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We have no explanation for this Nissan Leaf marketing stunt

We have no explanation for this Nissan Leaf marketing stunt

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Car companies are always doing weird marketing stunts to draw attention to themselves. Some are rather silly, like how Ford just drove its Ford GT race car around London in a shape that sort of resembles the outline of the famed British race track Silverstone. Others, like the Gymkhana series (which is sponsored by Ford these days) are absolutely incredible, and are events unto themselves.

But sometimes car companies get really weird, like this Japanese ad for the Nissan Leaf. In it, drivers at a Japanese driving school wear special headgear that reads their brainwaves to gauge their emotional state (never mind the fact that these mind-reading systems don't actually read minds). Why would you want to know what the driver is feeling? To project their emotions on the road for all to see, apparently! It's utterly bizarre, and yet, kind of charming.

Nissan Leaf CARtoon

It's to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Leaf, filming the first EV experience of 30 young drivers. The headset analyzes brainwaves (alpha and beta waves, specifically) produced while driving. Based on that, one of 33 different patterns are projected on the ground, changing as the driver's emotional state changes while they drive around.

No word on what gets projected when the driver experiences crippling range anxiety from the all-electric Leaf, which has a range as low as 84 miles.