Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Lancia does an Audi

Lancia has a very Waits-like version of Somewhere on their Spanish site. The Audi law suit - in Spain! - apparently was not enough of a deterrent.
Funnily enough, Waits mentioned Lancia in his reaction in Filter Magazine to another sound-a-like ad by Opel;
If I stole an Opel, Lancia, or Audi, put my name on it and resold it, I'd go to jail. But over there they ask, you say no, and they hire impersonators. They profit from the association and I lose -- time, money, and credibility. What's that about?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

No big deal. Mr. Waits (and lots of other people including his lawyers) will probably never be able to see that add.
The site requires (and insists) to have Flash 6.0 installed on your computer. At least on my Firefox and my IE browser, I am unable to see that animation, even though I have Flash 8.0 installed. And I am certainly not going to 'downgrade' my Flash player just for that add, am I? :-)
But even if you try to follow the download link, you get redirected on to the Flash download for OS X. Sorry, my (Windows) machine wouldn't know what to do with that plugin.
So: amateurs in legal stuff, amateurs in web technology.
PS: it might work on a Mac, never tried.

The Eyeball Kid said...

Mr. Waits' management has seen/heard this.

Anonymous said...

IE6 with Flash 8.0 had no trouble with it here... *shrug*

Imitator or not, that voice sounds AWFUL. Blech.

--
Sarah V.

Anonymous said...

Like brunok, I had trouble with trying to see it on FireFox. No problems with IE after sedating my popup blockers.

It is so obviously a rip-off that I am sure Tom's boys will go after Lancia. What else can they do after all their other actions? Must get tiring for Tom.

An interviewer once asked him if he protected his voice. His reply "Protect it from what? vandals?"
But now it seems he's having to protect it from rip offs.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame!
Sue them, Tom.

Anonymous said...

Tom Waits is one of the few recording artists who appears to have a shred of artistic integrity left. I hope he acts quickly on this.

Anonymous said...

Sure sounds like Tom's version, though a bit more Satchmo-esque. Nevertheless, go get 'em, Tom!

Anonymous said...

Gee, I just had to go right out and buy myself a Lancia. In fact I bought two

Jarlath

Anonymous said...

Jarlath, that's why I'm glad Tom doesn't do advertising... I'd buy it all, I couldn't stop myself... there's just something about that voice.

*wanders off to fix some beef, liver, and bacon for lunch*

--
Sarah V.

Anonymous said...

have to say I agree with zenora.. it sounds exactly like Tom's arrangement but more like Louis Armstrong in the voice, crossed with Tom's.

Anonymous said...

I finally got to listen to that ad (seems like either I didn't mater my IE or they fixed it, Firefox still don't work) but it's a real disappointement: the voice/music is, as other have pointed out already, a cheap mix of Tom Waits / Louis Armstrong, the graphics simply suck.
I'd rather buy a Lancia than have another look at that clip.

Anonymous said...

Lancia will feel the wrath of Tom Waits!!! (or his lawyers at least)

Anonymous said...

What a blatant attempt to "ride the coat-tails" of Waits.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Lancia is well aware of the consequences. But it gets there name in the papers.
Some say there is no sutch thing as bad publicity.

But I still hope he sues them big time !!
they are r(i)(a)ping his music.

Anonymous said...

Why do they keep ripping him off? It's ridiculous. Can't they use Britney Spears or something instead of bringing Tom down to their lowest-common-denominator level?

Bastards.

Allon

Anonymous said...

I agree with Stefan. And I guess they are aware of the cost, but they hope it is going to put their name (I won't write again, on purpose) on calico's.

What some men wouldn't do for money... until it runs out... You, bastards, over there !

The one who decided deserves a foot in the face, according to me.