SIGNALS

It seemed like a good idea. Novel, kind of offbeat, hip for sure, and overall just a nice bit of PR. But, of course, on the Internet, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

I have never driven a Rolls Royce. I have never even ridden in one. But, I am sure that they are quiet. Tires, wind, engine, drive train, exhaust, and just good old-fashioned squeaks and rattles can all conspire to make a car a very noisy place. But not in a Rolls Royce Phantom. For starters, the vehicle carries 300 pounds of sound insulation and sports dual-layer 6mm glazing.

To demonstrate the low noise levels, some bright PR person came up with the idea of recording a song in a Rolls Royce Phantom. Recording studios, as you know, are among the quietest interior spaces available. Stout walls and floating floors minimize sound intrusion from the outside, and specially designed HVAC minimizes those noise levels as well. It would be cool to show that a Rolls is similarly quiet. So, musician Skepta was enlisted to do the deed. Of course, a video was made.

The video is nice enough, but there's precious little actual recording going on. Mainly, it shows two guys being driven along Lake Lucerne and through the Swiss Alps and commenting on how awesome the scenery is. However, it does show a car interior that seems quiet. Mission accomplished — kind of.

But this is the Internet and anything that can cause outrage, will indeed cause outrage. I'm not saying that people search the Internet all day looking for reasons to be outraged but, well, actually, yes, I am saying that. In this case, the outrage is this: the two guys in the car aren't wearing seat belts. Car safety people were outraged! People with nothing better to do with their lives were outraged!

In a neat bit of damage control, Rolls Royce pulled the video from their YouTube account but I managed to find a copy. If you are interested in being outraged, you can view the video here.

I am told that under Swiss law, all vehicle passengers must wear seat belts and police officers can issue and collect on-the-spot fines of up to 200 Swiss francs (about $200). Of course, when you're in a car that costs more than most homes, $200 is a small price to pay for being outrageous.