New Ford Biohazard?
April 11, 2007 7:48 PM   Subscribe

Has Ford really thought through it's new campaign for the Escape SUV? Maybe it's a joke, ironic-like? As a campaign logo, they've taken to using a modified version of the international symbol for a biological hazard.
posted by pt68 (16 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: this is a one-off eh sort of thing -- jessamyn



 
The "joke" is that boredom is an epidemic, and the only cure is an SUV. They're trying to make boredom out to sound like a disease. I don't understand what's remarkable about this?
posted by saraswati at 7:53 PM on April 11, 2007


They certainly have. I doubt that it's unintentional.
posted by lekvar at 7:53 PM on April 11, 2007


It's a bold move, certainly.

Still, their cars are more dangerous to their occupants than any Level 4 biohazard.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:54 PM on April 11, 2007


So, we're done, right?

For a second I thought I was replying to an AskMe thread.
posted by saraswati at 7:55 PM on April 11, 2007


One is not "allowed" to use a biohazard symbol on anything that isn't actually biohazardous (like, having a sticker on your backpack or a stencil on your laptop; same goes for radiation/laser/chemical hazard signs).

I guess maybe the 'B' exempts it...
posted by porpoise at 8:02 PM on April 11, 2007


One is not "allowed" to use a biohazard symbol on anything that isn't actually biohazardous...


Right. What's your point?
posted by niles at 8:03 PM on April 11, 2007


Shouldn't we have Homeland Security blowing up billboards and posters with this advertising? I know I'd feel safer.
posted by yeloson at 8:03 PM on April 11, 2007


I would have loved to sit in on that concepting meeting.

And hear the rationale as to why a rugged adventure car named the "Escape" should be remiscent of a toxic biohazard.

Or the fancy spin they put on the outcomes of market research testings.

I don't get it.
posted by iamkimiam at 8:03 PM on April 11, 2007


Pt68 beans'd it.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:12 PM on April 11, 2007


While we're on the subject of terrible advertising campaigns, check out this list of the Top 10 Worst Marketing Flops, Gaffes and Disasters. It includes New Coke, Microsoft's BSOD while demoing Win98, and video footage of Thomas Eddison electrocuting an elephant to promote his preferred method of giving the US public electricity in their homes.

Relevantly, it also includes another flop by Ford, the Ford Edsel. "There's even the luxury of Edsel air suspension. It's just like riding on air, because you are." Terrible. The new Ford campaign could surely be included in this list now, methinks.
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:19 PM on April 11, 2007


DO THE BOSTON POLICE KNOW ABOUT THIS?!?!
posted by lekvar at 8:19 PM on April 11, 2007


I was listening to the radio on the way home from work the other day, and an ad for some kind of SUV came on, commencing with the distinctive foghorn sound of the horn of a vast supertanker. I wondered if they had quite thought that through, or perhaps the ad agency had put one over on the client in the manner of the Brazilian Institute of Oriental Studies.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 8:20 PM on April 11, 2007


I used to take my middle school lunch in one of these bags that my father picked up from a contract job. I think i might have made CNN nowadays...
posted by geos at 8:21 PM on April 11, 2007


I don't get it.

Neither does Ford.

above is a link to "deathwatch" editorials about Ford's latest marketplace woes on thetruthaboutcars.com
posted by davejay at 8:24 PM on April 11, 2007


Where exactly IS this biohazard symbol, since it has become the center of conversation here?

Sorry not much of a car person, but I just hear birds chirping, with a black SUV Ford hanging just this side of the back of an Oregon cliff?
posted by Penny Wise at 8:25 PM on April 11, 2007


Anyone who buys the Escape should also get a free "Baby On Board" sign to put in their window, but only if they don't have children.

Ford is desperate for attention. We're feeding that desperation with this very thread. So if you were to listen in on one of their marketing board meetings right now, you'd probably hear one of them say, "check this out! MetaFilter got a thread about our stupid marketing gimmick with the biohazard sign - so our plan's working!!"

In this case, Ford is the troll, and we're feeding it.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:26 PM on April 11, 2007


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