Is This the Most Dystopian Car Commercial Ever Made?

Alpine's electric vehicles = freedom from a robotic world

You made a blonde chess-bot pout. Score one for humanity!

Alpine electric vehicles and Maison BETC Paris serve up a sad, sci-fi future in the stylish :60 below from director Nicolai Fuglsig.

This well-realized dystopian vision posits that driving cars will one day become the ultimate act of flesh-and-blood rebellion:

Fuglsig’s all about putting stuff in motion on motorways. Ad geeks will recall that he directed the uber-classic “Balls” for Sony Bravia. More recently, dude drove hospital beds down the highway in one of the year’s most audacious health campaigns.

Here, he channels 1984 (of course) and George Lucas’ THX 1138 (which uses cars as an escapist plot point), tossing in an authoritarian Elon Musk-style nitwit (sigh). The approach vibrantly leverages familiar tropes and current trends to show the joy of getting behind the wheel.

Note the transition at the end from gray techno-sprawl to nature’s wonders on a sun-splashed country road. Hardly subtle, but the visual contrast proves effective nonetheless.

There’s hella CGI on display, but no AI. So, all right then. True to its themes—more or less.

“The Alpine A390 opens a new chapter, and this film expresses our conviction: technology is only worthwhile when it makes us feel alive,” says nameplate marketing director Patrick Fourniol.

“We wanted to show the emotional power of a simple gesture: driving,” adds agency ECD Nicolas Lautier.

The initiative breaks in France this week, rolling out worldwide next year.