Nissan Japan Spoof - "Fuel Effecient Heidi"

This is definitely one of the goofier finds from my regular scouring of the Youtubes. In 2009, Nissan promoted their line of fuel-efficient cars by spoofing perennial Japanese anime favorite - Heidi, Girl of the Alps.

Nissan's Heidi spoof is rendered in chunky 3D graphics, almost something you'd expect to find on a Nintendo 64. The tv spots are pretty short, while the website features longer "episodes," where perky Heidi irritates the hell out of everyone by relentlessly barking out the same question, "What is fuel efficiency?"

Trust me on this - Heidi isn't nearly as annoying on the original show as she is in these ads. Maybe that's just the way she rubbed off to the hipsters in Japan. Considering that they grew up watching this series, to say nothing of its immense popularity and influence, it would make sense for the hipsters to give it the Family Guy treatment. Hmm....come to think of it, just when is Family Guy going to spoof Heidi? Do I have to send Seth MacFarlane my DVD box set? 'Cause I will.

You can visit Nissan Japan's website and watch all the Heidi material that's available.