By Chris Bryant in Frankfurt
The BMW advertising pitch was seductively simple: help customers associate a new Mini cabriolet model with the joys of motoring under crystal-clear blue skies by sponsoring a high-pressure weather system that would surely bring plenty of blissful sunshine.
But the association of the name ?Cooper? with a weather system sweeping Europe has backfired after a near-record cold snap caused misery and more than 100 deaths across the continent.
Frostbitten Germans came into work yesterday bemoaning Cooper?s icy chill, with temperatures predicted to drop still lower by the weekend.
Germany has a long tradition of anthropomorphising weather systems and for years sponsors have been able to pay for the right to select a name. These monikers are used in television and newspaper reports and are readily recalled by a German public obsessed with weather peculiarities.
Under an ?Adopt-a-Vortex? scheme, the Institute for Meteorology at the Free University in Berlin sells naming rights for up to 299 euros to support student weather research.
Only children?s names legally permissible in Germany are allowed and sponsors are prevented from choosing a particular weather system.
Sassenbach Advertising, Mini?s German advertising team, proposed naming a high-pressure system ?Cooper? and a low-pressure system ?Minnie? in homage to the brand?s new open-top model.
BMW said the association was ?unintentional? and the company regretted that Cooper had ?taken on catastrophic proportions?.
? The Financial Times Limited 2012