Decapitated cat video backfires on Ford

[Nomad559]

The video I posted of the cat being guillotined was never supposed to be seen by the public.

Video backfires on Ford

-Snip-

Ford and Ogilvy & Mather, the advertising agency behind the advert, insist that the clip was never designed for public consumption.

It was, they say, intended as a "viral marketing" tactic - designed to be sent via the internet from one individual to another - although this idea was subsequently rejected by Ford on taste grounds. A clip costing several thousand pounds and showing a pigeon being catapulted to its death by a bonnet springing open was approved and released last September. However, the rejected advertisement began circulating on the internet last week, at first because of an apparent mistake, and then spurred by black-humoured web users who passed it around.

"A full investigation has been ordered by Ford and Ogilvy to determine how this unapproved material found its way into the public domain," said a spokesman for Ford. "The action in the video clip was totally computer generated - no animal was harmed."


The Ford TV commercials

Cat

Bird

[FDRrocks]

1. Fake outrate...

"A full investigation has been ordered by Ford and Ogilvy to determine how this unapproved material found its way into the public domain," said a spokesman for Ford. "The action in the video clip was totally computer generated - no animal was harmed."

I get the impression this spokesperson is talking out of different sides of his mouth.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Knowing it was CG I was able to laugh my ass off at it

But I can imagine how some people would be really distraught over those ads. Especially the cat one. Jeez.

[polazarus]

3. Man

that was cool! The bird one was funny.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

4. that is ssoooooooooo fucking sick!..i am outraged..fuck ford

[Catch22Dem]

5. seriously?

I mean it's fake. Not really outrage worthy.

[DenverDem]

7. It leads to copy cat decapitations by morans.

Violence against sentient beings is some sick shit and especially to be used to sell POS nazi supplying Ford crap.

[absyntheNsugar]

16. Personally I think the kind of fuck that decapitates cats for real

has a lot of other issues going on that led up to this action, rather than a commerical...

[DS1]

41. oh right, I'm going to burn out my sunroof because

some commercial that never even aired did it :eyes:

[DenverDem]

53. Well, then it's absolutely fine to promote animal cruelty to sell Fords.

Please excuse my ethical sensitiviy.

[Pert_UK]

65. Promoting animal cruelty to sell Fords...

Have you lost your mind?

It's a joke. Nobody is "promoting animal cruelty".

"By FORD......and why not kick the dog while you're at it?"

Come on....Not a real cat, not encouraging cat cruelty, simply an amusing way of saying a car has a "dark side"...

P.

[Az]

38. It moves into morbid

Because it takes it beyond where the humor needs to go. The car attacking the cat would have sufficed to create the humor. But they go beyond that and have the cat's struggles end in death and then the head dropping off into the car. This was a deliberate effect as the head dropping is clearly seen inside the car.

Lets think about that. The cats severed head. Blood all over the place. Its pain and agony up till its moment of death. Yes. This is the stuff of high comedy.

[amazona]

55. well wait let's fuck ogilvy and mather instead OK?

All auto companies outsource advertising. I don't think Ford should necessarily be blamed because of the actions of a rogue advertising person with a sick sense of humor. I don't doubt that disgruntled copywriters come up with whacky, sick ideas all of the time -- they call it brainstorming -- you are not supposed to censor yourself in the initial phases. Ford didn't approve this to be used or released, you know. I agree, it's sick and it's wrong, but let's put the blame where it belongs.

[ProudGerman]

66. Why Ford?

From reading the article, they agree with you, and turned down the cat vid. So why is it fuck Ford, and not fuck Oglivy and Mather?

Besides, if Ford was coming up with the ideas, why were they paying a company hundreds of thousands of dollars? I don't see how any of this is egg on Ford's face. Other than the fact that they are the company with the huge public image and are therefore a nice fat target.

[name not needed]

6. Holy shit

that was fucking SICK!:mad:

[wroberts189]

8. I bet they are lying about it being computer generated.

Looked pretty damn real to me.


Even if it was fake its still sick and promotes a view that its ok and funny to do such things.

This quote was good:

"Paul Alexander, the head of marketing at Cats Protection, Britain's biggest feline welfare charity, was also aghast. "Cats Protection has to deal with the results of many cases of cruelty to cats and we are totally opposed to anything which promotes or makes light of any animal mistreatment," he said."

