Ford & Ferrari: Brands Have A Car Fight!

I started my goofing off day with a college basketball game. Yea, total couch potato bliss until the first popup covered the score. Not all my anger was directed at the mere presence of the popup, some was saved for the content of the ad. A Ford F-150 pickup image plus some blah blah message. My first thought was Ford sued Ferrari. Not a thought about the truck.Of course I tweeted my thoughts.

Naturally Official Formula One had nothing to say but the news media had a field day. From the BBC News

The luxury sportscar maker said it had written to Ford pointing out that F150 would only be used as an abbreviation of the full name of a racing car project and not as a brand to market cars.

"[F150] never has, nor ever will be used as the name of a commercially available product - indeed there will definitely not be a production run of single-seaters."

And CNN found the quote of the day

"Ferrari believes its own contender in the upcoming F1 Championship cannot be confused with any other types of commercially available vehicle whatsoever, nor can it give the impression that there is a link to another brand of road-going vehicle," Ferrari said in a statement. "Therefore it is very difficult to understand Ford's viewpoint on the matter."

"We're not concerned that the two vehicles would be confused," Ford spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari said. "The motive behind this action was about the brand being diluted."

Ok, I'll give Ford that one. However, what an opportunity to sell trucks flushed down the drain. A co-branding deal could have sold Ferrari Red F-150s with a slick F1 interior. Ford, you're a bully!

In case you have no idea what a Ford F-150 pickup is here are a couple of examples;

Ford Trucks take a beating from 1976

There are no Ferrari F1 race cars on the road today or any day.

Ford Is built tough from 2008

If Ford is so tough then why pick on a future mate?

However all's not well. Ferrari backed off and changed the name of the car from F150 (notice the missing dash) to "Ferrari F150th Italia", which makes absolutely no sense. Besides forcing Ferrari into a corner Ford's legal team has undermined all the goodwill and advertising presence in the F1 racing community. Think I am kidding? Then listen to an expert on on the sport; Gareth Jones. Ford gets the treatment in the last segment of Show 136

You can thank your lawyers now Ford. Bullies.

Credits:
Photo: The Clothes Ferrari by Puma Motorsport via
Dam Cool Pics Blog
src="adland.tv/ord-trucks-beating-1976-030-usa">Ford Trucks take a beating from 1976

There are no Ferrari F1 race cars on the road today or any day.

Ford Is built tough from 2008

If Ford is so tough then why pick on a future mate?

However all's not well. Ferrari backed off and changed the name of the car from F150 (notice the missing dash) to "Ferrari F150th Italia", which makes absolutely no sense. Besides forcing Ferrari into a corner Ford's legal team has undermined all the goodwill and advertising presence in the F1 racing community. Think I am kidding? Then listen to an expert on on the sport; Gareth Jones. Ford gets the treatment in the last segment of Show 136

You can thank your lawyers now Ford. Bullies.

Credits:
Photo: The Clothes Ferrari by Puma Motorsport via
Dam Cool Pics Blog