Celebrities recite the kinds of labels that have attached to BMW's Mini brand in the United States to show how inaccurate they are in this Mini spot by Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. The 6-foot, 10-inch former Major League Baseball pitcher Randy Johnson, for example, stoops over to argue that Mini is not a "short man's car." And it's surprisingly moving when just-retired soccer great Abby Wambach says "This is a gay car," with air quotes around gay-as-an-insult. Harvey Keitel arrives to deliver the closing argument: "This car doesn't care what you call it."
Mini itself, for what it's worth, is the one that played up its small size in its early, much-admired marketing, which included a print ad showing the car slaloming between the staples binding a magazine.
Two months after Super Bowl 50, Mini said it was pulling ads featuring Wambach and "re-evaluating" its relationship with her after she was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
Mini last appeared in the Super Bowl in 2011 with a more humorous take, depicting a bawdy British game show in a spot also from Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners ("Cram It in the Boot").
BRAND: Mini
YEAR: 2016
AGENCY: Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners
SUPERBOWL: 50
QUARTER AIRED: Q3
