Cars.com commercial portrays man on date as creepy stalker

[mens_issues]

There is a cars.com commercial in which a man meets his date at a table and says his passion is puppetry.  He proceeds to pull out a puppet that looks just like the woman and starts kissing it.  The woman is weirded out and abruptly leaves.  Somehow this portrayal of a man on a date as a creepy stalker is supposed to be funny and sell cars as well.

Here is the commercial:

First Date - Funny Cars.com TV Commercial

Supposedly some people think this is funny and represents how men approach women (in an extreme way, perhaps).  I think it's a demeaning representation of men.  What do you think?

[dr e]

What a strange commercial.  I can't see how that would sell cars...was that the entire commercial?  Are they trying to mimic the Geico commercials?

[Captain Courageous]

Commercials in my neck-o-the-woods are getting worse and worse by the day. 

[neoteny]

I bought a Nike T-shirt with the logo "Burn Your Television" on it two decades ago. I might have been victimized by Madison Avenue in that instant, but I don't possess a TV since then: so the advertisers' loss -- and my gain -- was much bigger than the amount I paid for the T-shirt.