Robert Burns was an 18 Century poet from Scotland who is widely regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, apart from being known as "Scotland's favorite son" or the "Bard of Ayrshire."
In other words, you would never expect him to have any connection whatsoever with a German car company from three centuries later.
Yet, it does, after the North American branch of Mercedes-Benz decided to use one of his English-written poems – Robert Burns had mostly written in the Scots language – in a commercial featuring the 4Matic all-wheel drive system.
We don't know why Mercedes-Benz decided to use precisely half of the “Winter: A Dirge” poem, but it might have less to do with licensing and more to do with the fact that the rest of the poem involves God and (possibly) suicide.
Either way, we enjoyed the following commercial very much, despite the above, and looking at the Like/Dislike ratio on the YouTube video so far, we may not be the only ones. What do you guys think?
Yet, it does, after the North American branch of Mercedes-Benz decided to use one of his English-written poems – Robert Burns had mostly written in the Scots language – in a commercial featuring the 4Matic all-wheel drive system.
We don't know why Mercedes-Benz decided to use precisely half of the “Winter: A Dirge” poem, but it might have less to do with licensing and more to do with the fact that the rest of the poem involves God and (possibly) suicide.
Either way, we enjoyed the following commercial very much, despite the above, and looking at the Like/Dislike ratio on the YouTube video so far, we may not be the only ones. What do you guys think?