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5 Most Compelling Car Advertisements Of All Time

Who doesn’t love cars? You could be looking up lemon law attorney reviews, and if you saw a mention of a fine-looking automobile, you’d probably be tempted to drop what you’re doing and go check out some pics and videos. In large part, this is due to the great advertisements that companies put out to sell their cars. They’re memorable, so those automobiles stick in your mind, but only a handful have ascended to the status of “most compelling of all time”. Today, we’re going to take a look at a few strong options that might fit that bill.

The Volkswagen Beetle

One thing that Volkswagen, as a brand, is well-known for is their ability to embrace irony and self-deprecation. This all goes back to the 1960s, when VW would poke fun at themselves for the small size of the Beetle, or the fact that this automobile was relatively inexpensive. They’d mock that if you did happen to get into a collision with a Beetle, you’d likely survive unworried, as it would cost you next to nothing to replace! This is a reputation that has endured for more than half a century, all because VW was willing to joke at their own expense.

The Honda Accord

When you think of Honda you’re probably also thinking about how they’re a reliable and dependable brand with consistent automobiles. This perception was in full focus with their Cog advertisement that debuted all the way back in 2003 in the UK. Long story short, it’s a Rube Goldberg machine made of automotive components from an Accord. To add to the fact that this commercial is striking, though, is the fact that it took more than 600 takes to get it right and it went on to win a slew of critical awards, so the effort was well worth it!

The Citroen C4

Any advertisement that features a dancing robot is bound to turn some heads. When that giant robot doubles as the car you’re trying to sell, you win even more points—and a spot in the automobile advertising mythos, if you’re Citroen. By 2004 standards (when this ad was released) it was an absolute feat of technology and skill. Of course, having Oscar-winning director Neill Blomkamp on the production team, along with Justin Timberlake’s dance choreographer, Marty Kudelka, probably helped give them the edge they needed to execute!

The BMW Short Films

Sometimes, things are memorable just because they have a bunch of names attached that you recognize. That may well have been the inspiration behind BMW’s short film series, which packed in as many famous actors and directors as they could muster and thrust them into various cinematic scenarios. While not all were hits, they all had a little something you could remember and aided with reinforcing BMW’s brand image.

The Jaguar F-Type

Sometimes playing into stereotypes can be beneficial, and that’s what Jaguar leveraged when they created their Rendezvous advert, which played upon the fact that British actors normally make good villains, and cast some quality names (including Tom Hiddleston, Ben Kingsley, and Mark Strong) to get their point across.

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