Kate Upton’s sexy car commercial ruffles some feathers [Video]

It’s been a while since we had any clearly gratuitous beefcake or cheesecake here at the Ministry of Gossip, but thanks to Kate Upton and Mercedes-Benz, it’s time for a little taste.

The lovely and talented Ms. Upton stars in a new commercial for the car company, tantalizingly and rather obviously titled, “Kate Upton Washes the All-New Mercedes-Benz CLA in Slow Motion.” What’s not to love about that, right?

Well, the Parents Television Council doesn’t seem to be head over heels about it.

“This ad [reinforces] for millions of wives, daughters and sisters across the country that you use your sex appeal to get what you want,” a spokeswoman for the group told the Daily Mail. “If anything, this ad proves that we’ve regressed rather than progressed over the last several years.”

(Using sex appeal to market cars? Who’d’a thunk it?)

Alas, the ad’s twist is a cruel one, for those of us expecting a bit of skin. Despite the title, and despite our watching the video through to the end at least four or nine times just to make sure we didn’t miss one slo-mo bit, at no point in the spot does Upton actually engage in washing the car.

That, it seems, is a job better left to a bunch of cute-but-not-too-cute young men in football jerseys -- who may represent the “new, hip, and preferably younger buyers” that Forbes says the brand hopes to attract with the CLA.

Many commenters on Mercedes’ YouTube and Facebook pages seem to be unimpressed, calling the ad low-brow or dumb or even porn, while others seemed to get a kick out of it or wonder what the fuss was all about.

Our fave comment? The one woman who called for an equal-opportunity version of the ad in which Jake Gyllenhaal was the one washing the car.

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