The feeling I get watching many of the ads mentioned here is “What have I done to deserve this?” Few ads actually supply a punishment of mythological proportions, but the Ford Focus Cabriolet pulls this off and leaves you feeling like Prometheus, spending eternity chained to a rock having your liver pecked out by an eagle each day then restored by the next morning for the punishment to continue anew.

The ad opens in a small, cosy Italian square (“Piazza, Charlie…”), spoiled only by the fact that some ignorant tosser’s left their Focus Cabriolet blocking half the street. A wide-eyed moron who’s gawping at the car proceeds to bump into another person, setting off a chain of mishaps, which the camera follows around the piazza, eventually coming to rest on the car again, only this time it’s got it’s roof up.

Yeah, look impressed.

That’s certainly the reaction of said moron, who proceeds to repeat a similar chain of mishaps all over again.

Thankfully, the ad fades out halfway around the second time but I’m left with the feeling that I’ve narrowly escaped being trapped for an eternity in the piazza. It’s not a pleasant sensation at all and I do start to question what I’ve done wrong to deserve this punishment.

Which is pretty much how I felt the last time I had to drive a Ford, so I guess the ad suits have hit the nail on the head after all…