Ho ho ... hum. Guess how "Jingle Bells" sounds when sung by an a cappella choir riding in the backseat of a wildly speeding and skidding BMW driven by a professional race-car driver. If you said "Pretty bad," you'd be right! In Switzerland, the automaker buckled four caroling members of the Zurich Acapella Group into a BMW M135i driven crazily on a track by Martin Tomczyk. I'd like to report that hilarity ensued, or that something even mildly compelling took place, but that's frankly not the case. It's so predictable: the screeching tires, roaring engine and understandably off-key caterwauling of the performers. Some commenters have suggested the singers over-acted on purpose, making outrageous scaredy-cat faces for the camera. Maybe so ... but really, who cares? (Alas, there's no fiery crash to liven things up.) Volkswagen did a similar, marginally more engaging commercial with folks who do stuff really fast—a speed talker, a lightning-fingered guitarist—unable to perform their specialties when driven around at high speeds. The lack of any real tension yields minimal entertainment value and makes such spots as exciting as a long winter's nap.
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