[DrWeird]

20. No, that wasn't realistic at all. Trust me.

Real decapitated cats bleed and twitch a lot more.

[Atman]

62. I rolled up a cats head in electric window once

Accidentally, of course. I couldn't do that again in a million years...I was a teenager, pre-driving, and we were sitting in the front seat, listening to the radio. The Chevy Impala Convertible had electric windows, and when I was playing with them. Our cat was actually walking along the window edge of the car and tried to jump IN just as the window came up.

Believe me, after seeing that video, the FIRST thing I thought was, he ain't kicking and fighting nearly enought. Man, our cat went nuts...legs flailing in all directions. Good thing it was only a convertible, because there was a frameless window...I was so panicked I couldn't find the down button, so I just popped open to door, and he ran away, a little freaked out, but very much alive.

[northzax]

51. right, they trained a pigeon

to do exactly that, and then rigged it to lose all it's feathers when hit by a perfectly timed car bonnet. And the cat, well they got a new bloodless cat (engineered by the bloodless cat foundation in Mexico) and executed it in someone's driveway.

right.

[LibertyorDeath]

9. Ford

Found On the Road Dead

That's how the fuckers who thought this shit up should be.

[Ohio Dem]

10. They're both fuckin' wrong.

Period. These ads were made by people that think butchering is fun, rather than an unpleasant job. People that take great joy in giving pain to whatever they can get their hands on. Weird fucks, in other words.

[absyntheNsugar]

12. So by this logic...Road Runner and Wiley Coyote is wrong

They show simulated animal violence....

[Ohio Dem]

17. Invalid comparison.

There are differences. Cartoons are obviously fake, and this was made to look very real. And much more graphic than any stupid cartoon can be. Not at all comparative, if you ask me.

I think the Road Runner cartoons are stupid, but not as offensive. Gutter humor.

Hey, if you like gutter humor, laughing at animals or people being killed, that's your business. Snuff films - same thing. I'm not in favor of censoring anything. Let the public decide. And in the case of the car decapitating the house cat, it seems that they have.

[leftistagitator]

11. Bad fucking move Ford

Appealing to the sadistic people who enjoy cruelty to animals is an extremely bad marketing move. I know some will enjoy it just because they have a dark sense of humor, but there are worthless fuckwads who enjoy doing evil like that. The last thing they need is encouragement.

[Deja Q]

14. Before you get the wrong impression of me...

Somebody will always use something they've seen on the TV, radio, movie theatre, newspaper, blabbermouth friend as an excuse.

Though I said it was funny, I did not say it wasn't offensive. This advert should never have been made in the first place; yet alone get so far as to be completely made and ready for airing. It is entirely tasteless and crass.

[leftistagitator]

29. This add won't turn a sane person into a psychopath

Ultimately anyone who watches these adds and thinks, "Hey, that looks like fun" probably has one foot in prison already. I just didn't like how they seemed to be changing animal cruelty from evil as in a wholly wicked and unredeemable act to evil as in kewl. After all, no one would want to associate their product to the former. I understand how many could see some black comedy in this even though they would never tolerate animal cruelty in real life, so I'm not here to cast judgement on those who saw something amusing in the add. I guess I'm kinda humorless on this topic.

[neoteric lefty]

21. I loved the commercials

and I don't have any desire to be cruel to animals. I have a dog and it is a member of my family (to an extent). I don't think Ford was appealing at all to "sadistic people". That is like saying that the Janet Jackson's intentional nipple slip was intentionally geared towards perverts and sex junkies. I think you may be making a mountain out of a molehill. If you think it is in bad taste then that is great, but assuming the motives of those who put it out seems a big step.

[leftistagitator]

22. I know that some good people have a dark enough sense of humor

to enjoy this. I laugh at a lot of things people might be offended by. I'm not trying to say that all people who like this are animal hating monsters. The cat one pissed me off so much I got a little irrational, I'm sure Ford doesn't actually support animal cruelty for it's own sake. I just hate to see this kind of thing becoming more acceptable by exposure, some things are taboo because that's the way they should be.

