Mustang Ad Banned in Britain for Encouraging Awesomeness
U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the Mustang GT exiting the parking garage at 15 MPH ‘promotes dangerous driving.’
Forgive us for being sentimental, but putting the pedal down in our cars just gets us waxing poetic. Hey, we are automotive writers after all. And after over half a century, Ford knows that the Mustang just brings it out of some people. So much so that it went soulful itself for a recent Mustang ad in England. And what did this blend of art and engineering get them? Banned, according to BBC News.
The ad in question, titled “Don’t Go Quietly,” is now only available on Ford France’s YouTube page and other users who have reuploaded it, such as CarBecho. It features a theatrical reading of Dylan Thomas’ iconic 1947 poem over footage of employees trudging to work and enduring a number of humiliations at their lifeless office jobs. But before any of them can go full-on Tyler Durden, salvation comes in the form of a brand new Orange Fury Mustang GT.
Thomas’ poem has been recited by Rodney Dangerfield. It was the basis of Bill Pullman’s speech in the film Independence Day. It’s been in Interstellar and Doctor Who. No problem there. But to a few intrepid viewers in the U.K., those few seconds of the GT at the end of the ad were enough to promote dangerous driving. So they wrote strongly-worded letters to the U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), who promptly pulled the ad.
Ford vs. British Censors
Fans of Top Gear already know that the U.K. has a serious love-hate relationship with speed. The land of McLarens, Jaguars, and Aston Martins is also the land of speed cameras and notoriously reactionary media censors. Any suggestion of, dare we say “hooliganism” is swiftly pulled from the airwaves. Sadly, this Mustang ad is no exception.
The 60-second spot, produced by ad agency Global Team Blue, was shown in movie theaters and on Ford’s YouTube page earlier this year. Once it was shelved, the automaker and a British movie theater lobbying group came to its defense.
According to The Drive, “Both Ford and the country’s Cinema Advertising Association appealed their case by arguing that the ad intended ‘to contrast the everyday frustrations of work life with the freedom of driving a new Ford Mustang.’ They pointed out that the Mustang never topped 15 mph during filming, that it’s a loud car with a rumbling V8, and that the term ‘rage’ in the poem was not used to communicate anger or aggression, but passion and enthusiasm.”
The ASA was ultimately swayed by the ad’s “connotations,” despite the facts being on Ford’s side. They argue that it incites people to vent their aggression while driving, and this “put[s] the driver, other motorists and pedestrians at risk.” Even more, they found the footage of the Mustang exiting the parking garage (again, at under 15 miles per hour) to be too racy for Britain.
Sorry ASA, but we’re strong proponents of blowing off steam after work by safely taking the scenic route home. And 40-plus years after the Sex Pistols set off a media frenzy, you’d think the British authorities would realize that getting “Banned from the U.K.” only makes something seem that much cooler. In the end, it’s too bad that more British residents didn’t get to see an orange Mustang GT representing freedom from everyday monotony. But if there’s any consolation, with all this media attention, this ad has found a much larger worldwide audience.
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