Kia Hotbot is back to protect in new ad

One of our favourite Super Bowl ads has become animated. The Kia Hotbots ad was one of the 2013 Super Bowl hits, combining slick production, humour – and a sly dig at motoring journalists. The original ad featured a robotised motor show stand attendant – based on Miss USA 2011 Alyssa Campanella – dealing punishment out to a grubby-handed journalist who kicks and paws the car.

The ad was produced by Method Studios in Los Angeles, with help from stunt legend Gary Powell, whose credits include major action work like Skyfall and Bourne Ultimatum. The studio kept Campanella’s head and dress, but digitised the rest of her body to create robotic parts with clear panels at the joints giving glimpses of the working systems inside her.

While the Hotbot dished out brutal treatment in the first ad, the tagline to ‘respect the tech’ carried over into the second commercial in a storyline where the action between man and robot is so much friendlier it borders on suggestion of man-machine intimacy -- or perhaps that should be interface. Or maybe he’s just taken the Hotbot home to robovac his loungeroom.

The three most recent ads continue on the same theme of ‘protecting the tech’ but Kia has moved to a fully animated format. Strangely, since the Hotbot was so seamlessly produced for the first two ads, she’s barely recognisable in the hipster graphics of the cartoon format.

We’re curious as to why the change was made. Was there resistance to the near-human aspect of the Campanella Hotbot? Or perhaps resistance to the price of producing more highly complex commercials? And we’re also curious to know which one you prefer… the robotised Ms Campanella, or the cartoon version. Let us know in the comments below.