Car Trouble? Jennifer Lopez Fakes Fiat Commercial With Help From Bronx Body Double

Superstar caught out after auto maker confirms that J.Lo never stepped foot in her hometown borough for heavy-rotation TV spot

By Gina Serpe Nov 23, 2011 4:38 PMTags

Jenny from the block? Not anymore, she's not. Unless the block you're referring to is one in Beverly Hills, safely ensconced far away from the world that reared her.

It's a good thing Jennifer Lopez has never been one to shy away from scandal, because this week she's found herself deep in a couple of them, not because of her new dancer beau or coperforming ex hubby, but—oddly enough—because of her deal as the incessant new face of Fiat.

So what's the problem? Well, she may be the face of the company's new ads. But she's certainly not the body.

By now, anyone who's been within a 25-foot vicinity of a TV set in the past few weeks has seen J.Lo's commercial: she's driving the Fiat 500, of course, through the Bronx, and takes the viewer on a nice little root-returning inspirational drive down memory lane:

"Here, this is my world," she says in voiceover as she's shown behind the steering wheel, dreamily gazing out at the stereotypical Bronx scenes passing by. "This place inspires me to be tougher, to stay sharper, to think faster. They may be just streets to you, but to me, they're a playground."

Unfortunately, it's all a sham.

As first discovered by The Smoking Gun, despite the appearance of a pilgrimage, the 42-year-old dealmaker did not once step foot into the gritty borough that so inspired her. Instead, Lopez filmed all her close-up, staring-off-into-the-distance bits from the safety of Los Angeles, while a body double was tasked with making the low-speed drive through the Bronx.

Per the investigative site, shots of J.Lo were merged together with the body double's driving work to make it appear as though it was the Bronx's prodigal daughter who had returned.

The company itself didn't do much to try and clarify things, as the press release they issued to go along with the 60-second "My World" spot declared that the commercial showed Lopez "driving a Fiat 500 Cabrio as she travels through the streets of Manhattan to the Bronx where she grew up."

Oops.

So what does everyone have to say about it? While J.Lo's camp has so far kept mum on the budding controversy, Fiat did issue a statement this morning where they acknowledged the movie magic that went into filming the spot, but offered no apology as to the misleading nature of both this and apparently a second commercial that's due to come out during the holiday season.

"Both commercials featuring Jennifer Lopez were indeed filmed in the Bronx as well as outside locations," the statement reads. "As you may know, in today's world, people are increasingly mobile and their work takes them to a variety of locations. As a result, we took the opportunity to film wherever Ms. Lopez was working at the time to accommodate her schedule.

"The commercial tells the story of how the simple elements of our upbringing can help explain who we are, where we're going and serve as a source of inspiration to achieve our goals in life. One does not need to be in a specific location to be inspired or continue to be inspired."

Maybe not. But one should probably think twice before they decide not to heed that old adage about truth in advertising.