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Mercedes-Benz’s parent company, Daimler, has issued a statement criticising the spoof advertisement, created by students at Germany's Ludwigsburg film academy.
"We believe it is entirely inappropriate to use the death of a person/child or contents related to National Socialism in an advertising spot, even though it is a fictitious spot," the statement said. The 80-second video depicts misty scenes of the Austrian village Braunau am Inn – Hitler’s birthplace -- set in the early 1900s.
A Mercedes-Benz C-Class drives through, using its collision-avoidance technology to prevent it hitting children playing in the road. And then deliberately runs over the adolescent Adolf. It closes with an onscreen title with the words: Mercedes Benz -- automatic braking system -- detects dangers before they arise.
The video also notes that it is not connected with Mercedes, and the students concerned said it was intended to demonstrate the potential ‘soul’ of technology.
"Mercedes sells its cars on smart technology which prevents accidents -- we wanted to pose the question of what might happen if technology had a soul," Tobias Haase, the video's director, told the German media agency, Deutsche Press-Agentur.
This reporter is on Twitter: @karlapincott
MCP from dath - Tobias Haase on Vimeo.
