WASHINGTON – A Cadillac ELR commercial released earlier this year has been answered by Ford, and both are gaining attention on YouTube.
In February, GM released an ad for the Cadillac ELR that opens with a man standing at his backyard pool asking, “Why do we work so hard? For this?” The ad then follows the man as he walks through his mansion praising Americans for working harder than people in other countries — especially people in countries that have traditions of taking vacation during much of August.
The Cadillac video has received more than 1.3 million views on YouTube.
“It’s pretty simple: You work hard, you create your own luck, and you’ve got to believe anything is possible. As for all the ‘stuff’ — that’s the upside of only taking two weeks off in August,” the commercial concludes.
Online, response to Cadillac’s ad has been split. Some viewers have praised Cadillac for focusing on the value of hard work, but others have said the ad is materialistic and smug.
In response, Ford released an ad of its own for the C-MAX that features the founder of Detroit Dirt, an eco-friendly small business. A close parody of the Cadillac commercial, the Ford video praises the hard work of “crazy entrepreneurs trying to make the world better.”
The Ford video has more than 750,000 views on YouTube.
See both videos here.