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Disgusting mercedes benz tv advert


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As title suggests ....anyone else shocked by the Mercedes Benz latest tv advert . Not one to get offended often .....but this wound me up ?

Not sure if i can upload video or pics here .....but i have enclosed an extract from my complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority below . Doubt it will do any good . 

I quote ......

 

My complaint relates to the implication of an unsuitable date for the lady in a dating situation , as he is cleansing his hands with a hand sanitizer. This is an act associated with extreme obsessive compulsive disorder a mental illness and its inclusion as a topic for advertising is highly offensive on so many levels. As the gentleman is branded  an unsuitable date as a result of his handwashing actions . How dare the people who wrote the advert think it acceptable to brand this disability in this way ! It only goes to add to the stigma faced everyday by sufferers like myself. Its like wheeling a man in in a wheelchair  and the lady shaking her head and branding him an unsuitable date. Highly offensive and deeply inappropriate. Such a disappointment. 

 

Anyone else offended or just me ? I guess its hard for people to comment if they havent seen the actual advert . But it features a woman looking for a date and the man cleansing his hands is discarded as unsuitable for that action as the woman raises her eyebrows and eventually gets her desirable man and car . Really bad taste ?

Edited by Eddy
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There is a video called 'Mercedes Benz Perfect Match' on YouTube, I think you're referring to that. 

I think it is disappointing to see a person preoccupied with handwahsing/cleanliness included as an oddity worthy of rejection. 

Although it is intended as humour, I think it is clumsy work, and lacks empathy. 

Assuming Mercedes do recruit graduate level marketing and advertsing people (which I'd guess they do), it could be that too many universities make it too easy to pass such courses, without a thorough understanding of how 'ethics and empathy' applies to marketing and advertising (if indeed they do bother to cover it at all). Too many universities with low graduation standards in my view. 

It's clumsy. Unfortunately I think they're not the only company totally oblivious to the illness. Hopefully it will change over time. 

 

Edited by DC82
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Yes i think thats the one thanks DC82 .Thank you !  I have seen the shortened version on tv last friday and it made me so cross. Thanks for your response anyway . I managed to get an apology from Mercedes and told they will comply fully with the ASA requests . I have also contacted the actual advert makers to talk to them about it . No response yet , but i only did it last night. 

Like i say I am not easily offended ...but for some reason this advert disheartened me , having spent over 15 yrs of my life trying to work with media organisations  to dispel stigma that goes around , you realise there is still so much to be done when stuff like this goes out .

i appreciate your thoughts and do thank you for taking the time to respond with an interesting post . Thank you ? 

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There's a lot of media misuse of OCD and I am the first to call it out, but this one wasn't specifically suggesting the person had OCD from what I could tell. So whilst clumsy as DC82 suggests I didn't think it was specifically saying this gentleman has OCD?  

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The chap is squirting his hands at a table with anti bac ....then rubbing them together several times , where they are covered in the stuff dripping . The lady looks at his hands soaking wet at the dinner table , raises an eyebrow and moves onto the next date on her phone ap. 

Its not a far cry from suggesting ocd in my mind , and i am pretty sure it was in theirs too ?  I dont really know any other groups of people who do that in that situation ?‍♀️

What other explanation could there be ? 

Anyway, rather than us two debate it out...... its been reported now and there has been an apology . So we can just see what the ASA says . I reported it in a nice way so no harm done . 

Good that we are all working together to raise awareness. Its a tough slog ....but we’ll get there in the end ?

Apologies if I don’t get chance to answer the thread again , so busy at the mo , its chaos . 

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I’m trying to upload photos Bristol Chris but its too technical and i dont have time at the mo ....just on way to London .

No its not moisturiser....you cant squirt that as he does .....its clear liquid , and moisturiser never comes as that . 

At the same time as him doing it , the words of the song on the TV advert says ‘ Yeah just all the time ‘ . So i am not certain , but i’m thinking its deffo not moisturiser 

No offence buddy ...just my thoughts . I respect your thoughts too though ....just in a rush so apologies if i came across as impolite ?

Edited by Eddy
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Sorry cant upload any pics ....thanks for your thoughts folks anyway .