[neoteric lefty]

24. I understand where you are coming from

and I respect that. I hope my previous reply didn't seem a little harsh. I surely did not mean it to be. There is a fine line that advertisers must walk, that is for sure. But I say leave it up to the consumer when a group crosses that line.

[leftistagitator]

26. Agreed

I don't like the add, but they had the right to release it. I just think it was a terrible decision to even make it. Depictions of cruelty to one of the two most beloved creatures in America was as bad a marketing decision as running an add for hamburgers in India would be.

[northzax]

47. pigeons are beloved?

by whom, exactly? Obviously no one who has to powerwash the balcony to get the crap off it.

[bleedingheart]

40. Ever get bored at work? Ever jazz something up or do something

that would be seen as poor taste?

I can believe that this was created in jest...with no ill intent.

Now I want to see a voting commercial in which the voting booth eats republicans...it would be hilarious... picture this...

Old fashioned voting booth with curtain...
lever drawn...curtain closes...
republican makes poor choice...goes to pull lever back and all you hear is a scream and the curtain pulls back and some remnant of the guy's clothing is on the floor....and some old lady monitoring the booth says..."He chose poorly"...

ahhahahahahahha

[leftistagitator]

56. I've seen something like that before

I don't remember where, it could have been Bugs Bunny. Someone goes into the booth and pulls the wrong lever. A trap door opens and they fall into the abyss, never to be seen from again.

[Deja Q]

13. The cat one is better...

Looks far more realistic...

Is funnier too.

The bird one looks cheap, you can tell it's fake (the cat one almost looks utterly real) because of the crap animation, and it shows the car is so cheaply built that bits of it will pop up of their own accord... I wouldn't buy it...

[absyntheNsugar]

15. The cat one was funny/sick at the same time (Haiku)

I laughed nervously
Looking over my shoulder
I must be sicko

Cat loses his head
Struggles against the moon roof
Ford Ad Guy Lose Job

PETA Angry at Me
They say I will replicate
Maybe I'll get taco

[northzax]

50. see, I think the bird one shows

that you won't have to deal with Pigeon Shit on your car, the car will take care of itself. It didn't flip up because it was cheap, it flipped up deliberatly to get the bird.

I do think hte cat should be gushing blood to be realistic, and that would totally mess up the upholstery, which no one wants.

still wouldn't buy it, it looks like a cheap piece of crap.

[Mick Knox]

18. LOL!

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

19. Neither real nor a mistake

Not real. The spots were too well done. You know how many cats you'd have to go through to get one to react just right? Commercials are mini-movies, only they cost more per second to produce than most movies. It's all special effects.

The leak was not a mistake either, IMO. It's part of the viral marketing. They will reach the people they wanted and still look like bad boys.

[Delano]

23. Hideous and unfunny

God, I'm not even an animal lover or a vegetarian, or an animal rights backer, but that was just sick. I hate how mean and sick our society has become. I don't hate Ford for this as much as I hate the overall degradation of our hearts that makes some people find this funny. If I had a friend over, and we saw that ad, and the friend laughed his ass off - he would no longer be my friend. I feel like a damn shower now.

[Piperay]

30. I agree

what kind of sick mind dreams this kind of shit up anyway. :argh: :mad:

[LastKnight]

25. thats fucked up... but knowing its fake i can say its funny as hell.

dear god what was going through the head of that ad exec? decapitating small household animals is never funny, and im not even a cat lover.

edit: watched the bird one, that one is kinda funny. also can easily tell its fake, thats the only thing that makes it funny.

-LK

[Skip Intro]

27. being CG doesn't make it ok, its f**king sick

I don't see anything funny about it, and I hope ford loses sales big time over it.

what if it were a "fake" child?

or maybe a "fake" homeless woman?

:shrug:

And how does "not for public consumption" and "intended for internet users" mesh? Is bushco running ford too?

[SideshowScott]

33. "not for public consumption" and "intended for Internet users"..Huh??

Whats the diffrance?..Um isn't the public considered " Internet users"? They spent over 20 thousand pounds on this ad ( about over 40 thousand dollars US ) Thats alota scratch for something not intended to be seen.
I could really find no Humor in this ad and it really seemed geared to the A-hole consumer. I cant believe they shot this ad.
Exactly! what if the ad was shot with a real looking CG Child? Would it still be such a gutbuster?
My new car that I'm buying sure as hell wont be a Ford

[MrSlayer]

28. The cat commercial is pointless but the pigeon one is funny.

The cat commercial is funny in a sick way but doesn't seem to have any point. No one likes when pigeons shit on their car.

