BMW - No Woman's Answer to Transportation: Please Leave the Dealership

I'm fuming right now. Sabine Clappaert over at Muse, which is a great marketing to women site, sent me a link that has me boiling over!

BMW, it seems, respects women less than...Special K (read my thoughts on that here), and even less than Vogue - which caused such an uproar over Miley Cyrus's "provocative" photos.

Sabine says, "HELLO? Is there anyone home at BMW Marketing...? "

I want to know if the gals over at Ask Patty! have seen this? I want to know if the Mommy Bloggers have seen it or if any of the Daddy bloggers have seen it? I want to know if the whole world is numb to this kind of advertising now and if so...what's next?

The young girl in this ad (I refuse to reprint it here, sorry; you can see it at Muse) can't be more than 14. Even if she is older than 14, BMW certainly used her because she looks 14! And, I don't care that this is a foreign agency and that other parts of the world think girls as young as 10 are fair game in the sex-trade. I care about a car manufacturer that promotes its products in THIS country, actually looking at this ad and not being repulsed!

Where's the uproar? Why aren't we seeing the backlash on major media television? Why isn't Katie Couric reporting on this - she certainly covered Miley's Vogue shoot. (BTW, I disapproved of that, too...and I don't believe for a minute that Annie Liebovitz didn't know EXACTLY what she was doing - showcasing a young girl in a sexual pose; puh-lease!)

Why isn't Redbook, with all of its blogs, doing a story on this? Don't they care? Doesn't anyone care?

This ad isn't just visually disturbing. The text is also poorly thought-out. It's for USED cars...and it says, "You know you're not the first." Clearly a sexual connotation meant to depict the young girl as...already having had sex, at least once. This, of course, makes her a sex object, for...the men looking at the ad? It's surely not for women.

In a world where we are constantly on the lookout for predators on the net...targeting children, and yes, anyone under 18 is a child - and some 18-20 year olds are children, too...it's unconscionable for BMW to print this ad and promote lascivious thoughts just to sell used BMW cars!

There is no argument. It's just wrong! Even the comments on the BMW site are divided...with too many men (at least I think they're men) making the kind of lewd, insulting remarks you would expect...and which, if BMW meant to create, makes them a part of the problem...

Where, oh where, is the backlash? Let it begin here...

Comments

[Donna DeClemente]

Okay, I'm a woman and an BMW owner. I also write on this blog. I love my BMW and since I've owned and driven this car now for quite a few years you'd have to really offer me quite an incentive to ever own anything else. BMW has been quite innovative in their U.S. advertising and has been one of the first brands to have a truly successful viral marketing campaign, and this was before the word "viral" was even being used.

Also, since my BMW is a 1995 model I have frequented the local dealership quite often for parts and some service (my husband thank god can do most of it). They have always treated me with the utmost respect and have provided great customer service, which is what I have come to expect from this brand.

The ad in question in no doubt extremely tasteless and something that we would never see or accept in the U.S. The URL address in the ad appears to come from BMW Greece. While I'm not familiar with advertising from this country I have to say in general the Europeans are quite more sexist in their advertising than us Americans. Some countries obviously more than others.

I would just say that I wouldn't hold it against the brand in general. Each country is very autonomous in what their marketing can create.

So, perhaps we've made enough noise now that we will hear from someone at BMW. BMW are you listening?

[Elisa Camahort Page]

i can only add to the chorus of grossed out voices. But I am not surprised. I was personally treated with no respect on three different occasions when I went to check out BMWs back in 2002. Those were the boom days in Silicon Valley, and I could have pulled out a check book and paid cash for one if I wanted to.

At two different locations and with three different male sales reps I was blown off and dismissed.

So, I was already boycotting this brand and will continue to, obviously.

[Mary Schmidt]

Ewwwww. Even if one didn't care about objectifying young girls...even it it were a photo of - say - Sharon Stone - this is so incredibly tacky and tasteless on so many levels.

Here's the "funny" thing - recent studies have found that sex actually doesn't sell. People get so preoccupied with their gonads they don't remember the product being advertised.

And people wonder why people like us keep writing about "marketing to women" 'Cuz everyone knows better already, right? WRONG.

[Bill (Dr. William J. Ward) a.k.a. DR4WARD]

Yvonne,

The BMW ad is exactly the kind of advertising/marketing example that I show my students on what not to do for all the reasons you mentioned. Also, no strategy, creative, or idea behind it. All cliché and negative stereotype. I agree that this one is indefensible. Please see my post on how even the best brands / marketers continue to fumble the ball when it comes to marketing to women. Sad but true.
http://www.dr4ward.com/dr4ward/2008/02/luna-tic-sports.html

Keep Digging for Worms!

Bill ((Dr. William J. Ward) a.k.a. DR4WARD

[Melanie Notkin]

I feel embarrassed for BMW. Women make 65% of car purchases in the US. I think with this ad, BMW just lost a piece of that pie.

[Diane K. Danielson]

Ugh. The good news is that this is coming during a down cycle for car sales, so it will go down as a failed campaign and unlikely to be revived if they look at ROI. Has anyone sent this over to the gals at www.feministing.com?

Diane

[Ann Handley]

Agreed -- pretty sleazy, pretty disappointing. Bad move, BMW.

[Lucy]

I was curious after reading your post, so I tracked the ad down over at Sabine's ... and now I really wish I hadn't. I'm certainly not going to visit the BMW site to review the discussion there.

Perhaps they're trying to create a furore, rather like the recent ketchup ad (though I didn't understand the problem with that one, I certainly can with this).

Since their brand is already seen as for older men, surely this is just going to tarnish the brand further?

[Ardith]

Yvonne,

Consider me outraged and in your corner. Looks like I'll submitting my feedback to BMW as well and see what else I can do to file a complaint. If a petition is being circulated, please let me know.

Thank you,

Ardith

[Katie Konrath]

It's obvious to me that the car companies are getting desperate. Why else would they create such a ridiculous advertisement?