Digiday Publishing Summit:

Connect with execs from The New York Times, TIME, Dotdash Meredith and many more

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Nissan Ditches Uber-Starring Ad

Nissan altered an ad campaign featuring car sharing service Uber after events in real life came uncomfortably close to the action portrayed in the ad.

“The Briefcase,” which promotes  the 2014 Nissan Rogue, has an action-packed car chase video like something out of a Bourne movie. A geeky looking dude gets into a car from his car service of choice, Uber, and is then taken through a series of amazing car stunts, all to protect a briefcase. Several high-impact car collisions are shown leading up to an open-ended finale where viewers are left wondering what will happen to the unsuspecting Uber rider.

All of this is cool and fun, except when it hits too close to home: on New Year’s Eve a San Francisco Uber driver was arrested for a fatal collision with pedestrians, which took the life of a 6-year-old. The accident has ignited calls for regulation of Uber drivers, which aren’t subject to the same regulations as other taxi services.

“In deference to the recent fatal accident involving a former Uber driver, Nissan is working to suspend its video, ‘The Briefcase,’ which included a reference to the company. The piece will be edited out of respect for the family and re-issued.”

“The Briefcase” commercial has also been aired on TV for the last several weeks, though after the recent accident, it’s elicited negative Twitter responses from those who’ve seen it:

Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 4.32.44 PM

Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 4.52.30 PM

 

Screen Shot 2014-01-06 at 4.53.12 PM

The video was shifted to “private” on Nissan’s YouTube channel Monday afternoon, though the video is still live on iSpot.tv.

https://digiday.com/?p=59828

More in Marketing

WTF is ‘Google Zero’?

The era of “Google Zero” — industry shorthand for a world where Google keeps users inside its own walls — is here.

privacy search

The next browser wars are here — and AI wants the ad dollars too

Perplexity and OpenAI are getting ready to take on Google’s Chrome, but will need a solid ad business to keep their browsers ticking along.

Vista Equity Partners’ TripleLift implements ‘significant’ layoffs

The latest round of layoffs is understood to have impacted all departments at the SSP across multiple geographies.