Jerry Seinfeld Created These Intentionally Terrible Acura Ads For His Web Series - And They're Hilarious
Comedian - and avid car enthusiast - Jerry Seinfeld wanted to capture the essence of these vintage television spots and apply it to 2014 Acura car models in as ridiculous a way possible.
He collaborated with Acura's agency Mullen on a series of eight commercials that will bookend each episode of the upcoming third season of his series "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," premiering on Sony's Crackle streaming service on Jan. 2.
Seinfeld doesn't appear in any of the ads, but wrote the scripts and collaborated with the campaign's director, Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men In Black"). Here's one for the Acura MDX, with a corny Space Race theme:
Seinfeld spoke with the New York Times about the idea behind the campaign:
Here's one with a showcase that could fit into a game show. A guy ready for a "Mad Men" audition and a woman just there to look pretty flaunt mundane features of the RLX, like its ability to park pretty much anywhere, its automatic windows, and the option of three interior fabric colors:
Acura let Seinfeld mock their cars as long as the vehicles got good exposure.
"While we're doing it in a tongue-in-cheek way, there are a lot of beauty shots of the interiors and exteriors," Michael Accavitti, senior vp marketing at Acura's parent company Honda, told the Times.
In "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," Seinfeld hangs out with a fellow comic (like Larry David or Sarah Silverman) while cruising around in a vintage car on the way to a coffee shop to chat. The episodes are 10-15 minutes long.
Seinfeld wanted the ads to organically fit into his series, and keep viewers entertained. "I feel like these just make my show better," he said.
There are six other commercials on Acura's YouTube channel.
And in case you wanted a point of reference, here's that classic Mustang ad we mentioned earlier: