Fiat is off to the States as we speak, trying to sell small cars to people who aren’t happy unless their SUV comes with a dead penguin strapped to the bull bars. Small cars don’t have a good track record in the US as all the roads are about 8,000 miles long and about as wide, meaning our little European hatches, taut of handling and tiny of interior, are a tad out of their comfort zones.
Clearly Fiat thought it needed a boost trying to overcome decades of superchargers, Hemis and literally drinking petrol, so it’s enlisted Jennifer Lopez (youngsters may know her as J-Lo) to drive the Fiat 500C and sing about her Papi, whatever that means.
What follows is a baffling collision of a song that seems entirely unsuitable for the sitation; namely a load of zombies trying to eat La Lopez, flinging themselves on her bonnet and chasing her car through a deserted city’s streets. But, in the end, she gives up and joins them for a dance.
It’s straight out of the ‘throw enough money’ school of advertising – and it seems to have gone down really badly on this side of the pond, as adverts clearly catering for an American audiences tend to. That’s a bit of a shame, as Fiat’s small cars are excellent, particularly the 500 and 500C.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Fiat has inflicted launched a duff celebrity tie-in. Over the past couple of years Fiat UK has enlisted the help of Angela Griffin and James Morrison to aid their car launches.
Here’s Fiat UK MD looking extremely cool with the also-extremely-cool Morrison:
“…an intimate concert from a big star like James Morrison demonstrated how determined we are to promote our products like we have never done before.”
Indeed. Perhaps there’s a reason for that. And, with any luck, he’d add “and never will again”.
