a nose-to-the-grindstone industrial one. Too many will ask, “why can’t we still be ALL of them?” The bottom line for any car ad is, does it sell the car? We’ll have to wait to see if this ad sells Pandas.
It does sound like a political commercial. Who knows, it could help to polarize views and inflame the divisions between the old, coddled ways and what is needed to meet world competition, improve productivity, and pay off debt – not that it’s going to stop happening regardless of this ad or not.
What is ironic is that Germany and France are leading the way to impose their views on fiscal management and handling of the economy on everyone else, especially those in trouble like Italy. It’s rather the opposite of what the ad states.