Okay, so I'm watching television, and I see a commercial for Mercedes. The commercial features a series of shots of couples leaving Mercedes coupes, starting in about the '20s and moving forward. The last shot features four people entering a Mercedes, and the voiceover says, "Introducing the first four-door coupe."
Okay. Now, maybe I'm just a simple boy from the Fedroplex, but where I come from, a four-door coupe is called a "sedan." And they've been making those for quite some time. Now, I'll grant that Mercedes' "four-door coupe" has a somewhat rakish roofline. This would make it... a sedan with a rakish roofline. They've made those before, too.
Now, for some reason I'd always figured that Mercedes was above this sort of marketing chicanery. I always figured that particular product sold itself. But it shows what I know, I guess.
(Sorry I'm not writing at greater length... I'm still very busy. At what? I'll fill in the details later this week.)
Thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday! I appreciate it.
Posted by Fred at January 31, 2005 09:07 PMWhat you have realize, Fred, is that no company is above doing anything to make money. Ever.
Posted by: ensie at January 31, 2005 10:23 PMEh, that's just how everything goes now-a-days.
Everything / everybody is out to make money. Not by having the better product at a better price, but by advertising. "If you can a better looking model of an existing product, or if you can make the same product and call it something else, you can sell it."
I agree with the cynical outlook on businesses, but I still think some products are perceived as "better than the pack" and they can charge a premium for that.
I think the line "Introducing the first four door coupe" referred to this being the first sedan from Mercedes, but they are too cool to call it that, and anybody else sedans don't matter.
Posted by: Tripp at February 2, 2005 03:04 PM