Wanna good deal on a car? Thank CERN
September 9, 2008 | 12:48 pm
Last month several car salesmen and an ex-New York Giants lineman bantered about current events, bemoaning the general condition of the times.
Suddenly one said, “Well, we’re all going to disappear in a month in a black hole, so it won’t matter anyway.”
The End of the World Sale was born.
The Brad Benson auto dealership in New Jersey has made a name by creating controversial commercials involving current events. References to Michael Jackson and Michelle Vick have raised ire. When Benson, a 1986 Super Bowl champ, challenged Rosie O’Donnell to mud wrestle, protesters came to the showroom.
The latest commercial, which refers to the Large Hadron Collider at CERN switching on Sept. 10 and swallowing the world in a black hole, is a little more esoteric than usual, but fitting for a dealership a few miles from Princeton University.
Plus, “It makes for a great opening line,” says Jack Sweeney, business development manager for the Brad Benson auto dealership. “Reactions have gone the range.”
So far the dealership has gotten e-mails explaining why the black hole threat is fear-mongering hype and e-mails from parents who said their children can’t sleep at night.
Fermilab’s Tim Koeth almost drove off the road laughing when he heard the radio commercial while in New Jersey for a visit. His next reaction was to call the dealership.
“The salesman asked if this was a serious possibility,” Koeth said.
The Rutgers University graduate student explained away the concern and brushed off the salesman’s pitch to buy a car with lots of extras, because, hey, who is going to be around to collect the bill anyway?
Will Koeth point his friends towards the physics-minded dealership?
“I hate to say ‘yes,’ because then I am buying into his scheme,” he says, “but, yeah, I might.”
Listen to the advertisement (mp3)
Tona Kunz
Posted in Uncategorized |
5 Comments »
September 9th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Thanks for brightening my day… this is really, really funny. When today is a not-so-funny day.
September 9th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
i am an indigo / em path / amateur psychic / and have a very bothered feeling about this experiment ! any others curious enough to research this issue ? let me know . thanks
September 10th, 2008 at 7:58 am
It appears that the Media has frightened the people to death with the notion that today the world may end. I had numerous calls over the last 7-days from family and contacts asking what will happen on Wednesday 10th Sept. I told them absolutely nothing. In fact some people who I had considered previously level-headed were literally unhinged about the whole matter.
But the worst part of this media hype is that the collision of protons does not actually happen until October. Therefore in their quest to sell newspapers they have literally conned the people, as today was no more than switching on the electrical systems and testing if protons would travel the 17 miles long system at CERN.
When October comes, the Media will again most likely frighten everyone to death again, just in the quest to sell their goods. Isn’t it time therefore that the Media got their facts right and apologized to the people who they have conned – their readers. Indeed one guy had a letter posted in the UK’s Guardian newspaper yesterday stating that it was their last publication. Therefore one has to ask, has the Guardian also lost their marbles ?
Dr David Hill
World Innovation Foundation Charity (WIFC)
Bern, Switzerland
September 10th, 2008 at 10:56 am
But you still only get a 10-year warranty. If the world was coming to an end, wouldn’t a truly savvy business offer a lifetime warranty?
September 10th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
So I buy a car today with no payments until October and I drive free until the day that proton smasher starts. Better schedule my vacation before then also. Cancel the life insurance, pull the kids out of school, spend all my 401k, get arrested, speed if I feel like it and any other potentially irresponsible actions I can conjure up.
Reckon I can stop paying all my bills and just skip that 9/15 estimated tax payment. Oh, got to check on the url registration for HCL.octoberwillbetheend.whatever.