Need to shoot off now , and wont be able to reply sorry . Take care everyone ?

Edited by Eddy
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2 hours ago, Eddy said:

I’m trying to upload photos Bristol Chris but its too technical and i dont have time at the mo ....just on way to London .

No its not moisturiser....you cant squirt that as he does .....its clear liquid , and moisturiser never comes as that . 

At the same time as him doing it , the words of the song on the TV advert says ‘ Yeah just all the time ‘ . So i am not certain , but i’m thinking its deffo not moisturiser 

No offence buddy ...just my thoughts . I respect your thoughts too though ....just in a rush so apologies if i came across as impolite ?

Hi eddy. Funnily enough I saw the advert after I replied. You are right it's not moisturizer but I think it is more of a joke not aimed at people with ocd but men who are a bit feminine.  He is smiling while he is doing it. You may be right but personally I don't think it is aimed at people with ocd. 

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Just had a quick look at the advert on YouTube. The man actually smells his hand after putting on the liquid, I missed that before. I definitly think in my opinion it is more of a reference to men who are feminine not an ocd reference. 

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4 hours ago, BristolChris said:

Hi eddy. Funnily enough I saw the advert after I replied. You are right it's not moisturizer but I think it is more of a joke not aimed at people with ocd but men who are a bit feminine.  He is smiling while he is doing it. You may be right but personally I don't think it is aimed at people with ocd. 

I think it shows a man using excessive amounts of, what looks like, antibacterial hand wash. He then smells his hands. I think that type of behaviour is more closely linked with OCD than with being feminine. But it's ambiguous; intention and interpretation are different things. 

I personally think it is a ridiculous (albeit brief) portrayal of OCD - combined with (if the person is intended to be feminine as people here suggest) the daft idea that personal hygiene/cleanliness/cleaning is a feminine activity.

My impression is that they combine these insensitivies/assumptions together. 

Showing a feminine man (if you agree he was) with a disorder (of any type, physical or psychological) being rejected - is confusing to viewers.

It is not clear what Mercedes Benz are trying to say, but it appeared the man's characteristics and/or behaviours were not appealing to the lady, and he was 'dumped' on that basis (we have no more information about the dates). I'm not sure if they have purposely used ambiguity to their advantage or not. 

I could imagine how this would be a kick in the teeth for people who have struggled with the psychological fatigue and exhaustion of excessive handwashing and cleanliness. To see someone rejected so swiftly for washing hands excessively (or for being feminine for that matter - if indeed he was meant to be feminine) doesn't make me feel great. 

Everyone has their own sense of humour - I didn't like it, I thought it was too personal. 

Like I say, I think it was a clumsy advert and I'm glad they apologized. 

Edited by DC82
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I watched the advert and i think it is hand sanitiser - that said I don't think this necessarily implies ocd. More fussiness I guess? I mean you wouldn't assume that if an advert implied someone was dieting that it was making fun of anorexia. There was no context to suggest the man was experiencing anxiety or that he was suffering from a disorder. If that makes any sense. It's a lazy advert yes but most advertising is laziness and employs some stereotype or another. 

 

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2 hours ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

I watched the advert and i think it is hand sanitiser - that said I don't think this necessarily implies ocd. More fussiness I guess? I mean you wouldn't assume that if an advert implied someone was dieting that it was making fun of anorexia. 

It wasn't a person sanitizing their hands at a dinner table, or regular fussiness. It was a person 'excessively' sanitizing their hands at a dinner table. Sanitizing hands at a dinner table per se, wouldn't suggest OCD to me. 

Just as regular dieting isn't the same as anorexia, and wouldn't in itself imply anorexia. 

I'm not massively annoyed by it; I don't have much confidence in advertisers to play fair anyway. But I think in this case, Mercedes have got away with it. 

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4 hours ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

I watched the advert and i think it is hand sanitiser - that said I don't think this necessarily implies ocd. More fussiness I guess? I mean you wouldn't assume that if an advert implied someone was dieting that it was making fun of anorexia. There was no context to suggest the man was experiencing anxiety or that he was suffering from a disorder. If that makes any sense. It's a lazy advert yes but most advertising is laziness and employs some stereotype or another. 

