--- description: This couldn't be more bizarre, or unexpectedly amusing, or kind of clever if you squint with your brain just so: Mercedes plus Nintendo plus Super... title: New Mercedes Super Mario Bros. Ad Is Weird image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This New Mercedes Super Mario Bros. Ad Is Pretty Weird Alright by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 29, 2014 6:21 PM CUT by [Matt Peckham](/author/matt-peckham/) ## Matt Peckham Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 29, 2014 6:21 PM CUT This couldn’t be more bizarre, or unexpectedly amusing, or kind of clever if you squint with your brain just so: Mercedes plus Nintendo plus _Super Mario Bros._ plus a sequence halfway in where that’s all reimagined as a live action thing, complete with realistic flagpole, castle, rocky wasteland and no-legged Goomba. That Mario’s too tall though. Anyone can see that. And what’s with the lazy because-I’m-bad, Goomba toe-stubbing saunter from the car? What’s the message here, “Mercedes makes you steely-eyed, big-nosed and oblivious”? From the school of “squirrel!” ad design, it’s hard to know what made Mercedes opt to do this now, with Nintendo’s game system (the Wii U) struggling, [if not on the ropes](http://time.com/90801/nintendo-wii-u/ "undefined"). E3 2014 in a week-and-a-half? Maybe. They probably wanted to get people talking about it. And here we are talking about it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/137116/mercedes-super-mario-bros/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/137116/mercedes-super-mario-bros/"},"headline":"This New Mercedes Super Mario Bros. Ad Is Pretty Weird Alright","datePublished":"2014-05-29T18:21:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:21.771Z","description":"This couldn't be more bizarre, or unexpectedly amusing, or kind of clever if you squint with your brain just so: Mercedes plus Nintendo plus Super...","url":"https://time.com/137116/mercedes-super-mario-bros/","keywords":["Tech","Video Games","cars","Super mario bros.","Ads","Mercedes","Mario"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Matt Peckham","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/matt-peckham/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/137116/mercedes-super-mario-bros/","name":"This New Mercedes Super Mario Bros. Ad Is Pretty Weird Alright"}}]}] ```