Mazda has a new ad where they compare their new car to Bruce Lee, saying it’s small but strong, punches well above its weight class, etc. It’s a catchy idea, but for me, unless their car can beat up a Mustang, a Corvette and a Camaro, it’s really just deceptive marketing.
And come to think of it, this whole ad strategy reminds me of something Bruce Lee’s master said to him near the beginning of Enter the Dragon: “Remember: the enemy has only images and illusions behind which he hides his true motives. Destroy the image, and you will break the enemy.” Well, if competing car companies point out the holes in the comparison between this Mazda model and Bruce Lee, and show how the true motives are to sell cars, will that break Mazda? (Or maybe Mazda could argue that their car is the real performer, while the other muscle cars are just living off their image and reputation and resting on their laurels. {Of course, that will be hard to back up, since the new American muscle cars are really quite good, so long as you can afford the gas.})
I’m annoyed that I cannot seem to find the ad I just saw on TV to show you. Here’s a longer, different Mazda ad featuring Bruce Lee, although the one I’m writing about only references the car and Bruce Lee, not Frank Lloyd Wright and Jackie Robinson (In this ad they say: “If no one believes in you, believe in yourself… this is the Mazda way”: Are they saying no one believes in Mazda? It sounds a little like it, when you split hairs like I like to do sometimes.):
(Of course, I’m just being a smartass. It’s a clever comparison and ad. And we all love any excuse to see Bruce Lee again, I’m sure.)
Here’s that Enter the Dragon line, but repeated in the later climactic fight scene (It starts at 0:37):