 

 

13 hours ago, DC82 said:

I think it shows a man using excessive amounts of, what looks like, antibacterial hand wash. He then smells his hands. I think that type of behaviour is more closely linked with OCD than with being feminine. But it's ambiguous; intention and interpretation are different things. 

I personally think it is a ridiculous (albeit brief) portrayal of OCD - combined with (if the person is intended to be feminine as people here suggest) the daft idea that personal hygiene/cleanliness/cleaning is a feminine activity.

My impression is that they combine these insensitivies/assumptions together. 

Showing a feminine man (if you agree he was) with a disorder (of any type, physical or psychological) being rejected - is confusing to viewers.

It is not clear what Mercedes Benz are trying to say, but it appeared the man's characteristics and/or behaviours were not appealing to the lady, and he was 'dumped' on that basis (we have no more information about the dates). I'm not sure if they have purposely used ambiguity to their advantage or not. 

I could imagine how this would be a kick in the teeth for people who have struggled with the psychological fatigue and exhaustion of excessive handwashing and cleanliness. To see someone rejected so swiftly for washing hands excessively (or for being feminine for that matter - if indeed he was meant to be feminine) doesn't make me feel great. 

Everyone has their own sense of humour - I didn't like it, I thought it was too personal. 

Like I say, I think it was a clumsy advert and I'm glad they apologized. 

In the advert he is smiling and not in distress. As I said it may be implying OCD but it is ambiguous and I really don't think we can say definitely.

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7 minutes ago, BristolChris said:

the advert he is smiling and not in distress. As I said it may be implying OCD but it is ambiguous and I really don't think we can say definitely

Agree, too ambiguous to say definitely.

However, the person smiling and not appearing in distress doesn't mean it isn't portraying obsessive or excessive hand cleaning. 

Anyway, the first poster recieved an apology from the company - so at least they acknowledged it could have been interpreted as the first poster described. It's a good sign that companies are willing to listen. 

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21 minutes ago, DC82 said:

Agree, too ambiguous to say definitely.

However, the person smiling and not appearing in distress doesn't mean it isn't portraying obsessive or excessive hand cleaning. 

Anyway, the first poster recieved an apology from the company - so at least they acknowledged it could have been interpreted as the first poster described. It's a good sign that companies are willing to listen. 

Well that's good that he received an apology. It is a very difficult question for me. Where do we draw the line with things that the media shouldn't do and where does it become to politically correct. I'm not sure what the answer is personally

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8 hours ago, gingerbreadgirl said:

I don't think this necessarily implies ocd.

Exactly, so I would certainly not call the advert 'disgusting'. Lazy is a good word that a few of you have used, but it doesn't imply OCD at all, unless you're looking for OCD. 

There are more obvious failures to apply disgusting to. Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners is one example. Some of the OCD Christmas jumpers another.  Mind giving Corrie a media award for episodes where OCD was being joked about.   They're all in the disgusting category, the advert I don't believe is....  in my opinion. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just watched this ad and I can understand why you might connect it with OCD, but I have to agree with the others that it didn't strike me as being specifically OCD, just a bit odd behavior.

Regardless, if it bothered you, it bothered you.  Your feelings are your feelings, even if no one else necessarily feels the same.  That said, we live in an imperfect world with people who have a vast variety of viewpoints and opinions, so its more than likely that you are going to run across some that bother you.  In my experience I have found that you have to pick your battles, some are important, some are trivial, and there's a wide spectrum in between. Meanwhile you only have so much time and energy to give, and each of us gives our time and energy in different ways.  if its important to you, its important to you, and you are going to invest your time in it.  But another person might not rate it as highly in their time/energy calculations.  It doesn't mean you are wrong and they are right or vice versa, just that different priorities and view points are at work.

So while I, personally, wouldn't be bothered by this ad or taken action, its ok that you did because it was important to you.  I'd just say to keep in mind whether the time you put in to responding to something is worth taking it away from other things you would be doing.  If it is, great.  If not, that doesn't mean you necessarily agree with it, just that you are choosing to focus your precious time elsewhere, and thats ok too :)

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