(note: Flash6 is required)

About this page

Want to download the ad in a zip file? Go to the Honda UK website:
http://multimedia.honda-eu.com/multimedia/video/clips/cars/thecog.zip

The original page is located here: http://www.honda.co.uk/newcars/accord100k.html.

I simply copied a larger version of the ad (located here: http://www.honda.co.uk/newcars/accord300k.html) and placed on my webserver. This was only done because download rates from honda.co.uk were getting to be very poor and I wanted to send people to a rather quick download.

So a note to all you Honda lawyers, I'm not taking credit for this. This ad is clearly your work. Don't shoot. Please.

Yes, everything in the ad did happen as shown. There was no computer generation involved.
Want to know how it was done? Read these articles for more info:Daily Telegraph and Daily Record, both British news organizations.
Update 4/29/2003: Another news article has been posted about this ad. See the The Oregonian for this third news item.
Update 4/30/2003: Thanks to another alert viewer for a link to an article on Salon.com.
Update 5/5/2003: More articles. http://www.autonews.com/article.cms?articleId=43452, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=396534, http://www.carpages.co.uk/honda/honda_launches_stylish_new_accord_06_04_03.asp.
Update 5/7/2003: http://www.autonews.com/article.cms?articleId=43452

Additional Information

This ad is most definitely a nod to the filmmakers Peter Fischli and David Weiss. Their 1987 film, "The Way Things Go" (aka "Der Lauf Der Dinge") is a 30-minute-long showing of a contraption they built out of household items. (More information about the film here. To purchase the film go here.)

Update/FAQ

  • Yes, I know who Rube Goldberg is and yes, I know his influences on the above mentioned filmakers. Thank you. :)
  • Can't view the flash file? Try the Quicktime Version
  • The music at the end is most likely "Rappers Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang
  • Because so many people are infected with the Klez virus and don't know it, I've been getting over 20 megabytes of emails a day. Each Klez-virus email is 127K or larger. I really wish people would scan their systems and stop using crappy unpatched Microsoft Products. More info on Klez and how you can scan your computer is here: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.klez.h@mm.html. If you want to make sure you have the latest patches from Microsoft, visit: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

  • For all comments and questions, please email me here