2014 Acura MDX “Human Race” Commercial: Gut Check [The Ad Section]

 

If you haven’t watched this commercial yet, take a moment before you hit play to answer this question: What’s your immediate reaction when you hear the name Acura? Specifically, where do you rank the brand on the spectrum of luxury marques? Forget all the gearhead facts and stats in your brain and just go with your gut. Then watch the spot.

So, did it change your impression? Acura’s betting $78 million that it will, unless, of course, you already ranked it up there with BMW and Mercedes, which most luxury segment buyers most assuredly do not. Honda head marketing honcho Mike Accavitti stated the obvious in a recent Advertising Age interview, saying that “Acura needs to distance itself [from Honda] as a luxury brand.” Simple to state but not easy to accomplish: Doing so will take some serious image-perception adjustment, which might explain why this 60-second commercial takes itself so damned seriously.

“Human Race” is a beautifully crafted spot. The direction and cinematography are top-notch. An original musical score that’s worthy of a feature film lets you know from the first note that something important is about to unfold. And then comes the wonderful, emotional female voice-over. It’s soft and vulnerable, yet determined and brave—a real “America’s sweetheart” kind of voice that makes you want to grab Old Glory with one hand and a box of Kleenex with the other.

The words are anthem-like too: “Man is a determined creature. No matter the circumstance, opposition, or even understanding, there is an inherent calling to seek, push, improve, transcend. It’s a perpetual process, a necessity of the human spirit, that inspired our own evolution.” Apparently Robert Frost is not only alive and well, he’s freelancing as a copywriter. And the images! What could capture the essence of man’s aspiration to discover new levels of greatness better than an inquisitive infant, or an astronaut floating majestically through unchartered space? For almost 40 glorious seconds we’re captivated, enchanted and charmed, and then, well, we cut to a series of shots of the new 2014 MDX as our gal concludes, “Because if your quest is to build the world’s smartest luxury SUV for mankind, you must hold yourself to the standard of mankind.” What a letdown.

Like a sucker, I’d been thinking we’re about to find out about a major medical breakthrough, or at least a new Spielberg movie. Worst case, maybe just the new iPhone. But an SUV? To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, the new MDX may be a big step for Acura, but it’s hardly the giant leap for mankind that the commercial suggests. And what about womankind? You can bet there’ll be a flap about that somewhere online. But the oddest thing about the tag line is that it’s been done before. Maybe everyone at Acura (and Mullen, its new ad agency) is too young to remember Nissan’s “Built for the Human Race” campaign of the late ’80s, but even if they are, I think the whole “made for mankind” concept is so full of itself that it poses more questions than answers.

• Instrumented Test: 2014 Acura MDX SH-AWD
• Instrumented Test: 2014 Acura RLX FWD
• Long-Term Test: 2013 Acura ILX 2.4 Premium

But still—and I say this at the risk of sounding hypocritical, because I personally think of Acuras as essentially glorified Hondas with hideous grins—there’s something about this commercial that nudged up the brand’s image in my viscera a little bit. And Acura is betting that a lot of people make their luxury-car purchasing decisions with their viscera.

Award-winning ad man-cum-auto journalist Don Klein knows a good (or bad) car commercial when he sees one; the Ad Section is his space to tell you what he thinks of the latest spots. The ad’s rating is depicted via the shift pattern at the bottom, but everyone has an opinion when it comes to advertising, so hit Backfires below and tell us what you think, too.

Source: CarAndDriver