[TROOPER]

Fellow BHPians and visitors, this is nothing but Tata's legendary quality control which has now seeped into their marketing.

Absolutely pathetic, idiotic and insensitive. All the past months work and marketing undone.

People back at Maruti and Hyundai must be popping champagne right now.

[Invariance]

Typical ad in the age of social media. Whoever is behind it, they've done this knowingly and deliberately. They have no more fallen for this crap than we have, but they're spreading the message anyway. Why? Because, for every savvy netizen pointing out that this is wildly exaggerated nonsense, there are a dozen gullible consumers who will buy the claims made by the ad, no questions asked. This kind of advertising has become distressingly common simply because it works.

Originally Posted by omranga98

Also isn't it a crime to make misleading advertisements?

Only if they make false claims of research data. Like, if the advert claimed that "official testing shows that people can walk out of a Nexon hit by a train moving at XYZ km/h" or some such nonsense without indicating a source of this research, then they could technically be sued. The law is a mess (like most other laws, actually.)

[varman742]

I don't think the ad is claiming that the train incident is true. I think it is boasting that nexon has created so much buzz that everyone including the memes are talking about safety nowadays. I hope that no one at TML is so silly to believe this to be true.

The ad intent seems to be okay but the executive could have been better

[Abhi5868]

Originally Posted by varman742

I think it is boasting that nexon has created so much buzz that everyone including the memes are talking about safety nowadays

There are tonnes of memes which depict a better imagery of Tata's safety orientation. Even better, every reviewer since Nexon's crash test reports especially mentions the better built they offer. But nope Tata had to do something quirky. Mahindra is one up at present in terms of safety (or so I believe). But we don't see them making such lame ads. Unless Tata's planning to release something for it's 14yo internet fanboys, I don't think these ads are going to make any significant mark on their sales.

[fhdowntheline]

To some extent we must also introspect as the largest independent online enthusiast community. The objectivity in the debate around the most recent GNCAP tests was thrown out of the window. That ,coupled with other reports of occasional mechanical failures and all hell broke loose.
Suddenly all the cars with 4 stars and above were divine creations of the Almighty, and the rest were vehicles of impending Doom.

I think we must collectively sober down on this a bit.

[superguy282]

Two totally random pictures have been shown in it. One of which shows a derailed train. And well you can call me crazy but I'm pretty sure the Nexon wasn't the cause for it to get derailed. And what's even worse is that people have started to get the impression that driving a 5-star rated car will save you regardless of how you drive it. A peek at social media is enough proof this statement.

Tata itself on the other hand made IMHO The Best ad for a car in India (Tata Safari ad). That shows real creativity and makes you feel like buying the car! In the end that is exactly what matters.

Even when they took a jibe at Maruti and Hyundai with memes on social media, they were done in a very tasteful way and had at least an ounce of quality in them. They were greatly appreciated on TBHP. Whereas here, even the creator of the meme himself is surprised that it got included in the an actual ad. Hence the criticism.

[giri1.8]

@ anujmishra

Good points, but Vitara Brezza has 4-stars, so not an unsafe car.

I had an Tigor and would rate Tata's sales experience as one of the worst and ASS was just above polo (one above the last).

Calling people's car as a piece of junk doesn't seem to right to me, Creta and Sonet haven't even been tested yet just like your Dicor. Kindly avoid such statements

[Flash777]

Wow. Are ppl serious on this? What a way to misinterpret an Ad!!

Tata was just talking about the 5 Star Global NCAP rating and the buzz the Nexon created on Safety standards which even included Memes.

The Ad in any way doesn't talk about the memes being true.

They are proudly showcasing that they brought Safety into the conversation while buying a Budget Car and how Tata Nexon has raised the awareness in public about Safety.

We cannot discredit them for that.

[superguy282]

@ anujmishra;4953878

This is exactly what I'm talking about! Did you even read what I said? Everyone now thinks that a Nexon or any other 5 star rated car would've performed better and emerged unscathed in any crash without any background information of the crash!
I would like to ask you this:-
1- Do you know how the crash happened?
2- What vehicles were involved in the crash?
3- The speed at which the crash happened?
4- What happened to the passengers?

This accident would be ridiculous if it happened in a scenario where both cars were below 40kmph and it would surely showcase poor build quality. But we don't know that do we?

Judging a cars safety ability by how mangled it is, is nothing short of stupid . A look at the Nexon's test video shows how badly mangled it was, yet the occupant's safety is what matters in the end and it emerged victorious. This is exactly why such ads should not be made!

[gmhossain]

After reading few posts here, I feel we really need to laugh out loudly sometime, specially in current trying times with frail nerves. Let me share two legendary but dramatic TV commercials. After watching them, I am pretty sure, none of us would believe that one could use chewing gum to do the hair-job or use superglue to catch fishes.

However, they do convey their strengths. The fact that we are discussing the issue of safer cars, I guess, Tata has made its point. At the end, its our own money and so we can choose to overlook either laggy infotainment or questionable chassis. So let's chill and enjoy these two commercials from the olden days!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-ZjeG_XofE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMZ45fSOr1k

Cheers,

[Abhi5868]

Finally what I was initially fearing has happened.
But never expected a personal attack of sorts, if a gentleman thinks his untested Safari is better than another untested car then my best wishes to him. Guys the execution is in question, not the intent. The guy who made the post himself was shocked, said that there were dozens of other posts applauding Nexon in a more sensible way. Tata's PR and the fanboys are the only people dumb enough to believe such campaigns, we're just mocking the execution.

Oh and to all the fanboys who've recently become extremely safety conscious, our first three cars were from the Mahindra-Tata stable (Marshal/Uno/Vista) and they gave us multiple reasons to bang our head on the walls.

