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Norway and Ford respond to Will Ferrell’s GM Super Bowl ad

A couple of humorous videos try stealing the thunder from GM’s electric vehicle challenge

Well played, Norway.

Will Ferrell challenged Norway to an electric vehicle face-off in General Motors Super Bowl spot, which was getting some buzz ahead of the big game.

The GM “No Way, Norway” commercial featured the former “SNL” star drafting fellow actor/comedians Kenan Thompson and Awkwafina to cross the Atlantic and show that they won’t stand for the Nordic country selling way more EVs per capita than the U.S. does.

“We’re gonna crush those Lugers!” Ferrell says — although the commercial’s kicker shows him getting lost and ending up in Sweden, instead.

And in a teaser for the official Super Bowl ad, Ferrell made a prank call to order 5 million anchovy pizzas for the entire country.

Well, Ford’s Norway team, Norway’s prime minister, and even a local university have all clapped back with good-natured video responses.

Ford Motor Norge created a James Bond-inspired clip that features Mustang Mach-E SUVs delivering pizzas around Norway’s capital — driving home the point that, unlike GM, Ford is already selling all-electric vehicles in Norway and across Europe.

It tweeted at Ferrell that when he does finally arrive in the country, “We’ll save you a slice.”

And Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg got in on the action, tweeting a photo of herself enjoying a slice with the caption, “Well, thanks #WillFerrell I do like pizza.

But really, anchovies? Could we have pineapple instead?”

Meanwhile, the Universitetet i Agder responded with a mock apology video to mend American-Norwegian relations — but which really serves as a humblebrag to other ways that Norway’s quality of life may be better than ours.

(Indeed, the GM spot also featured Ferrell arriving in what he thought was Norway — as noted above, it was really Sweden — and saying, “Oh, this place is adorable. Dammit!”

The Norwegian university, which is researching ways to recycle and reuse old EV batteries, posted its “Sorry (Not Sorry)” clip over the weekend.

It features Sunniva Whittaker, the Adger University rector, watching the GM ad and warning an adviser that, “The Americans are coming, and Will Ferrell does not look happy!”

They decide to get rid of anything else that might make Ferrell envious of Norway in any way — which includes training university students to say “I pay tuition” even though public education is free in the country, or hiding any signs of free healthcare or year-long paid maternity leave, which the U.S. does not have.

In fact, the U.S. is the only highly-developed country without a federal paid parental leave law.

“If he gets so annoyed about our electric vehicles, I can’t imagine how he’d react to all the other stuff,” Whittaker says.

Watch it here:







Food for thought, Pizza

Cheers

Frank