[ProudGerman]

67. I'm not supporting this at all

But I absolutely hate it when I get up in the morning and there are cat paw prints all over my car, it scratches the clear coat. The cat vid has the same point the pigeon vid has, cats can mess up the finish of the car as much as a pigeon.

Personally, I would have had the windshield wipers knock the legs out from under the cat so that it flops over and slides off the car and runs off pissed off and growling the way cats do when they do something ungraceful and think someone saw them.

[Piperay]

31. Sick and just about the kind of thing I would

expect from Ford, a company that puts out car after car that they know is flawed but they will put it on the market anyway. :puke:

[SideshowScott]

32. Im NOT Amused! This goes beyond any PC thing....

I really did not find any humor in that all NOT ONE BIT! And I would consider my sence of humor pretty dark. It looked like some kinda animal snuff film or something. Im sure it would appeal to the people who kill animals for fun but not me.
I am going to but a new car and now any car made by Ford is OFF the list.

[LuminousX]

39. Everyone is so quick to 'boycott'

Yet very few boycott's ever work. You know, don't 'not buy a Ford' because of these very sick commercials. Just let it be known that the commercials disgust you.

I agree that this was very much like the illegal crushing videos of women stepping on mice and stuff like that. I would have been less aggravated by the video if the cat didn't struggle - if it was more cartoony.

[RebelOne]

34. Sick!!! And people condemn PETA for trying to

protesting against stuff like this?

[kodi]

35. i showed it to my dogs. they all give it a paws up.

man, that is funny.

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

42. A real LOL

I'd love to see a dog approval scene spliced to the end of the cat commercial.

IMHO, some people are taking this cartoon violence too seriously... Monty Python, Kill Bill, etc. Society will survive intact.

[kodi]

46. yes, and itchy & scratchie make bart simpson evil

if you ever watch dave chappelle's show, you know he did a scene where during an arrest a dog gets shot by marshalls that was hilarious.

i dont rightly know what deficiencies brain science will someday reveal to be missing in the millions of humor impaired that stalk the land, but i suspect it will a lack of appreciation for the ridiculous in life.

i'm the kind of person who has held each of his pets in his arms as they died and i appreciate their value. but i am also capable of appreciating a 21st century avatar of the folk tale metaphor that curiosity killed the cat.

coupling the cat killing car ad with the one that had the hood of the car flip up and kill the bird, the two together project anthrapomorphic properties on to the car that are so ridiculous that taking seriously the animal deaths denies that art is a reflection, albeit distorted, of life.

call it bad art if you like, but the ads are funny.

[bleedingheart]

36. okay...I am laughing because this reminds me of a funny family

incident...
When we got our new toyota van it came with an automatic sliding door so that you could remotely open it and let the kiddies run ahead to scramble in the car...

...and it came with a safety feature which basically protected the children from being crushed by the door....it would automatically open if something got in its way....

So my brother in law decided to test this feature with his head... so my husband and I watched this very intelligent guy do this "test".....and the door didn't cooperate all that well...and I kept thinking he would get his head caught or worse...

Personally it reminds me of a Far Side where the dog is trying to get the cat to jump in the dryer...hee hee..oh I loved those cartoons...

[LuminousX]

37. For Animal Lovers

The cat commercial is disconcerting. The decapitation is not cartoonesque at all. Watching the cat struggle actually caused me a moment or two of anguish.

That being said, what is the difference between this commercial and the Passions of Christ?

[Fear]

43. it's one big setup!!!!!!

this is the smartest sending out a commercial.
Anyway of getting attention is good in the long run.

[MadHound]

44. What else would you expect from a company whose founder, Henry Ford

Was a virulent anti-Semite, whose written works inspired Hitler towards the enactment of his Final Solution, who supported Hitler both financially and morally, and who was awarded Nazi Germany's highest civilian honor.

Ford, sick minds bringing you sick shit daily.

[Pert_UK]

45. Wooooo! ROFL!.....What's wrong with you people?

I only saw the cat one, and I thought it was hilarious.

