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smart forfour Halloween Commercial Puts All Its Pumpkins in One Basket

With Halloween approaching, expect car makers - as well as anybody else who tries to sell you something - to start making all sorts of references to this holiday in their communication.
smart forfour Halloween commercial 1 photo
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Just like Christmas, Halloween offers the perfect occasion to come up with a commercial video devised specifically for the trick or treat night. And there's plenty to choose from: zombies, witches, gargoyles, famous serial killers, vampires - what company could resist associating its name to these majestic creatures?

Not smart, apparently, who has just released its 30-second clip for Halloween, featuring the larger of the two models it produces: the forfour. The Renault Twingo-based small hatchback isn't the iconic two-seater that built the brand's name, but unlike its first generation, at least this time, they both look very much alike. Which, depending on who you ask, can be a good or a bad thing.

The smart forfour is a very cleverly packed car, but it will never win a prize for its aesthetics. While that doesn't make it either particularly pretty or ugly, it does say something about the smart, which is that it's different. On the other hand, so is the hammerhead shark, and you don't see it winning any beauty pageants either.

But smart decided to bring this distinctiveness of the car forward and turn it into a positive thing. And it did so with the help of two identical Hyundai Elantra wagons, a geekish couple and a few guys masked guys who are way too old to go trick or treating.

The couple is parked in front of a house that's decorated for Halloween, and it looks like they are about to kiss - presumably for the first time. As that's about to happen - but just before it actually does - a guy wearing a slashed hockey mask jumps on the back seat. As the couple starts screaming, a second blue Hyundai Elantra wagon honks, this one full of equally grown men who enjoy candy way too much. The mixup is sorted out just in time for an orange and black smart forfour to drive by and the tagline to appear: Don't drive what everyone else drives.

What's the morale of the story? Well, first off, lock your doors if you're about to kiss in a car. Second, don't be so jumpy about scary-looking individuals if it's Halloween night. Third, everybody drives a blue Hyundai Elantra wagon, so stay away from that car if you don't want to accentuate the confusion any further.

Seriously now, we get the idea, but we don't think it's a wise one to put all your apples into the "I'm different" basket, simply because that's open to interpretation. But also because it doesn't really say anything about your car - it's one of the most ambiguous claims that a manufacturer can make.

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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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