16877: Sunday Sundry Thoughts On Dreams & Teams.

 

This Mercedes-Benz F1 campaign from AMV BBDO pays tribute to Lewis Hamilton and declares, “Every dream needs a team.”

 

Okay, but the AMV BBDO team appears to need the dream of diversity.

 

16371: The Best Or Nothing New.

Mercedes-Benz in Germany celebrates 50 years of Hip Hop—with a video that looks decades old.

15900: Mercedes-Benz—The Ultimate Jiving Machine.

 

Mercedes-Benz and Team X in Thailand drive the #MeToo bandwagon by condemning and eliminating the use of “The Presenter”—aka “The Pretty”—at motor shows. Okay, but the Pretty Women receive far more attention and screen time than the patronizing replacements. And it appears that the responsible creative team was dominated by men. 

 

 

15662: Mercedes-Benz Beauty Standards Car Wreck.

 

The New York Post reported on a video advertisement for Mercedes-Benz that was pulled off the road when Chinese social media took offense, complaining that the campaign pushed “Western beauty ideals for Asian women” and portrayed stereotypical “slanted eyes.” Cultural cluelessness from Germany…? Shocking.

 

Mercedes-Benz removes ad with Chinese model over ‘slanted eye’ backlash

 

By Hannah Sparks

 

Chinese social media has been engrossed in an eye-popping debate over ads depicting alleged Western beauty ideals for Asian women, including the usage of makeup to create stereotypical “slanted eyes.”

 

Mercedes-Benz has reportedly removed a recent video advertisement published on Chinese social network Weibo on Dec. 25, after the brand was criticized for doing up a model’s face to give her exaggerated sloping eyes.

 

“Is there any beauty in this makeup?” one critic wrote. “It is not [open for] interpretation. No Chinese will think this kind of ‘beauty’ is attractive,” another added.

 

The Chinese Communist Party’s Global Times said on Tuesday that the hashtag that translates to “Mercedes-Benz model’s makeup is controversial” had gained over 170 million views on Weibo.

 

“The premise is that Chinese cannot let the West shape our aesthetics,” wrote one critic, per Global Times. “For those malicious slanderers, we should maintain sufficient vigilance and counter-attack.”

 

The Post has reached out to Mercedes-Benz to confirm reports.

 

The luxury carmaker is one of the latest in a spate of controversies to take over Chinese social media, as critics lash out against Western brands for promoting Chinese beauty stereotypes in their ads. Earlier this week, Gucci was similarly called out for a new handbag ad that uses “discriminatory” Chinese features.

 

Communication-law professor Zhu Wei, of the state’s China University of Political Science and Law, said in a statement to the Global Times regarding Gucci’s ad, “This is extremely disrespectful to our culture. The disgust and revulsion expressed by the whole society toward this kind of insult should be heard.”

 

Fellow couturier Dior apologized in November following uproar over a handbag advertisement. Beijing-based photographer Chen Man admitted his “immaturity and ignorance” by “perpetuating racial stereotypes” for the shoot, while the fashion house responded by saying that it “respects the feelings of the Chinese people.”

 

It’s not just the upmarket brands who are said to be out of touch. Last week, a model for Chinese snack brand Three Squirrels stood up against the brand’s detractors, asking, “Am I not Chinese?” Consumers had bristled over an unearthed ad campaign from 2019 featuring model Cai Niang Niang, who some said was played up in the ad for her “overly slanted eyes” and posed with her hair in braids, all of which plays into 19th-century Western stereotypes of Chinese people.

 

She wrote on Weibo on Sunday, according to the South China Morning Post, “With small eyes, am I not Chinese? I totally agree with patriotism. However, creating big problems out of normal matters has become a morbid obsession. I hope everybody can have a healthy mindset.”

13563: Tinny Titanium.

Campaign reported Titanium Worldwide (a minority-owned collective headquartered in New York City) tapped member Ten35 (a shop with offices in Chicago and Houston that focuses on multicultural and generational audiences) to help Mercedes-Benz woo Blacks in Atlanta. The scenario underscores the advertising industry’s diversity zaniness on multiple levels. That is, a minority-owned collective headquartered in New York City—which has a Black population of about 25%—must recruit a shop with offices in Chicago and Houston—which have respective Black populations of about 36% and 25%—to service a client in Atlanta—which has a Black population of about 54%. Mercedes-Benz couldn’t find a qualified agency in Atlanta, where Blacks essentially dominate? To top it all off, the photo illustrating this news story featured a White woman. Perfect.

Meet the minority-owned collective fueling Mercedes-Benz’s African-American outreach

By Kathryn Luttner

Titanium Worldwide catered to the LGBT community first; now, it’s after Atlanta residents for the automaker.

It’s not often that a football team gets to play their first game in a new stadium as reigning world champions. But with their appearance in the Super Bowl this Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons could be exactly that when they christen Mercedes-Benz Stadium next season. This stroke of luck wasn’t part of Mercedes-Benz USA’s original plan to win over Atlanta residents, but for VP of Marketing Drew Slaven, it doesn’t hurt the brand’s chances in a town where the automaker is planting some serious roots.

The initiative, titled “Take Back Atlanta,” began two years ago when Mercedes-Benz moved its American headquarters from Montvale, N.J., to an Atlanta suburb. That same year, the brand bought the naming rights to the Falcons’ new stadium, making it the second to bear the Mercedes-Benz name (the other is the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans). Now, the automaker has tapped Chicago and Houston-based marketing agency Ten35 (part of minority-owned collective Titanium Worldwide) to connect with African Americans in its new hometown.

