In General Motors’ Super Bowl ad, Will Ferrell is seen puncturing a globe while being angry that Norway far surpasses the U.S. in electric vehicle sales. The country is used as a counterpoint in the McCann Worldgroup announcement, which continues to spread GM’s message that its proprietary Ultium battery technology will help pave the way for broader adoption of EV in the United States.
But now the Audi division in Norway is fighting back GM and Ferrell, with the help of Norwegian actor and Game of Thrones star Kristoffer Hivju. In a new video, he is seen taking a globe like the one Ferrell punched and saying, “Do you want to punch us in the face?” and ends with the message: “Don’t hate. Imitate.”
Audi is among the brands that obtain a high percentage of their sales in Norway of electric vehicles. According to the brand, “the number one model on the market was the all-electric Audi e-tron”.
“Norway is a peace-loving nation, but we feel strongly that GM’s hate campaign deserved a quick response, of course with a touch of humor,” says Audi Norway.
The answer, which comes from the Oslo creative agency POL, includes two other videos that serve as a replica of the teaser videos starring Ferrell, which GM released before the Super Bowl ad. In one, Hivju questions Ferrell’s reference to the country’s first “mackerel fight” when reading a fake “Norwegian history book”. In the video, Hivju suggests that salmon is actually Norway’s favorite species for fish fights.