J. Lo's Fiat 500 commercial misleading, disingenuous? [Video]

Although the commercial on most people's minds right now when they hear the word "Fiat" likely involves an Italian model in a skimpy dress , it wasn't long ago that Chrysler signed up the help of actress and singer Jennifer Lopez to sell their 500.

While hiring J. Lo may not seem like a bad idea in and of itself, problems arise when the commercial starring her (which is heavily based on telling a narrative about J. Lo's life while the actress supposedly drives down the streets of the Bronx, where she grew up) turns out to be a bit of a lie, as TheSmokingGun points out in detail.

TSG did a little digging around, uncovering the fact that J. Lo refused to visit the Bronx to drive the car she is depicted as driving in the commercial. As it turns out, Fiat actually filmed J. Lo driving inside a Fiat 500back in Los Angeles, then used a body double to do the filming in the Bronx. The footage was then digitally overlapped and made to depict J. Lo as the driver while supposedly reminiscing about her alleged childhood in the Bronx.

While the idea of a body double for a driving scene isn't necessarily unheard of with high-profile stars, it's the combination of that and the message of the commercial that has many up in arms about the misleading angle of the ad.

Fiat issued a press release when the commercial, which is ironically titled, "My World," first debuted. The press release goes on to say that "[J. Lo] is seen driving a Fiat 500 Cabrio as she travels through the streets of Manhattan to the Bronx where she grew up." The release continues, "The new ad explores her personal take on how life in the New York City borough continues to inspire her to be tougher, to stay sharper and to think faster."

So given the narrative, the fact that the commercial doesn't actually feature J. Lo as the driver because she refused to drive in the Bronx makes it a bit disingenuous, to say the least. The uproar over the ad was fueled even further by the fact that many point out that J. Lo actually grew up in a very wealthy family in an upscale neighborhood, not experiencing the Bronx as the commercial depicts with its overly stereotypical images of kids playing in the water from an open fire hydrant, Catholic school girls playing double-dutch, African Americans playing basketball, girls listening to and practicing hip-hop music and more.

Given Chrysler's recent success with "Imported from Detroit" themed ads that depict "real Americans" in the streets of Detroit, an arguably misleading ad like this could potentially do harm to the brand and break trust. Then consider Fiat's current oversupply of 500sdue to lower demand than anticipated, and the negative press couldn't come at a worse time.

The commercial in question can be viewed below:


References
1.'Bronx cheer for...' view

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