M-Monochrom commercial, featuring the Ghost of Capa

[helvetica]

A commercial for the Sao Paulo Leica store:

http://vimeo.com/57612840

I could not decide if it was awesome or just over the top ridiculous. Either way, it would have been considerably fun to have filmed that commercial! Explosions! Shakey cam! Dramatic voice-over!!

 

[zuiko85]

I'm speechless.

But not in a good way.

 

[Pablito]

pure kitsch

 

[furcafe]

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128333

 

[5:00 PM]

This is so bad I don't know what to say. Expensive and tasteless might be a good start.

As a partial antidote, this gorgeous 20 second spot for the M6 might work:

http://www.leicapages.com/quicktime/M6ad.mpeg

 

[gb hill]

I liked it. Thought it was ok!

 

[Chuck Albertson]

I loved it. Almost like the Dos Equis "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign. But if it's a spot for the Sao Paolo Leica store, why is the voiceover in German, with English sub-titles?

 

[helvetica]

beaten to the punch

beaten to the punch

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128333

Ah! I figured someone would have seen it already. I did a bit of searching around first to make sure it wasn't already on here, but I missed that one!

 

[peterm1]

I liked it too. The world is full of far worse kitsch than this if it is kitsch. And we rave about Capa and his legacy all the time. Why should they not invoke him.....(Except perhaps that Capa shot with a Contax as much or more than with a Leica (and I have a pretty strong idea the camera he was carrying when he died in Indo China was a Contax. oops. But I still like it.

 

[ChrisN]

See larger here:

 

[gavinlg]

I thought it was great.

 

[dabick42]

Every sensible person knows that, in descending order of truthfulness, there are lies, damned lies, statistics, politicians' promises and... commercial advertising !

From a Leica PR viewpoint, Capa was a generic war photographer more famous than most of his peers because of his charisma and racy lifestyle, and whatever his camera preference was is immaterial.

Leica's only intent is to persuade you to buy a Leica.

Historical accuracy is for schmucks and anal retentives... (!)

 

[ChrisLivsey]

See larger here:

Is this going to set a trend of using never ready cases ? :angel:

 

[leicapixie]

Using Capa who did shoot mostly Contax is not a bad idea. Is the ad in bad taste? Not by modern standards of lying to the hilt, gross inadequacies overlooked, instant redundancy, obsolete before getting home! Be glad it was Rangefinder..Next one will be HCB with a long nosed white lens..

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Requiesce in pace, Leica...

🙁

 

[RBruceCR]

I am buying a book of R. Capa!

 

[siracusa]

Indeed, requiescas in pace, Leica... Aesthetically, I didn't object to it (quite liked it). But more than kitsch, I felt it was very crass. And that I didn't like so much.

 

[bojanfurst]

That was truly terrible and crass. Glorifying war, death and violence for the sake of a sale. Way to go Leica. And just for good measure they also included some sex because, as we all know, sex and violence go hand in hand. Real classy. And pretending to base the whole thing on the life of a man who more than anything wanted to be an unemployed war photographer. It's disrespectful to Capa and more than that, it's disrespectful to Leica's own heritage of humanist and concerned photography. Leica should be looking for a new agency. But hey, what do i know, the cameras are selling like hot cakes and maybe that's all that matters.

 

[wallace]

Kitsch is the right (and German) word for this ad. Terrible...

 

[Fuchs]

Every sensible person knows that, in descending order of truthfulness, there are lies, damned lies, statistics, politicians' promises and... commercial advertising ! (!)

Hu! You forgot to mention used car seller speeches somewhere in the middle of your list! 🙂