Don't Forget to Buy Your New Mercedes

There's a new Mercedes commercial that really bugs. I always see it when I'm watching the Food Network, which I watch all the time. There's some folky song playing and the woman singing sounds a tiny bit like Natalie Merchant. You see various shots of men and women looking dreamy with strings tied around their fingers. The song lyrics mention something about string tying, rainbows, suns, etc.

The last shot is a close-up of a man in the Mercedes dealership who unties the string from his finger and lets it drop onto the floor in a pile of other Mercedes purchasers' strings. I think it's the look on his face that disturbs me the most. He's looking at the Mercedes, his jaw slackens, and he looks as if he wants to do dirty things to the car, like he's overcome with lust and wants to mount it immediately. I'm not exaggerating. There's a sexuality in his look that seems out of place to me, but I'm not really into cars so I guess it could be a normal reaction for luxury car enthusiasts.

Anpther annoying aspect is the whole premise that someone would need to tie a string aruound their finger to remind themselves to go pick up the annual new Mercedes. "It's that time of year again Jives. You musn't let me forget to go buy that Mercedes, I simply must get around to doing that."

It's hard to put my finger on why it irks me so much. I'm obviously not a member of their market audience, as I'm poor and fairly young and don't want to make sweet love to a car.