[giri1.8]

@ anujmishra

1. I asked zero questions to the sales guy and just booked my car with few discounts that was available for the month.
2. Wanted to change color, sales guy saw an opportunity and told zero discounts on that color. I argued that the month is yet to be over and same discount should hold good. Later he accepted.
3. Zero follow up from his side. This is after completing all formalities.
4. Delivery day arrived. We had to wait at showroom for hours and he doesn't show up at all.
5. Someone else decides to do the delivery for us and we were OK.
6. They started cleaning the car only after this.
7. We took the delivery, guess what, car already had dashboard rattles.
8. Few days later, fuel lid refused to open at fuel station. With few friends onboard. Imagine my embarrassment. This was just the beginning.

Hans Ford guys treated me like how I should be. They know that I need not spend 1cr on a car to be treated nice. It doesn't cost any money to get things right.

Since you have decided to comment about my experience, I would love to know which Tata products you have purchased in the last couple of years

[shancz]

I think we have to accept that we got a bit carried away in this thread, me included.

Listing out some views I could form reading this thread and I hope we all agree with :

• Has Tata has set high standards in safety : Yes
• Do they need to do a lot more in other areas : Yes
• Have they have made excellent ads/promos which are brilliant and witty while being correct : Yes
• Is this ad good : Yes
• Is that screen where they show that train comment, is in poor taste and inaccurate : Yes
• Was it a slip-up rather than their SOP : Yes
• Should they have been more careful : Yes
• Do you think they will do it again : No

I honestly think it's a slip-up by their marketing team, who don't make the cars so any concerns about Tata Motors as a brand or manufacturer is misplaced IMHO, me included.

Like pointed out earlier by fellow BHPians we have blown it out of proportion here and this thread should have been a good laugh, that's it.

Just for laughs, sharing some personal experiences.

An airline sent me a promo mail with a giant image of an aircraft type they never owned, with their logo and paint scheme on it . That was a good laugh and that's it. Never saw that again. Most likely the marketing team got an earful and I am sure they laughed too.
So will the team at Tata.

I remember watching a TVC for Kwid with ABS when 2 guys are on an off-road trail and stop before a stream. The passenger then says "don't worry, we have ABS" and then they cross that stream. This was hilarious.
It was the perfect demo of zero understanding of ABS by the company's marketing team. But was a good laugh.
Did that mean that Renault don't understand ABS systems ? Absolutely no, just that their marketing teams were in for a lot more than earful, which they duly deserve.
Since i cannot find that TVC online, I can only assume

Let's just have a good laugh at these incidents regardless of the manufacturer, remember these are honest slip-ups, committed by over enthusiastic humans (like we got carried away), which slipped through the checks.

Happy Motoring.

[JithinR]

TATA has benefited in almost unimaginable ways from the social media support they received over the years.

At times, I have felt that the social media trolls are none other than TATA Marketing guys themselves. Take up any video on YouTube with a TATA vehicles issues and you immediately see a bunch of guys claiming to be owners of the same model calling the OP an idiot and a loser who doesn't know how to drive or more recently telling him to stop posting issues on SM and go to the service center.

This kind of vitriol/hate is directed at owners without even checking if it's a genuine issue (if fanboys are to be believed then no TATA car can have an issue and even if it does so what it will protect your life in case of a crash). Even our one TEAM BHP members have had to defend themselves against this troll army even when TATA ended up admitting the issue and replacing the parts of his AMT system.

All this lead me to move away from Nexon as a choice when I was looking for a car for my sister. Now I have taken a renewed interest in the car since they introduced electronic safety aids from the base variant itself (kudos to TATA for that!)

In this case what is sad here is that comments on the video next to the screenshot of the train accident are all fine ...it's only the meme that is in bad taste. TATA gained apprecation and popularity because of standardized crash tests like GNCAP but now they intentionally add a stupid meme into an ad that goes against the very spirit of conducting these tests. Nope, simply not done.

Also, members defending this (and attacking other TATA owners on the forum) need to understand that riding a negative publicity campaign of maligning other brands or even supporting these trolls can quickly spiral into something unintended and out of control.

Sometime back there was an accident (not sure if it was posted on Team accident thread) where a Ford figo rammed into the back of TATA Tiago standing at a traffic signal. Can't find the original video but I can find this related one

https://youtu.be/0BfdNI1DgAc

.

It was genuinely hilarious to see the TATA Fanboys in the original video comment section. These were posting comments like headless chickens unable to accept that the old gen Figo can do such damage to a Tiago.

At the end of the day, TATA still has a lot of work to do and they need to play to their strengths while acknowledging their weakness if they want to get a bigger share of the passenger car market with safety as a USP.

On a related note, I had a senior in my development team who didn't take code reviews seriously (because he thought my work was impeccable which is definitely not true and actually impossible from my limited experience). I genuinely never wanted my user stories to be reviewed by him since I was worried of the issues that would reach production environment.

All of us make mistakes and have room for improvement. What matters is being capable of receiving genuine feedback (even if it's negative) and working on our weak points. Applies to all of us including TATA.

[Raghu M]

This is very poor form of advertising. More so when people of a family have passed away and you mock them that had you bought another car, you would have been alive to tell the tale. I think the crash ratings only need to be displayed but not made part of selling points in ads. Even with a 5 star, there are chances that a person may not survive an impact. It is just about being cautious and also taking all steps to ensure passenger safety. I am not a fan of mocking other brands in any form to begin with. Well, with the advent of social media, I don't think this is going away anytime soon. Expect these memes to increase and even form livelihood for a certain section of people.