PORSCHE PANAMERA COMMERCIAL

An ugly car doesn't look so bad when placed beside a very ugly car. Indeed, a very ugly car isn't so terrible when positioned next to the ugliest car. On the other hand, settling an ugly car down in the midst of a bunch of iconic and sometimes beautiful cars makes the ugly car look even uglier than it truly is.

Such is the case with this Porsche Panamera commercial. Only a brainwashed Porsche sales consultant would call the Panamera anything better than decent. Displaying the Panamera with the Pontiac Aztek, SsangYong Rodius, BMW X6, and Jeep Compass would flatter the big Porsche 5-door hatchbackish sedan. Instead, Porsche played the "family tree" card (which works out well at 0:56 in the commercial below) and introduced the Panamera to TV watchers in the light of a bijillion other Porsches, most of which look good; almost all of which appear appropriate.

As a result of showing the Panamera with ancient 911s, the stunning Carrera GT, and even official Porsche racing cars, the newest member of the fleet looks like what it is: huge, ungainly, and an unfortunate alloy of disproportionate ideas for the affluent. In this Porsche commercial, the Panamera emerges from the fleet as a too-tall; too-wide; too-bulbous mixture of Porsche design cues which should have been built; but should have been styled very differently.