Cadillac’s Poolside ad starring actor Neal McDonough was the subject of widespread criticism when it was aired. It’s no surprise then that one of General Motors’ main competitors, Ford Motor Company, decided to poke fun at the controversial ad by shooting a similar commercial of their own, this time called ‘Upside’.
The spot was created and shot by Ford’s Detroit-based Ad Agency, Team Detroit. It stars Pashon Murray, the co-founder of Detroit Dirt, a company which collects natural waste from around Detroit, composts it down into soil and then spreads the dirt on abandoned pieces of land to create urban farms. The ad is for the Ford C-Max, which only appears once at the very end of the commercial, just like the ELR in the Poolside ad.
Ford maintains that its ad is “lighthearted” and is not intended to mock GM or meant to make fun of Poolside.
“I don’t think we’re mocking a competitor. We’re trying to showcase positive work being done in our community,” Ford spokeswoman Sara Tatchio told the Detroit Free Press.
The ad promotes the same values as Poolside, hard work, success and entrepreneurship, but presents them in a much different way. Which one you prefer is up to you. So check out ‘Upside’ just above and let us know which of these ads is more to your liking.
Comments
Screw you ford, you’re nothing more than an American Toyota now. The cmax is nothing more than a slightly better looking Prius.
wow that fucking sucked.
Ford the only reason you have. Hybrid is because of Toyota,,
Imitation is the greatest form of flattery.
I never understood the issues with the Poolside commercial. It was cool and funny all at once.
Well Ford has one for the liberal tree huggers now. That one was a load of manure.
Ford Liberal tree huggers and Manure, what a lovely combination. I thought this was a pathetic ass “late to the party” hope we can cash in too kind of thing. Don’t like it at all.
Wow, pretty funny Ford!
Love the Ford ad. That Cadillac ad was disgusting. Ford’s ad represents real people working to make a better world instead of uber consumption.
That was the worst comeback I’ve ever witnessed. Fail! …I mean Ford! “same thing, really.”
hmmmmm…
As a car commercial it’s a fail.
As a come back? WHAAAA?!? I had no idea the Caddy ad was directed at Ford…wait, it wasn’t directed at Ford at all.
As a chic and humorous joke? meh…
As a nice environmental plug? Not bad.
I never saw this as a political statement till some complained that their feelings were hurt.
Cadillac was not a stranger to making strong statements long ago. When they were taking hits from a competitor this was their response in 1915.
“In every field of human endeavour, he that is first must perpetually live in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recognition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man’s work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be mediocre, he will be left severely alone – if he achieves a masterpiece, it will set a million tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at the artist who produces a commonplace painting. Whatsoever you write, or paint, or play, or sing, or build, no one will strive to surpass or to slander you unless your work be stamped with the seal of genius. Long, long after a great work or a good work has been done, those who are disappointed or envious, continue to cry out that it cannot be done. Spiteful little voices in the domain of art were raised against our own Whistler as a mountback, long after the big world had acclaimed him its greatest artistic genius. Multitudes flocked to Bayreuth to worship at the musical shrine of Wagner, while the little group of those whom he had dethroned and displaced argued angrily that he was no musician at all. The little world continued to protest that Fulton could never build a steamboat, while the big world flocked to the river banks to see his boat steam by. The leader is assailed because he is a leader, and the effort to equal him is merely added proof of that leadership. Failing to equal or to excel, the follower seeks to depreciate and to destroy – but only confirms once more the superiority of that which he strives to supplant. There is nothing new in this. It is as old as the world and as old as human passions – envy, fear, greed, ambition, and the desire to surpass. And it all avails nothing. If the leader truly leads, he remains – the leader. Master-poet, master-painter, master-workman, each in his turn is assailed, and each holds his laurels through the ages. That which is good or great makes itself known, no matter how loud the clamor of denial. That which deserves to live – lives. “
http://mascola.com/insights/retro-ad-of-the-week-cadillac-1915-the-penalty-of-leadership/
I would love to see Cadillac reproduce this for Ford.