To be clear, Slaven doesn’t like the term “Take Back Atlanta”—even though the phrase originated from the automaker—because he said, Mercedes-Benz is the best-selling luxury automotive brand in town, so “there’s nothing to take back.” Although it isn’t entirely focused on the African American community, that is a big factor. “In our new home, we want to not simply be No. 1, we really want Atlanta and Mercedes-Benz to go hand-in-hand,” Slaven said.

If you haven’t heard of Titanium Worldwide or read about Mercedes-Benz’s big push into the African American community, it’s all part of Titanium CEO Robyn Streisand’s plan. She takes a “walk, crawl, run” strategy to business—and her own collective of minority-owned agencies is a testament. Titanium Worldwide soft launched in 2013, but Streisand, an LGBT entrepreneur (and Barbara’s second cousin), didn’t announce it until last year, because she wanted to “prove the model. Holding companies are watching us.”

That model, she said, bloomed from a frustration she encountered after 20 years at her own marketing agency The Mixx. Fortune 500 companies regularly approached for small jobs, she said, but when it came to the big campaigns, the argument was always the same: minority-owned businesses simply didn’t have the depth—in talent, money and resources—to do the job. So Streisand interviewed more than 150 agencies across the United States and landed on 17 to form Titanium. “There’s no overlap in skill sets,” Streisand said proudly. “Everyone has their own lane.”

And yet, there’s one point of contact and one P&L (while maintaining 17 individual agencies), which was one of the attractions for Mercedes-Benz who had been a client of The Mixx for 10 years. (The other, Slaven said, was authenticity. “When you want to talk to a community, to work with a provider that understands that [community]—that lives that [community]—is really important,” he said.) That single point of contact is something agencies are increasingly looking to provide, as witnessed by recent client-centric restructurings from Publicis and Ogilvy.

In 2015, the community that Mercedes-Benz zeroed in on was LGBT. That same year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriages, so the timing was no coincidence. Titanium developed a year-long strategy of print and digital advertising, in addition to paid social media and an event at the New York International Auto Show, to deliver 2.2 million digital impressions and 135 percent increase in brand mentions on gay news websites.

Plus, the National Gay Media Association awarded Mercedes-Benz the top honor in its automotive category at its first Ad POP Awards (POP stands for Pride in Online and Print). In the end, Streisand said marketers have thanked her for “getting corporate to wake up and smell the coffee.”

“It can’t be that you’re just advertising at Gay Pride,” she said. “You want 100 percent on the HRC Equality Index. One and done at Pride is not enough anymore.”

Fast forward to 2017, and Ten35 is implementing Streisand’s “walk, crawl, run” strategy to its Take Atlanta Back initiative. Sherman Wright, managing partner and COO of the agency, said the campaign won’t be a one-off effort. While it’s still in development, Wright said to expect “heavy digital components and an experiential element” that connects personally with the communities of Atlanta.

“What’s important to understand is the African American community is not this monolithic community,” Wright said, adding that it’s important for marketers to understand the nuances. “You look at things such as accomplishments and that values are placed in achievement. Making sure the idea of luxury comes through this idea of achievement” is extremely important to African Americans, so look for Mercedes-Benz and Ten35’s work to pay “homage to that journey and the hard work and commitment that goes into it.”

If successful, Wright said the carmaker will expand this African American initiative nationwide, taking the minority-owned collective along with them—proving that together, minority-owned agencies can tackle the big jobs.

11413: Mercedes Ads Are So Lame…

Mercedes-Benz in Germany resorts to using “Yo Momma” jokes?

From Ads of the World.

10688: Mercedes-Benz-Bullshit.

This Mercedes-Benz campaign hypes the B-Class’ spaciousness with big stereotypes.

From Ads of the World.

8722: Drowsy Driving While Black.

As a follow-up to the previous post, check out Mercedes-Benz’s attempt at diversity. The old White guy in the extended commercial was replaced by an old Black guy in the re-edited version. It’s sorta the opposite of what Microsoft pulled in Poland.

8721: Drowsy Driving Dipshits.

Need another reason to hate the arrogant prick who drives around in a fancy Mercedes? As this commercial shows, the asshole tends to fall asleep behind the wheel.

6137: Check Out Mercedes-Benz.

Click on image to enlarge. Click here for more details.

6120: M+P = MB+BS+WTF.

There’s a rumor on the road that says Mercedes-Benz dumped its multicultural advertising agencies, allowing its White shop to drive off with the minority assignments. Apparently, the automaker currently has no multicultural projects or minority agencies on retainer for 2008 or 2009. This accelerates a disturbing trend rolled out by clients like General Motors. Apparently, the fact that Blacks, Latinos and Asian Americans account for 30 percent of Mercedes-Benz sales doesn’t translate to needing marketing expertise with the audiences. Or perhaps it’s cosmic compensation for the probable Barack Obama victory.

What makes this rumor particularly obscene is the White shop rides in the Omnicom network—where racism, homophobia, diversity adversity and biased scheming run full throttle.

But wait, there’s more.

The White shop is none other than Merkley + Partners. This agency holds the distinction of recording the worst results after signing a hiring pact with the New York City Commission on Human Rights. According to the official report, in the first year of the agreement, Merkley + Partners recruited a whopping zero minorities.

But hey, maybe the rumor is false. In which case, please disregard everything in this post. Except for the stuff about racism, homophobia, diversity adversity, biased scheming and hiring zero minorities.