Car theft is a global problem, but it affects owners on a unique and personal level. In the arms race between car manufacturers and would-be thieves, a victory in one area (making cars harder to steal) can have unintended consequences in another (making theft of unattended cars harder causes carjackings to rise).
In Brazil, the problem has become so severe that the government has decreed every new car, import or domestic, must be equipped with a GPS tracking system. The hope is that cities like Rio de Janeiro, where a car is stolen every 12 minutes, and Sao Paulo, where a car theft occurs every three minutes, will see significant reductions in vehicle-related crime.
For Brazilians with desirable vehicles not already fitted with trackers, there’s a thriving aftermarket, and this video by Munhoz e Mariano is actually a part of an advertising campaign by Siggo [1], the Brazilian subsidiary of Sascar Tracking Systems. The title of the video, which translates to “Robbed of my Yellow Camaro” if Google can be trusted, is an homage to the duo’s breakout hit song “Yellow Camaro [2]” which provides the soundtrack for the video. Cheer up, guys. You're too pretty to be sad!
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Without a working knowledge of Portuguese, that’s all the factual information we can provide, though. Nevertheless, we can attempt to piece together the storyline of the video from context – Munhoz and Mariano, proud owners of the titular yellow 5th Gen Camaro, are dismayed to find their beautiful car has been stolen from under their noses. Cut scenes reveal the car has been swiped by a pair of beautiful women, who share some prior history with the two men.
[6]This is where things get a bit murky.
While the women are indeed beautiful, so are Munhoz and Mariano, so we can’t make the assumption that they are girlfriends or wives – it might just be the tragic tale of a charming gay couple done wrong by their sisters.
Again, without the language skills to delve deeper, we can’t be sure what the actual relationships here are. With the loss of their beloved Camaro, the men share moments of grief and console one another, while the girls deny any knowledge of the Chevy’s whereabouts, before secretly changing into amazingly-modest-for-Brazil swimsuit tops and shorts to suds up the lucky car.
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Munhoz and Mariano never do get their Camaro back, but there’s some snappy dancing in the empty carport, a dude in a stocking mask carrying a crowbar, and an ending lifted straight out of Pulp Fiction. Will it all help sell GPS car trackers? Who knows, but we had some fun in the process…
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