Now.....

- Do I think it would be hilarious if a real cat had been killed?
- Or if Ford were advocating killing cats?
- Do I think that killing cats is funny?
- Is this going to encourage people to kill cats if they weren't so disposed in the first place?

NO!

I find the concept of a car having an evil twin to be very amusing. I find the idea that a car might have a mind of its own and use it to kill a cat for fun to be funny.

You're mistaking the content of the joke for the aim of the joke. I can make jokes about doctors cutting off someone's healthy arm because they're so overworked, but am I laughing at doctors or this man's tragedy? No, I'm satirising the fact that doctors are overworked. Don't mistake the aim of the joke for the content.

Come off it - you've all laughed at Bond/Austin Powers/Blazing Saddles/The Simpsons/South Park etc. when someone gets killed in a comical way, haven't you? That doesn't mean that you find violent death funny.

So what's the problem with this?

Not a real cat, not a real death....I rest my case.

[WillParkinson]

48. What's wrong with 'us' people?

Simple.

People are, by and large, stupid. See any paper that shows an article about how someone was hospitalized or killed by doing a stunt they saw on Jackass or some movie or TV show.

Then realize that there are some people out there who are going to be stupid or sick enough to try it.

What's wrong with us? Gee, forgive me if I fail to see the humor in giving someone ideas on how to hurt instead of help.

[Pert_UK]

49. And therefore.....

ban everything funny, factual or fictional that just might give some idiot an idea for hurting themselves or others?

Quick, ban King Lear, somebody has their eyes poked out in it and someone else is made to think they've jumped off a cliff!

Ban Catcher in the Rye, it promotes underage drinking!

Ban Airplane, you see people starting fights on planes!

Ban Silence of the Lambs, you see someone kidnapping women!

Unfortunately, some people are always going to do horrible, terrible things.....I don't believe that fiction or humour CAUSES anybody to do something that they wouldn't have done otherwise.

If you've got the kind of mindset where an advert like that will make you think, "Hey, let's decapitate a cat!" then you'd have ended up doing something like that anyway......or don't kids tie firecrackers to cats' tails in the US?

Happily, I am able to separate:

- finding this fictional advert amusing, and
- being appalled by genuine violence towards real cats

But do you know what? It's not this that stops me killing cats, it's the fact that I know that killing cats is wrong, even if I saw it happening on TV.

[ronnykmarshall]

57. Let have a baby crawl in there.....

Oh my sides, it's tooooooooo funny!

[Pert_UK]

64. Wow! Nice work....

So, you're saying that if it were something else it would be unacceptable.....

Genius.

How about telling me why it's unacceptable with a cat?

[jpgray]

60. Yep. It seems to me that the sensibilities of some are easily offended

A fake cat commercial? Doesn't freak me out. :shrug:

[BlueJazz]

52. Oh....Hell, Yeah...We don't have enough...

...Fucking Cruelty in real life. Lets spend Thousands of dollars to make some fake cruelty so we can all laugh at it. Gee, this is almost as funny as seeing that picture of the Easter Bunny who was run down by a car. Ha!...Ha!
I'm looking forward to seeing some "Fake Rape" soon....That will be Hilarious!!

[amazona]

54. oh for cryin' out loud

Like Ford doesn't have enough issues. I hope they give O&M the boot over this. Sheesh. Ads are supposed to sell product not chase away customers.

[Renew Deal]

58. That's incredibly stupid, but kinda funny.

Someone at Ford must have been high.

[Mrs. Venation]

59. This Is So Sick, On So Many Levels

I don't care if it is computer generated. Some human being had to create this concept, and it is just plain wrong!

I am not easily offended, but this sick piece of shit made me want to :puke:

Cruelty to animals, real or imagined, goes beyond the bounds of decency.

[Delano]

61. TOTALLY.

No matter the context - it ain't funny. It's not a cartoon. Dropping an anvil on a cartoon coyote is NOT the same. People who concoct such things haven't a shred of love or humanity in them. Reminds me of the horrible, soulless films of Quentin Tarantino. All cleverness and smarm, and not one ounce of humanity. I hate sharing the same rrace with such people.

[cjbuchanan]

63. That is beyond horrible

I am sorry that anyone would even think to come up with such ads.