Ford is roping in a popular children’s TV show character to pitch a hybrid SUV.

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Kermit the Frog, who the company bills as “a celebrated actor, author, singer, journalist and expert on all things green”, will appear in a new campaign for the Ford Escape Hybrid that will debut during the second quarter of the US Super Bowl XL on 5 February.


In the 30-second ad spot developed by advertising agency JWT Detroit, Kermit will encounter the Escape Hybrid while exploring the great outdoors. The rest of the story line is under wraps until Sunday.


The campaign is part of a new Ford plan, announced last week, to promote technology and innovation.


Newly appointed North American marketing chief Cisco Codina said: “Ford is the hybrid leader among American car companies, and we’re going to use platforms like the Super Bowl to make sure people understand that our commitment to design, safety and technology innovation is real – and on the market today.”

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Announced in 2004, the Escape Hybrid was America’s first hybrid, the world’s first hybrid SUV and Ford claims it is still the most fuel-efficient SUV on the planet.


The Super Bowl commercial will begin a campaign for the hybrid SUV featuring Kermit.


A combination of television, print, digital and outdoor advertising will highlight Ford’s commitment to technologies like hybrids.


After the Super Bowl, Escape Hybrid ads featuring the green frog will appear throughout the year on a variety of TV shows while supporting print ads will appear in car magazines, business publications, and news weeklies. Digital advertising will appear on ESPN, MSN, America Online, and the Washington Post.


The Kermit the Frog character made his first television appearance in Washington, DC in 1955 and rose to prominence in the early 1970s as a regular on the hit New York City-based children’s show Sesame Street. He was later host of the syndicated television programme The Muppet Show, which aired between 1976 and 1981 and the star of several movies.