BMW’s Used Cars – Sleazy or Virginal?

If you’re in the market for a second-hand BMW in the US, you’re a fatherly type who wants his innocent little blonde daughter to believe in Santa Claus.

If on the other hand you’re living in Greece, forget the virginal. You’ll be enticed by sleazy innuendo which equates a “used” car to a beautiful woman in a come-hither pose and asks “You know you’re not the first. But do you really care?”

That’s the only conclusion to be drawn from ads which infuriated women’s groups when they first surfaced a couple of years ago, and are now being circulated again.

Women’s blogging networks ran hot with outrage at this BMW ad for Greece:

However if you lived in the US you would have seen this almost ludicrously sentimental

It is fascinating how an international brand marketer like BMW, spending a lot of time, money and research on its messages, can come up with two such different versions of the same theme: “BMW’s premium used cars are so beautiful, it won’t matter if you’re not the first driver.”

And how one culture could get lathered up about seeing a young girl as “used” while another doesn’t even see it as something worth commenting on.

What do you think?