Car Commercial - Follow Up
So, shortly after posting the “Car Commercial” notice we found last week, we discovered similar notices all over town. Opera Alley. Dock Street. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it downtown this weekend to see the fancy new car do laps around town. Well …
A lovely Exit133 reader sent us these pics:
The thing to note in the bottom photo.
1. The shiny new car is in the bottom right corner. It appears, to our untrained eyes, to be the 2009 Lexus IS F 2009 Acura TL. Click on the photo for a larger version.
2. In the bottom left corner are the car commercial people yelling and running toward our intrepid photographer. With all the chaos down below their condo, she felt like taking a picture or two. “No Pictures!“ The car folks then turned the cameras on our reader’s window and started taking pictures of her as she looked out. They talked to the cops and looked up at her window some more. Later, she looked out the window and saw that the car folks had a spotter in place to keep an eye on her. In our reader’s words … “Creepy mofos.”
Anybody else get photos? If so, send them our way.
Thank you, Elizastan
Previously On Exit133
19 comments
E Erik B. July 14, 2008
The car folks then turned the cameras on our reader’s window and started taking pictures of her as she looked out. Later, they looked out the window and saw that the car folks had a spotter in place to keep an eye on her window.
It’s tough to do much in downtown Tacoma unusual without someone taking a picture of it and posting it. Especially for events in the street and after posting notice about it.
R Roger July 14, 2008
Pretty sure that’s an Acura. Maybe the new TL, if I’m not mistaken. This would explain the secrecy (and yelling), as the upcoming model is a complete revamp,and they probably didn’t want more spyshots of it on the Web.
D Derek staff July 14, 2008
I think you’re correct about it being the new Acura. We were being biased by folks reportedly telling people they were in town to film a Lexus commercial.
L laura Hanan July 14, 2008
It was definitely the new Acura. I watched it from my balcony go about 60 mph in reverse – it was really cool and impressive – if I tried a maneuver like that I would take out just about every car on my block! Evidently Road and Driver or whatever those car mags are called will pay big money to get first pictures of the car – but they don’t want anyone else getting pictures so they had some super high tech stealth military sensor on the car that could tell if it was being photographed –
R Roland July 14, 2008
Lots of aspects of this don’t make sense to me.
First, they advertise that a new car commercial will be shot.
Then, they get upset when people actually show up with cameras?’
Seems more like they are trying to get free publicity to me, and by getting agitated, they make it appear that they don’t want you to do exactly what you’re doing.
It’s called guerrilla marketing.
If a major car company didn’t want you to see their new car, you would not see it.
K KevinFreitas July 14, 2008
Public place = photos legal. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I hate when photographer’s rights are put in question by commercial interests. If they didn’t want you see their new car they’d shoot on a closed set.
E Elliot July 14, 2008
Kevin’s right, they had no right to tell you not to take pictures. The fact that they thought they could complain to the cops about it is troubling – Tacoma police are terrible about harassing photographers. I swear I get hassled more in this town for having a camera than anywhere else I’ve ever lived.
B Brother Bluto July 14, 2008
You’re all right. They’re asking for trouble if they do this in a public place and announce it ahead of time. Duh.
Snap away!
D Dave July 14, 2008
If they expect to come here and abrogate our rights, perhaps they could have found a better place to shoot their commercial. North Korea comes to mind.
S Steven July 14, 2008
This really raises my libertarian ire. Exactly which law is it that says you can’t take photos from your property any time I want? Next time this happens, keep shooting those pix. I will help pay for bail and a good attorney.
T Tacomite July 14, 2008
Nice mention on Jalopnik for both Exit133 and Tacoma. Way to go Derek! I think car companies secretly love when ‘spy photos’ get published. Drives up anticipation of their new product. Definitely an over-reaction by the crew on set.
D Dave July 14, 2008
What’s really disgusting about this is that the camera crew should know full well that it was perfectly legal to take photos… and yet still tried to get the police to do something about it. Who the hell do they think they are?
Assholes.
S shingst July 14, 2008
Nobody said they tried to get the police to do anything… you assume. They could have asked the police some questions about the building. I’m sure they know they can’t control people’s cameras. They didn’t stick around long after the commotion anyway. They may have owned the street for a few hours but not the light reflecting off it and into a camera lens.
R RR Anderson July 14, 2008
why is the car wearing a burka? this is the dumbest car commercial ever. I hope they all die a thousand deaths, the infidels!
R RR Anderson July 14, 2008
as both gay and Muslim, I take great offense to the zionist acura spin-mavens use of a burka which should only be used to conceal the sinful bodies of women. Why the very idea of dressing a car like a woman is a gigantic insult man loving car owners everywhere.
It is time to declare holy jihad on Acura(s) across the nation.
wo wo wo wo wo! hand/flapping over mouth sound effect
M morgan July 14, 2008
So… I’m curious to see if they use the photos they took of the new Tacoma resident in their new commercial. Maybe that was all part of their grand plan.
M Michael July 15, 2008
Yeah stick it to the man! I’m glad to see that people aren’t bending over backwards to serve some stupid car company’s every whim. just cause were a smallish city doesn’t mean you can use and abuse us. we’ll have our pictures thank you very much.
A altered chords July 15, 2008
Unless it gets 100 miles per gallon or runs on celery sticks and grass, I don’t want one no matter how potentially sexy it is under it’s birka.
S shingst July 15, 2008
Derek @ 16
I live in the same building the photos were taken from and heard a lot of what happened, and just think people are over reacting.
Of course they freaked out, it makes sense they would considering what they were trying to do. All the yelling, screaming and pointing was to let the film crew know they had bogey on their six and needed to shake it before they were shot down. I didn’t hear any threats of intimidation… and the spotter was most likely to let the film crew know they could continue filming.
Don’t you think people w/ camera’s can be intimidating / aggressive ( paparazzi perhaps )??
If I had been the one taking the photos I’d have waved back and smiled… but I didn’t have the smarts that day to have my camera out.
Nice job Elizastan, its to bad nobody got the photo of the 2nd covered car.