Keeping with a recent trend, more and more Super Bowl advertisers are leaking their commercials ahead of the big game in order to create some buzz running up to the ad’s prime time debut. This strategy gets people (like me) talking about the ad and more importantly, the product, well ahead of time, earning extra value for the advertiser. This extra buzz is for better or worse, and in the case of Mercedes-Benz, a car I am overly passionate about, it might be for worse. The new ad with Kate Upton and some high school boys washing the new CLA model, is just not a great commercial. It’s not super sexy even though Kate’s featured in it and it hardly shows the car’s best features (it’s styling and affordability). The cinematography and production aren’t anything special either. It’s hardly a commercial I’d equate with the big bucks of Super Bowl advertising. Of course, even this article criticizing the ad is generating some (you’re probably the only one reading this who’s not related to me) press… and you know what they say, “there’s no such thing as bad press”. While I disagree with that statement (and so would Lance Armstrong), here we are, talking about another ad.

A better CLA ad with Willem Dafoe:

See for yourself in this article by Yahoo’s Shine site which similarly pans the ad:

http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/kate-uptons-mercedes-ad-too-tacky-sexy-194300914.html