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."
