Remember the Chevrolet “Real People, Not Actors” series of ads? Deplorable as they may be, someone at Mazda thought that it would be a great idea to use the same formula to make a point about the Japanese brand’s mid-size sedan.
The plot is fairly simple. Mazda’s North American division asked “premium vehicle owners” to drive a selection of three sedans. Two are of the compact executive variety, and the remaining one is from a different segment and not exactly premium. Now, can you see the direction where this is going?
That’s right, ladies and gents. Mazda somehow tries to imply that people who normally drive Audi A4s and Mercedes-Benz C-Classes can be won over by the Mazda6. Pardon my French, but Mazda somehow managed to make a bigger mess of itself than Chevrolet did with “Real People, Not Actors.” For the car-loving public, including Mazda fans like myself, the ad can only be described as cringeworthy with a touch of self-inflicted embarrassment.
The ad is even more terrible once you analyze the finer details. The people who were asked to try the three sedans got behind the steering wheel and pushed a start button. And doing so prompts the infotainment system’s screen or the instrument cluster to show a logo of the brand. “Inconsistency” is the term that best defines this set of circumstances.
There’s also the problem of identity. The “me too” message delivered by Mazda with this 30-second commercial has no heart, no soul, and doesn’t transmit anything to the discerning customer other than a lot of skepticism.
The truth of the matter is, Chevrolet is the big winner of Mazda’s new ad. That’s because even today, a year since the “Real People, Not Actors” campaign started, we’re talking about it for better and for worse. Mazda’s take on the golden bowtie’s idea, however, will be forgotten as easily as the empty popcorn container that is dropped to the theater's floor.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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