You do not control your message

If you create a product, you like to fancy that you can completely control the positioning of your product in the market. However, experience shows that there are people downstream who can affect your product positioning in ways that you never imagined.

Take BMW, for example. BMW provides a premium product at a premium price, and tries to issue classy advertising for the self-described "ultimate driving machine."

But apparently BMW has little control over what its dealers do in their own advertisements.

On Sunday evening I was listening to KLAC-AM over the tubes, and I heard a Long Beach BMW ad several times. Someone posted the ad to YouTube, so you can listen to it yourself. Here's the part of the ad that probably doesn't please BMW Corporate:

Pop quiz. What is balding on top, has to wear a diaper, and screams in the car? No, it's not your neighbor's newborn. It's you. After buying a new 2011 BMW from Long Beach BMW, you can't stop screaming from excitement, and can hardly pull yourself from your new ride to take a bathroom break.

This doesn't necessarily correspond with the image that BMW drivers may have of themselves.

Unless, of course, Long Beach BMW is targeting Lisa Nowak as a customer.