DETROIT - In an effort to get more people to notice its new vehicles, Ford Motor Co. has enlisted the help of filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet to direct some of its commercials.

The television spots, to debut Tuesday night during Fox's "American Idol," compare the company's Edge crossover vehicle to the BMW X-5 and the Lexus RX-350, Ford officials said.

The idea of calling in Mamet, known for writing sparse, choppy dialogue, came from Ford's advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson Co., said Barry Engle, general manager of Ford Division marketing.

The spots feature two men sitting in Edges, talking out the window about how their vehicles compare with the BMW and Lexus.

Agency copywriters drew up the dialogue in an effort to mimic Mamet's work, and he didn't change any of the words, Engle said. But Mamet was in charge of camera angles, lighting and the actors' facial expressions.

Mamet won a Pulitzer prize for "Glengarry Glen Ross," a play that catapulted him into the ranks of America's elite playwrights with its gritty portrayal of the cutthroat world of a Chicago real-estate office during the greed-driven 1980s.

The ads are part of Ford's effort to tell people that its new products are competitive even with vehicles that cost several times as much, Engle said. Ford has run ads comparing its Fusion mid-sized sedan and Expedition large sport utility vehicle with the competition.

Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research, an automotive research firm in Oregon, said the comparison strategy is an effective way of getting noticed, but it doesn't always convert to sales.

"Comparisons are the most effective at getting kind of an instant recognition among consumers to at least position the vehicle with consumers, position it with comparable vehicles," he said.

But to many people, comparing a Ford with a BMW might be a bit of a stretch.

"Nobody goes out and buys a Ford thinking they're getting a BMW," Spinella said.

Yet, Engle said Ford did the spots because people are trading higher-cost vehicles in for Edges.

"It's very much up to par with vehicles that do in fact cost a lot more," he said.