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I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, because it’s gone under-reported by the news media, but we lost both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett yesterday. While their families, fans, and the rest of the entertainment world will miss Jackson and Fawcett, we won’t be dwelling on their lives or their influence in this space beyond offering our condolences–no doubt a disappointment to those who come to Car Lust for comprehensive hard-news and entertainment coverage. No, we’ll be doing something almost as important–focusing on their impact on the world of vehicle advertising.

Of course, their impact in the world of car commercials was vanishingly small compared to a car commercial regular like Ricardo Montalban, but I did find a few commercials to share.

Okay, so this isn’t really a car commercial, but it’s fantastic anyway. A Japanese-market Suzuki scooter is among the last things I’d expect Michael Jackson to endorse, but after some typically deft dance moves, he sold me on it. I love the fact that they’re basically just dancing around the stationary scooter, and we learn nothing at all about the product itself. My favorite part of this highly enjoyable commercial is the way the anonymous dancing woman sits on the scooter and basically bounces up and down for several seconds. I think that’s mean to be dancing, but it doesn’t really matter. This was at the height of Michael Jackson’s popularity, and he carries the commercial on the sheer power of his personality.

Farrah’s commercial has a little more content and a dramatically different feel; where Jackson’s commercial was very 1980s, Fawcett’s commercial is thoroughly infused with 1970s mojo. That includes, among other things, extensive footage of a real cougar. Why don’t today’s commercials feature shots of live cougars prowling, rubbing up against tires and lounging on car roofs? Well, probably because it’s difficult to image a live cougar really caring that much about its Mercury namesake.

This commercial was pushing the 1975 Mercury Cougar, which, like the Chrysler Cordoba, was a great, lumbering leviathan of the personal luxury market. “Personal luxury” at the time meant small-car coupe accommodations in a large car footprint, with distinctive styling touches that remind today’s consumer of Huggy Bear on Starsky & Hutch. Ah, I love these cars–especially in the context of today’s ultra-serious cars.

Some great moments in this commercial:

0:15 - “Just as unique in its on class as (Lincoln) Continental Mk. IV.” Huh. It takes a lot of parsing to figure out if that’s meant to be a good thing or not.

0:19 - “… the rich feel of glove-soft vinyl …” The rich feel of vinyl? Vinyl? I’m convinced that one of the biggest automotive improvements we’ve seen over the last three decades has been binning vinyl seats.

0:27 - Aren’t cougars primarily woodland creatures? Why is this cougar running up a sand dune?

0:37 - “Poised opera window!”

0:49 - This scene confuses me. The setting is meant to be at night–notice the artificially dark black sky, and the pure white moon that we glimpsed through the moonroof–so why is everything in the foreground lit up with warm sunset light? My boss also made a good point that somebody on-set probably had to guide Farrah on how to run in this scene with arms flying sideways so it would look more like a frolic than an athletic run. I’m guessing he’s right; I wish I had been there for that moment to hear the in-depth running instructions.

RIP, Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

–Chris H.