This is a very slickly-produced spec spot by German film students.

This very real-looking, fake commercial is the final thesis of students from the Film Academy in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Braunau am Inn is the Austrian town where Adolf Hitler was born and grew up.

From the students notes on the commercial:

"The Collision-Prevent-Assist-System of Mercedes does well. What if it would have been developed ages ago? What if it would be a lot better (than) we expected? What would (it) be if it had a soul?"

The video — between YouTube and Vimeo — has nearly one million views in less than three days. Mercedes knows of the spot and called it "inappropriate." But they also haven't forced the students to take down the video.

I'm sure they're torn, since it does sell their proprietary Collision Prevention Assist technology rather memorably.

Creative Note: The buzzard was overkill.

Note that little dead Adolf is in the shape of a swastika.