Episode 6: Mercedes Benz Needs a Competent Editor of its Ads

Tonight, I left work a little early so I could catch the Cowboys-Redskins game.  (I tend to work late.)

You see, while I was growing up in Takoma Park, Maryland, seven miles from the DC border, my family's religion was the Washington Redskins.  While I'm horrified by the money being floated around over nothing more than a game and simple entertainment, I justify my interest with the economic impact football has on the good old U.S.A.  I do believe the money would be better spent helping starving children in Africa, but at least folks in the lower economic echelon in the U.S. reap some benefit (if disproportional) from the sport.  Besides, watching football makes me feel close to my dad, who I lost in 1985.  Nostalgia is a powerful motivator, as every good advertiser knows.

But I do not want to put forth a philosophical argument on the moral pros and cons of football.  I'll save that for another day.  No ... I want to talk about the Mercedes Benz commercial that ran during the second half of the game.

The money spent on automobile commercials is probably equal to the money spent on automobile insurance commercials--in other words:  A Lot.

And among automakers, a certain German firm ranks, supposedly, higher in quality, and thus higher in price, than most brands on the market today--such a powerhouse would hire the highest quality advertising firms, would it not?  Mercedes means "quality."  So how could the script of that Mercedes Benz commercial make its way through the corporation's editors and quality checks with this glaring grammatical error?

And what is this egregious error?

One of the last features highlighted in the commercial is that the car has "less doors," suggesting this feature would simplify the driver's life.  Yes, I understand that advertisers often play with standard English, reversing "Rs" and other such tricks to attract attention.  My significant other points out that the literary technique of repetition may have justified the error to the advertising brains.  "It has less" this and that, culminating in the "less doors."  However, I am utterly convinced that this was simply a simple English usage glitch that escaped the advertising company's highly paid staff.

When I taught English, I joyfully pointed out grammatical and spelling usage errors in Microsoft Word's Grammar Check.  I always said I wished Microsoft would hire me because I knew I'd be making more than I was teaching.  I always said it with a smile, though.  I liked teaching.  And analyzing ads was always a fun assignment.  A grammar lesson within an ad analysis--what a righteous lesson that would be!

I cannot believe incorrect grammar was approved in the interest of audience awareness.  I can't see Mercedes Benz adopting a folksy approach, purposely skewing the language to reach the populace.  This is Mercedes Benz, isn't it?  Shouldn't the company be targeting snobs?

I hope that the snobs of the United States of America heard that line with the thunk-kerplunk that I heard.  No, Mercedes Benz!  Can doors be counted?  Did you sleep through English class, all of you?  Do I even need to say the word that should have been used to modify "doors"?

Mercedes Benz, I hope your reputation for well-made cars doesn't take a hit because the firms you hire do not understand basic English grammar.

On the other hand, my brother--who is also an avid Redskins fan--drives a BMW.  I applaud his taste.